Miss Universe 2004

Miss Universe 2004, the 53rd Miss Universe pageant, was held on June 1, 2004, at the Centro de Convenciones CEMEXPO in Quito, Ecuador. Jennifer Hawkins of Australia was crowned by Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic as her successor at the end of the event. This is the 2nd time that Australia has won Miss Universe. 80 contestants competed in this year.

Results

Placements

Contestants

80 contestants competed for the title.

Judges

Final telecast

The judging panel for the final competition included:
* Bo Derek - Film actress
* Bill Rancic - Winner of the first season of ''The Apprentice''
* Katie Pritz - '' Today Show's'' "You Be The Judge" contest winner
* Wendy Fitzwilliam - Miss Universe 1998 from Trinidad and Tobago
* Elsa Benítez - International supermodel
* Jon Tutolo - President of Trump Model Management
* Anne Martin - Vice President of Global Cosmetics and Marketing of Procter & Gamble Cosmetics
* Monique Menniken - Supermodel
* Petra Nemcova - '' Sports Illustrated'' supermodel
* Jefferson Pérez - 1996 Ecuadorian Olympic gold medalist
* Emilio Estefan - Music producer and entertainer

Note: Kwame Jackson, runner-up on the first season of ''The Apprentice'', was initially chosen as a judge, but he was disqualified because he inadvertently visited the hotel where the delegates were staying and interacted with some of the contestants.

Notes

Withdrawals

* – No contest.
* – Maria José Girol Jimenez - Due to lack of Sponsorship.
* – No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
* – Dian Krishna - She was welcomed by the pageant organizers and was given the chance to attend the show in the audience as Puteri Indonesia observer.
* – Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
* – Miss Mauritius 2003, Sabine Bourdet did not participate due to Health Problems.
* – Petrina Thomas - Due to lack of Sponsorship.
* – No contest.

Replacements

* – Zita Galgociova was initially chosen to represent Slovak Republic, but she was replaced with her first runner-up Zuzana Dvorska because she was under the minimum age.
* – Miss Hanoi-Vietnam 2003 Nguyễn Thị Hồng Vân was chosen to represent Vietnam, but she was replaced by the gold medal winner of Vietnam Supermodel Award 2004 Hoàng Khánh Ngọc with unknown reasons.

Debuts

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Returns

*Last competed in 1991:
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*Last competed in 1999:
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*Last competed in 2000:
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*Last competed in 2001:
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*Last competed in 2002:
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Awards

* - Miss Congeniality (Laia Manetti)
* - Miss Photogenic ( Alba Reyes)
* - Best National Costume ( Jessica Rodríguez)
* - Best Catwalk ''(Voted by press)'' (Hoàng Khánh Ngọc)

Host city

Quito, Ecuador was announced as host city of the pageant on August 19, 2003. The city paid $5 million for the right to host the event, although it anticipated recouping this through visitors and promotion of the country during the televised competition.

In March, Ecuador's foreign trade minister was forced to reject rumours that the pageant was at risk of being moved to China, and he urged Ecuadoreans to back the pageant. As an added incentive for tourists, American Airlines, official airline sponsor of the pageant, offered 5% off airfares to Quito for travel to the pageant, as well as 10% off for those who booked a month in advance. The attempted use of the pageant to promote Ecuador threatened to be derailed just prior to the telecast, when a corruption scandal led to growing demands for the removal of President Lucio Gutierrez in the politically unstable country.

Prior to the arrival of delegates in early May, officials in Quito attempted to renovate areas where they would be visiting, which involved temporarily removing beggars and homeless people from certain areas of the city. Similar action was taken in Bangkok, Thailand prior to Miss Universe 1992 and in Manila, Philippines prior to Miss Universe 1994. The event was protested by native Indian activists and environmentalists who accused the government of concealing the nations poverty whilst the pageant was being hosted.

The delegates, judges, media and tourists were heavily protected by a security detail involving over 5000 police officers. On May 16, just hours before delegates were expected to participate in a parade in Cuenca, a pamphlet bomb was deactivated by police. Although it was protesting the economic policies of the Ecuadorean government, police suspected that the bomb, found just six blocks from the parade route, was timed specifically to coincide with the event.

Notes

References

External links

Miss Universe official website

{{Miss Universe

2004
2004 in Ecuador
2004 beauty pageants
Beauty pageants in Ecuador
Events in Quito
June 2004 events in South America