Location and date
On 3 March 2021, the Miss Universe Organization announced that the competition would be at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, United States, on 16 May 2021.Denying rumors that the pageant would be canceled or that the first runner-up in the previous pageant Madison Anderson from Puerto Rico would be crowned Miss Universe 2020. [6] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was postponed three times between November 2020 and May 2021. This edition was the third time in the pageant's history that the event was held after the calendar year ended; this previously occurred during Miss Universe 2014 and Miss Universe 2016, when both took place in January of the following year. [7] [8] The 2020 edition in May of the following year makes it the latest edition in the competition's history. Due to the pandemic, this edition only allowed 1,750 spectators, around a quarter of the venue's seating capacity. [9] [10]
Selection of participants
Contestants from seventy-four countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Due to the pandemic, numerous national pageants were postponed or canceled entirely, resulting in multiple former runners-up or participants from previous national pageants being appointed or casting processes taking place instead. Twenty-eight of the delegates were in this condition and they were: Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mauritius, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, and Ukraine.
Replacements
Three contestants were designated after the withdrawal of the original contestant. Céline Van Ouytsel, Miss Belgium 2020, was expected to represent Belgium but was replaced by Dhenia Covens, the second runner-up of Miss Belgium 2018, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. [11] Amandine Petit, Miss France 2021, was appointed to represent France instead of Clémence Botino, Miss France 2020. The switch happened due to a potential dates conflict between Miss Universe 2021 and Miss France 2022 in December 2021. Botino competed in the 2021 edition of the pageant. [12] Magdalena Kasiborska, Miss Polski 2019, was expected to represent Poland but was forced to withdraw after suffering from a spinal disc herniation. Natalia Piguła, the first runner-up of Miss Polski 2019, replaced her. [13]
María Fernanda Aristizábal, Miss Colombia 2019, was originally scheduled to participate in this edition, but she was replaced as the Miss Colombia Organization lost the franchise to Miss Universe in June 2020. A new organization called Miss Universe Colombia, led by Natalie Ackermann, became in charge of selecting the representative for Miss Universe. Laura Olascuaga was the winner of the first edition of the pageant and represented Colombia in Miss Universe. [14] [15] On April 6, 2022, due to a change in the Miss Universe rules, Aristizábal was appointed Miss Universe Colombia 2022 and represented Colombia at Miss Universe 2022. [16]
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals
This edition marked the debut of Cameroon and the returns of Ghana and Russia, both of which had not competed since 2018. The only voluntary withdrawal of a candidate was from Tangia Zaman Methila of Bangladesh was set to compete 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. [17] In addition to Bangladesh, a record of eighteen other countries and territories withdrew due to the franchise owners change or the restrictions caused by the pandemics including Angola, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Germany, Guam, Kenya, Lithuania, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, and the United States Virgin Islands. The withdrawal of Germany marked the first time it had not competed in the competition since its debut in 1952. [18]
