South Africa's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters brought the Miss Universe crown back to her country after nearly 4 decades, with her victory in Las Vegas, USA on Sunday, November 26 (Monday, November 27, in Manila).

The 22-year-old, who recently earned a business management degree, was crowned at The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The runner-up was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, while the second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.

Ninety-two women from around the world participated in the decades-old competition. This year's edition had the most contestants ever, including the first representatives in its history of Cambodia, Laos and Nepal.

Along with the title, Nel-Peters earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes. She is the second woman from her home country to earn the crown.

During the Q&A portion, Demi-Leigh was asked "What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe?"

Below is her winning answer:

"As Miss Universe, you have to be confident in who you are as an individual. A Miss Universe is a woman who has overcome many fears and by that, she is able to help other women overcome their fears. She is a woman that nothing is ever too much to ask for. And I think that is exactly who I am."

 


Updated last November 5,2017 

The Philippines’ Karen Ibasco, a 26-year-old licensed physicist and university instructor from Manila,  won the Miss Earth 2017 pageant to the cheers of a hometown crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.

The crown was passed on to her by outgoing queen Katherine Espin from Ecuador.

Other winners in the pageant were Australia’s Nina Robertson as Miss Earth Air 2017; Russia’s Lada Akimova, Miss Earth Fire 2017; and Colombia’s Juliana Franco, Miss Earth Water 2017.

 Ibasco, who studied applied physics and medical physics at the University of Santo Tomas, impressed both the judges and the audience with her reply during the question and answer segment of the pageant.

For the first segment, the Top 8 finalists were given 30 seconds to express their thoughts on a selected hashtag. Ibasco picked the hashtag#biodiversity.

 “Biodiversity is very important. We are very known in the Philippines to have a lot of biodiversity, and they’re very important because they also balances the ecosystem. It’s very important for us to protect them, because as we protect them, we protect the environment to help save our home, our planet, our Earth, to be a better place to live in. Thank you,” she said.

For the next segment, thewv four finalists were asked the question: “Who or what do you think is the biggest enemy of Mother Earth and why?”

Karen resplied: “I believe that the real problem in this world is not climate change; the real problem is us because of our ignorance and apathy. What we have to do is to start changing our ways, to start recalibrating our minds, and redirecting our steps, because together, as a global community, our micro efforts will have a macro effect to help save our home, our planet. Thank you.”

Miss Earth Philippines 2017 Karen Ibasco has won a gold medal for her Maria Clara-inspired national costume designed by Louis Pangilinan.

Because of this win at the Asia Pacific National Costume category, Karen is now the leading candidate with the most medals in the competition, with a total of five medals —  three golds and two silvers.

Miss Vietnam comes second, with three gold and two bronze medals.

 Besides Best in National Costume for Asia Pacific, Karen also got gold medals for Darling of the Press and Group 2 Swimsuit Competition. In addition, she bagged silver medals for Resorts Wear Competition and Long Gown Competition.

The 26-year-old beauty from Manila is a medical physicist who graduated cum laude both from her bachelor and master’s degrees in Applied Physics major in Medical Physics from the University of Santo Tomas.

Prior to Miss Earth, she joined the Binibining Pilipinas 2016 pageant.

Ibasco will compete with 85 other contestants for the crown, which will be handed down by Miss Earth 2016 Katherine Espin of Ecuador during the finals night on November 4 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Since the pageant began in 2001, The Philippines has so far won thrice at Miss Earth: 2008 (Karla Henry), 2014 (Jamie Herrell) and 2015 (Angelia Ong).

PHILIPPINES' Maureen Wroblewitz is the first Filipina to be hailed “Asia's Next Top Model (ANTM) Cycle 5” winner on Wednesday, June 28. Filipina-German Wroblewitz bagged the title after competing against Shikin Gomez of Malaysia and Minh Tu Nguyen of Vietnam in the finale episode. Aside from the title, the 19-year-old model will take home a Subaru Impreza, a modeling contract with Storm Model Management in London and a cover and fashion spread in Nylon Singapore.

Wroblewitz is one of the three Filipinas who joined the competition. Other Pinoy hopefuls were 22-year-old Anjelica Santillan and 20-year-old Jennica Sanchez. Shot in Singapore, ANTM Cycle 5 is hosted by Cindy Bishop with show judges Cara McIlroy and Yu Tsai with guest judge, 2015 Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach.

This year, the Philippines has been chosen to host the very first ever regional preliminaries in Southeast Asia, following the roster of other preliminaries in the USA, China, and Japan.


With over a hundred thousand Koreans living in the Philippines, as well as Filipinos being known as Korean Wave and Beauty Pageant enthusiasts, it is with no doubt that this country is one of the best hosting venues.

The ‘2017 Miss Korea Regional Preliminaries’ in the Philippines has also gathered Korean ladies currently residing in the Philippines to took on the challenge to be a part of this prestigious stage.

They will undergo beauty and personality training, including stage performances, coached by a professional Korean trainer. The organizers also aim to foster the relationship between South Korea and the Philippines,serving as a medium of cultural exchange between the two countries. Also, the event will encourage the change of prejudices and perceptions about Philippines safety, while promoting the country’s beautiful environment and heart-warming people.

‘Miss Korea Regional Preliminaries’ in the Philippines is happening on May 30, 2017 at Chaos, City of Dreams Manila, presented by City of Dreams and BDO-SM, and organized by ShowBT Philippines.