Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, the youngest of the five finalists, was crowned Miss Universe on Sunday night.
LOS ANGELES: Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, the youngest of the five finalists, was crowned Miss Universe on Sunday night.
The first runner-up was Miss Japan, Kurara Chibana, 24.&
The 55th Miss Universe contest was held at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles.
It was a homecoming of sorts. The first Miss Universe pageant was held about 40 km away in Long Beach, California, in 1952.
Ending her year as Miss Universe was Canadian Natalie Glebova, who was born in Russia.
Among the issues she helped herald during her reign was the need for assistance to people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.
The event, run by real estate mogul Donald Trump's organization, now attracts most interest in Latin America and in the Asia-Pacific region though it is broadcast to an estimated 600 million people in 170 countries.
The United States has won the title a record seven times and its contestant, Tara Conner, made the final 20 contestants.
While most Americans are not interested in the event, their Latin American neighbors are, which could explain why the presenters for the spectacle will pair Nancy O'Dell, who hosts a Hollywood gossip program, with Spanish-language soap opera heartthrob and singer Carlos Ponce of Puerto Rico.
The jury was also Latino-heavy, with Telemundo anchorwoman Maria Celeste Arraras and the Dominican Republic's Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega among them.
Also on the judges' benches were 10 movie star Bo Derek, American football hero Emmitt Smith, actor James Lesure, society photographer Patrick McMullan, fashion designer Santino Rice, and Sean Yazbeck, who rose to fame as a contestant on Trump's reality show The Apprentice.
The only performer listed as "international," Chela, is not well-known outside the United States, but famous in the United States for his hit Cha Cha in Spanglish during the 2006 World Cup of football.
Since 1972, Miss Universe has been broadcast from different countries, in exchange for paying the Trump organization $6 million. In return, the host country enjoys some $15 million in revenues generated for the local economy in hotels and tourism, according to the organization.
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