46th Miss Universe
Beauty pageant
Miss Universe 1997 was the 46th Miss Universe pageant, held on 16 May 1997 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Brook Lee of the United States was crowned by Alicia Machado of Venezuela at the end of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year. This is the first Miss Universe edition to be produced by Donald Trump.
Background.
Selection of participants.
Replacements.
The winner of Miss Universo Chile 1997, Hetu'u Rapu from Easter Island was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Claudia Delpín because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement of eighteen to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days. The winner of Miss Deutschland 1997, Nadine Schmidt elected not to participate at Miss Universe 1997, and she was replaced by her 3rd runner-up, Agathe Neunen because the other runners-up did not meet the age requirement of 18 to take part at Miss Universe. However, Schmidt later participated at Miss Baltic Sea 1997 and won the crown. Miss Russia 1996, Alexandra Petrova couldn't participate because she was underage at the time, however she attended the contest in Miami as a guest with Russian Organizers. Miss Slovakia 1996, Vladimíra Hreňovčíková elected in November 1996 also couldn't attend the pageant due underage, an emergency Miss Slovakia 1997 pageant was held in April and won by Lucia Povrazníková; however Vladimíra went next year to Miss Universe 1998 were she won Miss Photogenic award. Miss Ukraine 1996, Natalya Shvachko was going to participate in this contest, but however she obtained a Lucrative Modeling Contract with Ford Models in New York in the spring of 1997. and gave up from participating at MU 1997, being replaced by veteran pageant Natalia Nadtochiy due to the realization of the Miss Ukraine 1997 contest in the first week of May 1997; She finally went to Miss Universe 3 years later. Miss Israel 1997, couldn't participate because she was underage and went only to Miss World 1997. Miss Ireland 1996, Niamh Redmond was replaced by her second runner up - Fiona Mullally to Miss Universe 1997, due her poor performance at Miss World 1996 by Irish Organizers.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals.
Miss Nicaragua 1996, Luz Maria Sanchez Herdocia did not participate because the television station that ran Miss Nicaragua (Canal 6) declared bankruptcy in April, and therefore they couldn't pay the entry fee. Maryjane McKibben of Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after two days, she later won the Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997. Miss Great Britain 1996-1997, Elizabeth (Liz) Angela Fuller nor could she attend the MU 1997, because the British national contest was held in Mexico in 1996, and by then, rules of the Miss Universe contest forbade holding national competitions outside the participant country and the organizers were admonished, forcing Liz not to participate in Miami. Miss Norway 1996-1997, Eva Sjoholt did not participate due to her studies of Criminology and the lack of funds and sponsorship. Leoni Boon of Netherlands and Mette Ravn Ibsen of Denmark also had to withdraw from the contest due to lack of money and sponsorship and both competed in Miss Europe 1997 instead, making the first absence of Netherlands in the Miss Universe after 40 years competing. For the second time, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 1996-1997, Emma Komlosy could not participate at the Miss Universe 1997 due to the lack of money and sponsors and their national contest was not held until 1998. Charlemagne Cassidy of Cook Islands only went to Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997 due lack of funds. Miss Universe Zambia 1997, Kusobile Kamwambi Nor went also to MU 1997 in Miami because her organization did not get the funds and money to compete, in addition to not paying her the promised awards by winning the title. Katia Brisson of Haiti didn't participate due to undisclosed reasons. The Puteri Indonesia 1997 pageant was cancelled due to re-ban of beauty contests in Indonesia in late May 1996 by the Suharto Government due to religious reasons, and whose ban was set up in after the political transition. Sri Lanka lost their licence for Miss Universe until 2005. Ghana &amp; Cayman Islands didn't hold their national pageants until Summer-Fall 1997.
Contestants.
Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.
† = deceased
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;