Miss Universe 2000 | |
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Miss Universe 2000 participating nations and results
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Date | 12 May 2000 |
Presenters | Sinbad, Ali Landry, Julie Moran |
Entertainment | Elvis Crespo, Dave Koz, Montell Jordan, Anna Vissi |
Venue | Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia, Cyprus |
Broadcaster |
CBS (international) CyBC (official broadcaster) |
Entrants | 79 |
Placements | 10 |
Debuts | St. Martin |
Withdrawals | Bonaire, Barbados, Cook Islands, Curaçao, Guyana, Nicaragua, Suriname, Turkey, US Virgin Islands, Zambia |
Returns | Bulgaria, Denmark, Guam, Netherlands, Norway, Zimbabwe |
Winner |
Lara Dutta India |
Congeniality | Tamara Scaroni Aruba |
Best National Costume |
Letty Murray Mexico |
Photogenic | Helen Lindes Spain |
Miss Universe 2000, the 49th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 12 May 2000 at the Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus. Lara Dutta of India was crowned by Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana at the end of the event. Seventy-nine delegates competed for the title.
Nicosia was announced as host city of the pageant on 1 July 1999. The country invested $3.5 million in the event, in the hope that the publicity would increase tourism, the island's main industry.
Conservative Cypriot church leaders protested the decision to hold the pageant on the island, claiming that millennium celebrations of the birth of Christ were more important and that the event was scandalous and would promote female nudity.