Miss Universe 2012

Miss Universe 2012
Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe 2012
Date	19 December 2012
Presenters	Andy Cohen, Giuliana Rancic, Jeannie Mai
Entertainment	Train, Timomatic
Venue	The AXIS, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Broadcaster	NBC, Telemundo
Entrants	89
Placements	16
Debuts	Gabon, Lithuania
Withdrawals	Egypt, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Slovenia, Turks & Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands
Returns	Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Namibia, Norway
Winner	Olivia Culpo  USA
Congeniality	Laura Godoy  Guatemala
Best National Costume	Xu Jidan  China
Photogenic	Diana Avdiu  Kosovo
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Miss Universe 2012, the 61st Miss Universe pageant, was held on 19 December 2012 at The AXIS, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Leila Lopes of Angola crowned her successor Olivia Culpo of the United States at the end of the event. 89 contestants competed in this year's pageant, same as last year.

The Dominican Republic negotiated with the Miss Universe Organization to organize the pageant in Punta Cana but was not granted the hosting rights due to the country not being able to fulfill the requirements asked by the Miss Universe Organization. The backing out of the Dominican Republic caused the Miss Universe Organization to host the pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada in December deviating from the customary mid-year scheduling of the pageant.

The following 89 women competed for the title of Miss Universe 2012:

– Source:

Miss Universe had been struggling to find a venue for this year's pageant. In March 2012, it was announced that the pageant would be moved to December because the broadcaster NBC could not broadcast the pageant at the same time as the 2012 Summer Olympics and the United States presidential election.

In April 2012, it was announced that Bangladesh would host the pageant on 13 December. In July 2012, the Bangladeshi president announced that they will withdraw the host nation and will not host the pageant because they will find a new host in August.

It was rumored that Guadalajara of Mexico, Isla Margarita of Venezuela, Sun City of South Africa, and Jakarta of Indonesia were to host the competition. But, in August 2012, the Dominican government received a proposal from the Miss Universe Organization to host the competition on 11 December. The Dominican Republic had once hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 1977 in Santo Domingo. The Miss Universe Organization was considering hosting the final night at the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Punta Cana. However, The Dominican government said that the country was not able to provide any kind of financial assistance to the pageant.