Miss USA 2012 was the 61st

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

pageant, held on June 3, 2012, at

The AXIS PH Live is a mid-sized auditorium in the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue hosts events including charity benefits, concerts and award shows including beauty pageants such as Miss Universe, Miss USA a ...

, located inside the

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Las Vegas (formerly the Aladdin) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The resort includes a casino and 2,494 hotel r ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

, and it was televised live on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Alyssa Campanella Alyssa Marie Campanella (born March 21, 1990) is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 2011. Having previously been crowned Miss California USA 2011. Campanella was also crowned Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2007 and was firs ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

crowned her successor

Olivia Culpo Olivia Frances Culpo (born May 8, 1992) is an American model, actress, and media personality. Culpo has won Miss Rhode Island USA, Miss USA 2012, and Miss Universe 2012. Early life and education Olivia Frances Culpo was born on May 8, 1992, ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

at the end of the event. This was Rhode Island's first Miss USA title. Culpo represented the United States at

Miss Universe 2012 Miss Universe 2012 was the 61st Miss Universe pageant, held at the PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on December 19, 2012. The contest was won by Olivia Culpo of the United States, who was crow ...

six months later and went on to win the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

title, becoming the eighth American to do so. After Olivia Culpo won Miss Universe 2012, as a customary, first runner-up Nana Meriwether of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

inherited the Miss USA title and was officially crowned on January 9, 2013. Meriwether became the second woman from Maryland to hold the Miss USA title; the first, Mary Leona Gage, was dethroned shortly after winning. For the first time, a question was solicited from

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

for the final question asked of one of the five finalists. That question picked by the pageant organizers - "Would you feel it would be fair that a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman wins the Miss USA title over a natural-born woman?" - was answered by the winner, Culpo.

Background

Selection of contestants

One delegate from each state and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

was chosen in state pageants held which began in July 2011 and ended in January 2012. The first state pageant was

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, held on July 16, 2011 as scheduled. The final pageant was

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, held on January 29, 2012. Eight delegates are former

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...

state winners, while one is a former

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

state winner and the other one competed in Miss Earth United States.

Preliminary round

Prior to the final telecast, the delegates competed in the preliminary competition, which involves private interviews with the judges and a presentation show where they compete in swimsuit and evening gown. The preliminary competition took place on May 30, 2012, at 10 pm (ET) hosted by Chet Buchanan and Alyssa Campanella, and was broadcast online over

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

via their

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and MSN applications.

Finals

During the final competition, the top sixteen competed in swimsuit, while the top ten competed evening gown, and the top five competed in the final question signed up by a panel of judges. The sixteenth semifinalist was determined by voting online.

Results

Placements

‡ Voted into Top 16 as America's Choice via Internet ∞ Culpo won

. Due to protocol, Culpo relinquished her title as Miss USA 2012. 1st runner-up, Nana Meriwether, succeeded her as Miss USA.

Delegates

Notes

References

External links

Miss USA official website
{{Miss USA

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June 2012 in the United States 2012 beauty pageants 2012 in Nevada Zappos Theater