Miss Universe 2020
Miss Universe 2020 was the 69th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, United States on May 16, 2021. Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa crowned her successor Andrea Meza of Mexico at the end of the event. Contestants from 74 countries and territories competed, featuring the smallest number of candidates at the pageant since 2003. The competition was hosted by Mario Lopez and Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo; Lopez last served as host during Miss Universe 2007, while Culpo became the first former Miss Universe titleholder to become the pageant 's main host. Colombian Paulina Vega and South African Demi-Leigh Tebow served as expert analysts, and the Cheslie Kryst served as a backstage correspondent; they had previously been crowned as Miss Universe 2014, Miss Universe 2017, and Miss USA 2019, respectively. Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi performed. This is, to date, the only time the pageant was broadcast on FYI, after being temporarily off from its regular broadcaster Fox due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related uncertainties to this edition, and this was also the only time Steve Harvey did not host this pageant between 2015 and 2021. Background. Location  and date. On March 3, 2021, the Miss Universe Organization announced that the competition would be held on May 16, 2021, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was postponed from late 2020 to May 2021. This was the third time in the history of the competition in which the event was held after the calendar year has ended; this previously occurred during Miss Universe 2014 and Miss Universe 2016, when both were held in January of the following year. The 2020 edition being held in May of the  following year makes it the latest edition in the competition's history. Despite the pandemic, this edition was limited to 1,750 spectators, around a quarter of the venue's seating capacity. Hosts and performer. On April 20, 2021, it was confirmed that Mario Lopez and Olivia Culpo would serve as hosts of the live final. Culpo was crowned Miss Universe 2012, while Lopez last served as host during Miss Universe 2007. This marks the first time since Miss Universe 2015 that Steve Harvey will not host the competition. Paulina Vega and Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters served as expert analysts, and  Cheslie Kryst served as a backstage correspondent; they had previously been crowned as Miss Universe 2014, Miss Universe 2017, and Miss USA 2019, respectively. On May 7, American rapper and singer Pitbull was announced as the competition's guest performer. Seven days later, Pitbull dropped out and was replaced by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi. Selection of participants. Contestants from 74 countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Seven contestants had been crowned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the pandemic, numerous national pageants were postponed or canceled entirely, resulting in multiple former runners-up  from previous national pageants being appointed for the 2020 edition, or casting processes being held instead. Twenty-eight of these delegates were appointed to their national titles, including: Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos, Mauritius, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovak Republic and Ukraine Three contestants were designated after the withdrawal of the original contestant; Céline Van Ouytsel, who had been crowned Miss Belgium 2020, was expected to represent Belgium, but opted not to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic  in the United States and her wish to not compete internationally at that time. She was replaced by Dhenia Covens, who was the second runner-up of Miss Belgium 2018. Amandine Petit, who had been crowned Miss France 2021, was designated to represent France, replacing Clémence Botino, who had been crowned Miss France 2020. The switch was made due to a potential date conflict between Miss Universe 2021 and Miss France 2022 in December 2021. Petit was originally set to represent France at the 2021 edition, but as she is expected to be present at Miss France 2022, she was  moved instead to the 2020 edition while Botino was moved to the 2021 edition. Magdalena Kasiborska, who had been crowned Miss Polski 2019, was expected to represent Poland at the competition, but was forced to withdraw after suffering from a spinal disc herniation. She was replaced by Natalia Piguła, who was her first runner-up at Miss Polski 2019. In addition, María Fernanda Aristizábal was crowned Miss Colombia 2019, originally scheduled to participate in this year's edition, but that did not happen as the Miss Colombia Organization has lost the franchise to the Miss Universe pageant since this year 's June. A new negotiation on the registration of copyright transfer has been conducted by the Miss Universe Organization with Ms. Natalie Ackermann. Accordingly, a new contest called Miss Universe Colombia will be in charge of selecting a representative to participate in the contest. Laura Olascuaga was the winner of the first new edition of the contest and represented Colombia in the competition. The 2020 edition saw the debut of Cameroon, and the returns of Ghana and Russia, which had both not competed since 2018. Bangladesh was originally set to compete with Tangia Zaman Methila, but withdrew from the competition  less than a month prior due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh and the imposition of additional lockdowns and travel restrictions. In addition to Bangladesh, the 2020 edition saw the record number of withdraws (19) at the 69-year pageant history.Along the South Asian country,another eighteen other countries and territories, largely due to the pandemic, including Angola, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Germany, Guam, Kenya, Lithuania, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, and the US Virgin Islands. Of the withdrawing countries and territories, Germany's withdrawal marks the first time it did not  compete in the competition since its debut during the inaugural Miss Universe 1952. Pageant. Format. Due to restrictive measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, no public activities were carried out during the competition period,no one contestant was allowed to leave the resort during the a two-weeks event and was no public money involved. This forced the Miss Universe Organization to draw up several specific changes to the format for this edition. Some of them were the ending of continental round introduced in 2016 (Due the large number of withdrawing countries which made it impossible to carry out this  step) and the removal of several elements added in recent years such as the opening speech and the catwalk round. Thus, the 21 semifinalists are placed directly at swimsuit round.The first phase of the competion was held two days prior to the final competition on May 16, 2021, when of the 74 delegates competed in the preliminary competition. That was composed by in swimsuit and evening gown evaluation, preceded by a closed-door interview. The results of the preliminary competition and closed-door interview then determined the 20 semifinalists being selected at-large. Internet voting returned, with fans being  able to vote in another one delegate into the semifinals. The top 21 then competed in swimsuit were then narrowed down to a top ten. The top ten competed in evening gown, and a final five was later chosen. The final five competed in final question and closing statement; for final question, each delegate was asked a specific question from a randomly-selected judge, while for 15 second-closing statement, each delegate randomly selected a politicized topic and were asked to speak freely about their selected topic. Following the conclusion of these speaking rounds, the final positions were announced. Contestants . 74 delegates competed for the title of Miss Universe 2020: