- The 71st annual Miss Universe pageant will be held in New Orleans on January 14.
- It will stream for free on the Roku Channel at 7 p.m. ET. It will also be available on Telemundo.
It's time to crown the next Miss Universe.
The 71st annual Miss Universe competition will take place on January 14 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
It will stream live on the Roku Channel at 7 p.m. ET and can be watched for free on the Roku Channel website. It can also be viewed at the same time on Telemundo in Spanish. The Miss Universe national costume show can be streamed on the Miss Universe YouTube channel on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
This year, 86 women, including Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel, will compete for the title of Miss Universe. The winner will be crowned by current Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu, who took home the crown for India in December 2021.
There will be performances by New Orleans legends like Big Freedia and Big Sam's Funky Nation. Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo will host the show alongside "The Real" star Jeannine Mai Jenkins. Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and "Access Hollywood" correspondent Zuri Hall, who has hosted the last two Miss USA competitions, will give commentary backstage.
This year's show marks the first time in five years that Miss Universe won't be hosted by Steve Harvey, who famously announced the wrong winner in 2015 and had Sandhu meow onstage in 2021.
Amy Emmerich, the CEO of the Miss Universe Organization, told Variety that, after the organization's five-year contract with Harvey and Fox came to an end this year, she wanted to "make sure we led with a female lens this next go-around."
"It was a rare opportunity to be able to kind of restart in a whole new place," she added.
This year's Miss Universe will also be the first led by new owner Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip and her Thailand-based company, JKN Global Group.
It was announced in October 2022 that Jakrajutatip would become the first woman to own Miss Universe. She is the third richest transgender person in the world with an estimated worth of $210 million, according to Bangkok Post.
"The first woman to own the brand, that's going to be a change in and of itself for 70 years," Emmerich told Variety. "And I think especially because of Anne's backstory, and what she feels transformational leadership is and how she can really fight for a future borne by women a little bit more than possibly a man at IMG could."
It's been a controversial few months for the pageant community. Shortly after Gabriel won Miss USA in October, contestants claimed that the pageant had been rigged in her favor. An investigation was launched and Miss USA president Crystle Stewart was suspended indefinitely.
Many Miss USA 2022 contestants also said the organization gave them no mental-health support during the pageant despite pledging to make it a priority following Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst's death in January 2022.