Update: Miss Colombia Paulina Vega won the Miss Universe 2015 on Sunday night in Miami, Florida. Viewers can watch the full episode & highlight video of the Miss Universe pageant by clicking here.
Miss Universe 2015 contestants will strut the floor in swimsuits, costumes with national symbolism, and night gowns, and answer questions from judges, including Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, as they vie for the Miss Universe pageant crown. Beauty queens from 88 countries competed on Wednesday's preliminary contest, but only 15 contestants made the cut to tonight's final showdown.
"The 63rd Annual Miss Universe Pageant" will be three-hours long, and is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Pacific time, 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central time. The event will air live from Doral Miami, Florida on Sunday, January 25 on NBC. For viewers watching online, NBC will live stream the beauty pageant through its website on NBC Live. While the online telecast requires login, those with cable subscription are able to watch the show for free.
This year's Miss Universe contest will be especially interesting because of the outlandish costumes that the contestants will be wearing. In the preliminary contest, Miss Canada Chanel Beckenlehner wore a hockey themed costume, with 10 hockey sticks spanning from her back like wings, and a head-piece resembling that of the Stanley Cup trophy. Meanwhile, Miss USA Nia Sanchez came out in red, white, and blue, with featured wings. The costumes definitely adds a sense of creativity into this half-a-century long tradition.
Tonight's host are Natalie Morales from the TODAY show, and Thomas Roberts from MSNBC Live.
Besides watching the contestants compete, the organizers have also arranged for musical performances by Grammy-nominated singer-songerwriter Gaven DeGraw, platinum-selling solo artist Nick Jonas and Twenty-time Latin Billboard Award winner Prince Royce. Nick Jonas will also perform before the winner is crowned. Tonight's show will be an event that you won't want to miss!
In addition to Pacquiao, the judges include Kristin Cavallari, William Levy, Lisa Vanderpump, Louise roe, Emilio Estefan, Nina Garcia and DeSean Jackson. While the costumes will add to tonight's entertainment, the contestants will be judged in three categories, swimsuit, evening gown and interview, as they vie to get crowned by Gariela Isler from Venezula as her successor as next Miss Universe at the end of the live streaming event.
Leading up to tonight's contest, the women have been participating in events around Miami from a golf outing to a Zumba class in the past two weeks.
"All the contestants are really beautiful souls and we've gotten to get to know each other during the 20 days and we've become great friends," Miss Egypt Lara Debbane told NBC News. "We're excited and we're going to support each other."
Miss USA Nia Sanchez says she's been running practice questions all week with her roommate Miss Australia Tegan Martin.
"Interview is the best place to connect with the judges. Miss Universe is not a runway model. I can look good onstage all I want but if I can't talk to somebody I'm not going to be a good Miss Universe," Sanchez told NBC News.
Earlier this month, Miss Lebanon was caught in a controversy as she appeared in a "selfie" with Miss Israel. This event is not only a simple beauty queen pageant, but also a diplomatic event as in the world of sports, it is known as ping-pong diplomacy.
