From the 92 women that started out at the beginning of the Miss Universe 2017 competition, we are down to the Top 5. Those women that are continuing the fight are: South Africa (Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters), Venezuela (Keysi Sayago), Thailand (Maria Poonlertlarp), Jamaica (Davina Bennett) and Colombia (Laura González). During this round, Spain and Brazil were cut, with only two latinas remaining in the competition.
Top 10: Venezuela (Keysi Sayago), USA (Kára McCullough), Philippines (Rachel Peters), Canada (Lauren Howe), South Africa (Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters), Spain (Sofía del Prado), Brazil (Monalysa Alcântara), Colombia (Laura González), Thailand (Maria Poonlertlarp) and Jamaica (Davina Bennett).
Top 16: Thailand (Maria Poonlertlarp), Sri Lanka (Christina Peiris), Ghana (Ruth Quashie), South Africa (Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters), Spain (Sofía del Prado), Ireland (Cailín Áine Ní Toibín), Croatia (Shanaelle Petty), Great Britain (Anna Burdzy), Colombia (Laura González), USA (Kára McCullough), Brazil (Monalysa Alcântara), Canada (Lauren Howe), Philippines (Rachel Peters), Venezuela (Keysi Sayago), Jamaica (Davina Bennett) and China (Roxette Qiu).
Steve Harvey was the show's main host and brought his comedic personality to the Sin City stage. Musical performances from Fergie and Rachel Platten took over and the judges of the competition were Ross Mathews, Lele Pons, Jay Manuel, Megan Olivi, Pia Wurtzbach and Wendy Fitzwilliam.
Colombia: Laura González from Cartagena de Indias has been preparing herself to be an actress since the age of 16. After she graduated from a performing arts school where she studied acting, she moved to Bogotá to kick start her career. Since taking the risk to pursue acting, Laura has worked to develop herself in theater, short films and TV. Aside from acting, Laura enjoys relaxing activities such as Yoga and Pilates. Laura hopes with her experience in front of an audience, she will be confidently crowned the next Miss Universe.
Venezuela: Keysi Sayago comes from a humble family and grew up surrounded with love, especially from her grandparents that took care of her. Her family gave her the strength and compassion to help others with love and commitment. Keysi has always had an interest in mechanical equipment and how things work, which has led her to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. Since she was crowned Miss Universe Venezuela 2016, Keysi has given services to different organizations to provide food and shelter to children and adults who have lack of resources in vulnerable situations. In her free time, Keysi enjoys reading, cooking and outdoor activities including skydiving and scuba diving. If Keysi takes home the Miss Universe crown, her mission would be to help those in need and promote wellbeing in order to have a better society.
South Africa: Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters recently earned her degree in Business Management at North West University after making history at her high school for holding two leadership positions. Demi-Leigh’s biggest motivation comes from her half-sister who has a disability, that lives in Potchefstroom with her stepmother and father. In her spare time, Demi-Leigh is passionate about a program she helped develop to train women in self-defense in various situations. She plans to share these workshops and help as many women as she can.
Thailand: Maria Poonlertlarp currently lives in her hometown Bangkok. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in International Business Management and a Master's Degree in Marketing. Maria enjoys trying new things, especially foods from different cultures. With Thailand having the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies in SEA, Maria is passionate about sharing the importance of sex education for the safety and health of teens. Maria is also concerned about her countries environment as Thailand is one of the leading SEA countries contributing to trash in the seas. She believes that it will affect the global and national environment, as well as the tourism. If she takes home the crown, Maria hopes to continue to educate and help prevent the two causes that she is most passionate about.
Jamaica: Davina Bennett is pursuing a degree in marketing at the University of the West Indies. Upon acquiring her Bachelor's Degree, she would like to utilize her degree to leverage her marketing business as well as successfully brand herself as an entrepreneur. Davina is passionate about giving back and throughout her modeling career, she gained valuable experiences that paved the way for the Davina Bennett Foundation for the Deaf. She created the foundation to train and inspire models who are deaf, but it has now grown to include a wider cross section of Jamaica's deaf community. If Davina takes home this year's crown, she would like to continue to working with the deaf community to help break the stigma of hearing loss.
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