Miss Universe 2017 Top 16 Leaves Mexico, Denisse Franco, Out Of Competition

The competition to find Miss Universe 2017 heats up in Las Vegas as they start to make cuts in the show. It was 92 of the most beautiful women in the world that took the stage hoping to take the crown of the country they are representing. Following the Top 16 reveal, only 4 Latinas made the cut from Spain, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela and left favorites from México, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico out of the competition. Find out more about the women that were cut below and tell us if you liked the Top 16!

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.

México: Denisse Franco would best describe herself as a curious person. She is a recent high school graduate who is furthering her education to pursue a degree in medicine with a future plan of becoming a gynecologist. Denisse works closely with Smile Train that provides free cleft and lip palatte surgery to children globally. Denisse also works closely with a charity where she is able to visit abused children in their foster homes. She is grateful to be able to provide the children information and assistance about their health and self-esteem. Denisse is honored to be representing Mexico on the global Miss Universe stage.

Puerto Rico: Danna Hernandez is pursuing a degree in Public Relations and Communications. Danna is a classically trained ballet dancer but also enjoys salsa, flamenco, jazz, hip hop and belly dancing. She is also talented in the art of music as she has played flute, clarinet, and hopes to learn the electric guitar. For advocacy, Danna has been working tirelessly on her health and wellbeing initiative by visiting schools around the island after Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. She has put all her efforts towards recovery missions with the Red Cross, of which she is an active member. Danna also personally helped disaster victims by visiting communities with much needed supplies through the United for Puerto Rico foundation. Danna is looking forward to representing her country and making them proud on this year’s Miss Universe stage.

Dominican Republic: Carmen Muñoz is a practicing lawyer who caught the attention of one of the most successful corporate law firms in her native Dominican Republic when she published her master thesis “Intellectual Property in Dominican Fashion Industry”. This firm also has the empowering quality of being an all-female-firm and Carmen was hired on the spot, but it is her advocacy on behalf of women and children rights what defines her truest passions. This advocacy started in 2013, when Carmen was just a college student. She was chosen to participate in a debate in front of the Dominican Congress on the subject of Child Law. She is also vice-president of “Making Big Smiles” a charitable organization aiding communities in primary needs. If Carmen takes home the Miss Universe crown, she would like to focus on the high risk of teenage pregnancy in her country.