Miss Universe 2018

Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden venue for national costume round.

Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, the Final venue of Miss Universe 2018.

The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) was in talks to host the Miss Universe 2018 competition in China. Negotiations collapsed after the Chinese refused to broadcast the pageant live, due to the large time difference between China and the United States. Afterwards, the MUO opened negotiations with the Philippines, after they had previously hosted 2016.[8]

In April 2018, then-Secretary of Tourism Wanda Tulfo Teo spoke with President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte regarding the possibility of hosting the pageant in Boracay in November 2018, which by then will be newly rehabilitated after being closed to tourists for six months.[8] On 6 May, Tulfo-Teo announced that the Philippines had a "90% chance" of hosting the pageant and also disclosed that the tourism department would be looking for sponsors, since the LCS Holdings Inc. of Chavit Singson, the major sponsor of the Miss Universe 2016 had declined financing the 2018 pageant.[9] On 18 May 2018, Tulfo's successor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat announced that the country dropped the hosting bid due to budget constraints and other concerns. Romulo-Puyat also pointed out that the Philippines had hosted the pageant recently, and had no reason to do so again so soon.[10]

On 31 July 2018 it was announced by MUO President Paula Shugart, in a live press conference at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, that the 2018 pageant would be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 17 December. The city has hosted the Miss Universe pageant twice, in 1992 and 2005. Current Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, along with two former Miss Universes Apasra Hongsakula (Miss Universe 1965) and Natalie Glebova (Miss Universe 2005), participated in the announcement.[11]

Delegates representing 94 countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant; six of these delegates were appointed to their titles after an audition process or other internal selection (British Virgin Islands, China, Denmark, Hungary, Laos, and Uruguay),[12][13] three were appointed as replacements after the original titleholder was unable to compete because of commitments to Miss World 2018 and had placed as runners-up in the national pageant (Belgium, France, and Poland),[14][15][16] and the remainder were selected as the winners of national pageants. However, reports have been unclear regarding whether Begimay Karybekova of Kyrgyzstan won a national title or was appointed to her title after an internal selection.[17][18] The 2018 edition saw the debuts of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, while Belize, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Kenya, Kosovo, and Switzerland returned to the competition; Greece had not competed since 2015, while the others had not competed since 2016. Austria, Ethiopia, Iraq, Romania, Slovenia, and Tanzania all withdrew from the competition after their franchise owners lost their Miss Universe licenses, or a national pageant was simply not held for another reason.[19][20][21][22] Guyana was disqualified from participating by the Miss Universe Organization due to controversy regarding "nasty emails" and "death threats" sent to the organization over a dispute regarding their delegate in 2017, while Trinidad and Tobago also withdrew after they had announced no pageant would be held, despite Martrecia Alleyne having been crowned Miss Universe Trinidad and Tobago 2018 at their 2017 national pageant.[23][24] Due to visa and transportation issues, Marie Esther Bangura of Sierra Leone arrived in Bangkok after registration had ended and was barred from participating; she was allowed to view the competition in the audience, and was personally invited to compete in Miss Universe 2019.[25]

Ángela Ponce of Spain became the first openly transgender woman to compete in Miss Universe.[6][7][26] Although she failed to advance to the top twenty, Ponce was honored by pageant organizers during the competition for the historical importance of her participation.[27] The rules of the pageant were changed to allow transgender women to compete in 2012, after the Miss Universe Organization, owned at the time by Donald Trump, was criticized and threatened with legal action for initially disqualifying Jenna Talackova from the Miss Universe Canada competition after discovering she was transgender.[6][28][29]

Unlike in recent years, the contestants were trimmed down to 20 semifinalists, compared to 16 in 2017 and 13 in 2016. This semifinal group size was last used in 2006 and continues to be used in 2019. The initial semifinalists were selected through a closed-door interview and a preliminary competition—in swimwear and evening gown—held several days before the finals night. The continental format, introduced in the 2017 edition, remained — consisting of five semifinalists from Europe, five from the Americas, five from Africa and Asia-Pacific, and five wildcards—regardless of continental grouping. The top 20 were then tasked to give an opening statement—a 15-second statement about the contestant—to the judges and viewing public, after which the judges narrowed downed the semifinalists to the top 10, who then competed in both swimsuit and evening gown. After the swimwear and evening gown competitions, the judges then selected the top five to compete in the preliminary question and answer round. After said segment, the judges selected the final three. The top three participated in the final word and final look portions, after which the judges chose Miss Universe 2018 and her two runners-up. For this edition, there was no online voting component for viewers at home.[30]

The seven judges for both the preliminary competition and the final telecast were an all-female panel which included:[31]

• Liliana Gil Valletta – businesswoman
• Janaye Ingram – political organizer and Miss New Jersey USA 2004
• Monique Lhuillier – fashion designer
• Michelle McLean – Miss Universe 1992 from Namibia
• Iman Oubou – scientist, entrepreneur, and medical missionary
• Bui Simon – Miss Universe 1988 from Thailand
• Richelle Singson-Michael – Filipino architect and businesswoman

•  Sierra Leone: Marie Esther Bangura was selected as the representative of her country in this edition, however, she arrived in the host city on December 8. After not participating in several events prior to the final night, "IAMSL", the company that holds the license in the African nation, issued a statement in which it specified that Bangura would not participate in the edition, but would remain on Thai lands supporting the contestants.[33]

•  Belgium: Zoé Brunet was designated as Miss Universe Belgium , as the national winner was competing at Miss World 2018.
•  France: Eva Colas was designated by the "Miss France Organization", as the representative at Miss Universe, Maëva Coucke, was participating at Miss World 2018. Colas was the first runner-up in the "Miss France 2018" pageant, representing Corsica.

•  Argentina: Agustina Pivowarchuk was designated as Miss Universe Argentina 2018 after a closed-door casting took place by Endemol Argentina and TNT LatinAmerica, Argentine national franchisors in 2018 .
•  British Virgin Islands: A'yana Phillips was appointed by Alessia Hamm, director of the Miss Universe franchise in the British Virgin Islands. Phillips was runner-up in the national pageant the previous year.
•  China: Meisu Qin took the title Miss Universe China 2017 by being Second finalist of the national contest, after the original winner (Roxette Qiu, who was semifinalist in Miss Universe 2017) and her substitute were dethroned for breaking their contract. Meisu was nominated by the "Miss China Organization" to compete in the 2018 pageant.
•  Denmark: Helena Heuser was designated by Miss Denmark , new holder of the franchise in her country, after being the winner in 2016.
•  Kyrgyzstan: Begimay Karybekova was appointed by her country's organization after being the national queen in 2017.
•  Laos: On-Anong Homsombath was selected by the organization of her country to compete in `` Miss Universe 2018 after being the first finalist in the national pageant the previous year.
•  Poland: Magdalena Swat was selected by the organization of her country to compete in `` Miss Universe 2018 after being the first finalist in the national pageant the previous year.
•  Portugal: Filipa Barroso was appointed by her country's organization after being the national queen in 2017.
•  Uruguay: Sofia Marrero was selected to represent Uruguay in this edition of Miss Universe after a casting took place, being carried out by the company "Escuela de Modelos y Actitud - EMA Models" who had the Uruguay franchise for Miss Universe.