Miss Universe 2018: Time, channel, livestream; pageant’s first transgender contestant to compete

Updated 1:29 PM; Posted 1:29 PM

The new Miss Universe will be crowned tonight. (Miss Universe)

By Leada Gore | lgore@al.com 

Ninety-four contestants will take the stage tonight as the 2018 Miss Universe is crowned.

The pageant will air Sunday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) on Fox. Steve Harvey will host this year’s event, aired live from Bangkok, Thailand. You can see Fox’s livestream here.

Backstage host will be model and entrepreneur Ashley Graham with TV personality and style guru Carson Kressley and pageant expert Lu Sierra offering analysis and commentary. Grammy winning singer and songwriter Ne-Yo will perform.

Also appearing will be Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa.

Contestants have already taken part in preliminary swimwear and evening gown competitions in front of a selection committee, and in interview before another panel of judges. Those scores will be used to determine the semifinalists during tonight’s broadcast.

Miss USA is Sarah Rose Summers. A former Miss Nebraska Teen USA and Miss Nebraska USA. The 24-year-old is a graduate of Texas Christian University. Earlier this week, Summers apologized for comments she made about two fellow Miss Universe constants’ inability to speak English.

Also making news is Miss Spain Angela Ponce. Ponce is the first openly transgender contestant in the pageant’s 66-year history. Ponce, 27, works with a Spanish non-profit that helps trans children.

The pageant’s return to Bangkok marks the third time Miss Universe has been in Thailand. The Miss Universe pageant was in Bangkok in 1992 and 2005, with representatives of Thailand also capturing the crown twice in 1965 and 1988.

https://www.al.com/news/2018/12/miss-universe-2018-time-channel-livestream-pageants-first-transgender-contestant-to-compete.html