It’s been just a week since Manushi Chhillar created history and gave India its sixth Miss World 2017 title, 17 years after Priyanka Chopra won it. Now it’s time for another mega beauty pageant- Miss Universe 2017, where Shraddha Shashidhar the winner of Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2017 who represented India at the contest on 26th November but the title was bagged by the woman representing South Africa.
South Africa’s Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters walked away with the crown, ending a nearly four-decade long jinx for her country in one of the world’s biggest pageants. After Manushi Chhillar’s victory at the Miss World 2017, India had pinned high hopes on Shashidhar, 21, a media graduate, to end India’s 16-year drought as Lara Dutta had last brought back the crown in 2000.
The Miss Universe pageant was held at The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The runner-up was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez. The second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.
Along with the title,the 22-year-old Nel-Peters has bagged up with the prize of a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes. She competed against 92 contestants which were eliminated by stages that included geographic division, swimsuit and evening gown modeling, and a round of questions. This year’s edition had the most contestants ever.
During the question answers round, Nel-Peters was asked about the most important issue regarding women at workplace, and in answer to which she said,” In some places, women get paid 75% of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours — and I do not believe that this is right, I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world.”
The other runner-up’s, Miss Colombia Laura González and Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett were asked about on how to talk to children about terrorism and sexual harassment, respectively to which they answered,”Sexual harassment is a form of abuse and no abuse should be tolerated whether in the workplace or in society,” Bennett said. “I believe that men and women should come together and be professional.”
The competition’s top 13 finalists were Thailand, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Spain, Ireland, Croatia, Great Britain, USA, Brazil, Canada, Philippines, Venezuela and China.
About Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters :-
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was born on 28th June 1995 in Sedgefield, Western Cape. She has completed her collage in Business Management from North-West University and she is fluent both in English and Afrikaans.
Nel-Peters began her pageantry career while competing in the Miss South Africa 2017 competition. Representing Western Cape, Nel-Peters was declared the winner of the competition. As Miss South Africa, Nel-Peters was given the right to represent South Africa in both Miss World 2017 and Miss Universe 2017, but due to the dates of the pageants coinciding, she was sent to solely Miss Universe, held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She went on to win the competition and was crowned Miss Universe 2017 by outgoing titleholder Iris Mittenaere. Nel-Peters is the second titleholder from South Africa, and the first since Margaret Gardiner won Miss Universe 1978.