Miss Universe 2017 Winner: South Africa's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters Wins Crown

This year’s Miss Universe winner was announced Sunday, crowning Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, which was being filmed live at The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.

After winning the crown, the 22-year-old Nel-Peters has earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

The runner-up was Miss Colombia, Laura Gonzalez. The second runner-up was Miss Jamaica, Davina Bennett.

This year's edition of the Miss Universe pageant separated the contestants by geographic region for the first time.

The top three Miss Universe finalists were chosen Sunday — Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett, Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, and Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.

Ten finalists were chosen in the Miss Universe pageant before they announced the top five including Miss South Africa, Miss Venezuela, Miss Thailand, Miss Jamaica, and Miss Colombia.

Six women were not selected to move Sunday following the swimsuit portion of the competition out of the 16 who had been chosen after eliminating 76 others during the show airing live on Fox.

The U.S. representative Kara McCullough of Washington D.C. modeled a two-piece bikini and made it to the top 10. However, she could not make it to the top five.

The other finalists included representatives from Venezuela, Philippines, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand, and Jamaica.

Celebrity Host Steve Harvey, who was hosting the event for the third time, poked fun at his 2015 botched Miss Universe crowning throughout the night. Three days after people in the United States celebrated Thanksgiving, Harvey told the crowd he is "grateful for the Oscars," referring to the best-picture fiasco at this year's Academy Awards.

Joining him as his co-host was model Ashley Graham.

There were also six stars judging the yearly competition, except from the celebrity hosts, including entertainment personality Ross Matthews, former “America’s Next Top Model” judge Jay Manuel, UFC correspondent Megan Olivi, social media star Lele Pons, Miss Universe 2015 winner Pia Wurtzbach, and Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam.

This year’s edition of the Miss Universe saw the most contestants in the pageant’s history with 92 countries and territories participating. The previous record had seen 89 candidates competing in 2011.

This year’s Miss Universe pageant debuts included contestants from the Asia-Pacific region with two debuts from Southeast Asia.

Cambodia made its debut in the competition with its candidate Sotheary, who has been working as a professional model since she was 14 years of age.

Laos also participated for the first time in the pageant, represented this year by Souphaphone Somvichith, a runway model and a student majoring in Business Administration.

Nepal was the third country to make its first Miss Universe 2017 appearance through their contestant Nagma Shrestha — a pageant veteran who has represented her country and even made it to the final round in the Miss Earth 2012 pageant.

Before the announcement of the winner Sunday, a clear crowd favorite appeared to be 26-year-old Miss Philippines, Rachel Peters. “#Miss Philippines” started trending on Twitter, and every time the Filipino-British model graced the stage with her presence, the crowd cheered for her.

Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett was another favorite among the audience and social media users on Twitter cheered for her to win. Some even said that Bennett deserved the crown and that the pageant had been unfair toward her.

Miss Universe 2017 was being aired live on Fox on Sunday, Nov. 26, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST. If you have Fox Now or a participating TV provider subscription, the pageant was also available for streaming on the Fox Now website or apps.

Tickets at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood started at just $36 each and went all the way up to $3,000 for some of the best seats in the house for people who preferred to watch the show live.