Anna Vergelskaya

Amina Dagi, Miss Austria 2012, was appointed to represent Austria after Annika Grill, Miss Austria 2015, decided to only compete at Miss World 2015 due to the conflicting schedules of the two pageants.

Cayman Islands and Montenegro last competed in 2012, while Denmark and Vietnam last competed in 2013.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Guam, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Saint Lucia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands withdrew.

Kushboo Ramnawaj, Miss Mauritius 2014, originally was supposed to represent Mauritius at Miss Universe.

However, due to her inability to perform her obligations as Miss Mauritius, Ramnawaj was replaced by Sheetal Khadun, first runner-up of Miss Mauritius 2014.

Miss Universe 2015 was the 64th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 20 December 2015.

This was the first edition of the pageant to be held under the ownership of WME/IMG, which purchased the Miss Universe Organization from Donald Trump on 14 September 2015.

Consequently, it was also the first Miss Universe event to be aired by Fox and Azteca as the pageant's respective English and Spanish broadcasters instead of NBC.

At the end of the event, Paulina Vega of Colombia crowned Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines as Miss Universe 2015.

It was the Philippines' first victory in forty-two years, and the third victory of the country in the pageant's history.

Contestants from eighty countries and territories competed in this year's pageant.

The competition featured Steve Harvey as host and Roselyn Sánchez as backstage host.

Charlie Puth, The Band Perry, and Seal performed in this year's pageant.

Following the statements about Mexican immigrants made by Donald Trump during a speech on 16 June 2015, Colombia withdrew its bid to host the competition after the country's condemnation of Trump.

Aside from that, NBCUniversal and UniMás (Spanish broadcaster of the pageant) refused to broadcast the Miss USA 2015 pageant and terminated their rights to the pageant.

This prompted Trump to file lawsuits after both NBC and UniMás refused to air the pageant.

On 11 September 2015, Donald Trump purchased the stake of NBCUniversal in Miss Universe, making him the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization.

After three days, on 14 September 2015, WME/IMG acquired the Miss Universe Organization which was previously owned by Trump.

On 28 October 2015, more than a month after WME/IMG purchased the organization from Trump, Fox announced that it secured the rights to air the Miss Universe 2015 pageant, which will be held on 20 December 2015, and the Miss USA 2016 pageant which will air in 2016.

The pageant will take place in The AXIS theatre of Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

In December, Azteca América acquired the Spanish-language rights to air the pageant.

Contestants from eighty countries and territories were selected to compete in the competition.

Twelve of these delegates were appointees to their national titles and three were selected to replace the original dethroned winner.

Camille Cerf, Miss France 2015, was initially supposed to compete in Miss Universe 2015, while Flora Coquerel, Miss France 2014, was supposed to compete in Miss Universe 2014.

Ornella Obone, third runner-up of Miss Gabon 2015, was appointed to represent Gabon after Reine Ngotala, Miss Gabon 2015, decided to only compete at Miss World 2015 due to the conflicting schedules of the two pageants.

Cynthia Samuel of Lebanon, Vladislava Evtushenko of Russia, and Refilwe Mthimunye of South Africa are also appointees to their titles after their original titleholders, Miss Lebanon 2015 Valerie Abou Chacra, Miss Russia 2015 Sofia Nikitchuk, and Miss South Africa 2015 Liesl Laurie were unable to compete because of commitments to Miss World 2015.

Barbara Ljiljak originally was supposed to represent Croatia at Miss Universe.

However, Ljiljak broke her arm hours before leaving for the competition, barring her from participating at Miss Universe.

Due to the incident, Mirta Kuštan, the second runner-up of Miss Universe Croatia 2015, took the responsibility as the representative of Croatia in Miss Universe 2015.

Myriam Arévalos, Miss Earth Paraguay 2015, assumed the Miss Universe Paraguay 2015 title after Laura Garcete, Miss Universe Paraguay 2015, became pregnant during her reign and thus was dethroned.

The 2015 edition saw the returns of Cayman Islands, Denmark, Montenegro, and Vietnam.

Aigerim Smagulova was appointed as the representative of Kazakhstan at Miss Universe after Regina Valter, Miss Universe Kazakhstan 2015, decided to compete in Miss Universe 2016.

However, Smagulova withdrew due to personal reasons.

Miss Universe Slovenia Ana Haložan suffered an accident when she arrived in Las Vegas, which resulted in hospitalization, preventing her from participating in registration activities, interviews and pictorials.

She was not present at the first official events but stayed in Las Vegas until the pageant was over.

She suffered a seizure and had her face partially paralyzed.

Despite her withdrawal, she was given an opportunity to walk on the stage during the live telecast.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Guam, Kenya, Lithuania, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Initially, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama initially decided to not participate in this edition due to the statements about Mexican immigrants made by Donald Trump.

A switch happened between the two delegates due to a conflict of schedule between Miss Universe and Miss France 2016, at which Cerf was contractually obligated to be present.