Miss Universe 1996

Miss Universe 1996 was the 45th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 17 May 1996. This was the final Miss Universe pageant produced by ITT Corp.^[1]

Miss Universe 1996
Alicia Machado
Date	17 May 1996
Presenters	Bob Goen Marla Maples
Entertainment	Michael Crawford
Venue	Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood Resorts and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Broadcaster	CBS (KLAS-TV)
Entrants	79
Placements	10
Withdrawals	Guam Japan Kenya Mauritius Nicaragua Nigeria Seychelles United States Virgin Islands Zambia
Returns	Argentina Belgium Ghana Honduras Lebanon Zimbabwe
Winner	Alicia Machado  Venezuela
Congeniality	Jodie McMullen  Australia
Best National Costume	Ilmira Shamsutdinova  Russia
Photogenic	Aileen Damiles  Philippines
← 1995 1997 →

Alicia Machado of Venezuela was crowned by Chelsi Smith from the United States at the conclusion of the event. 79 contestants competed in this edition.^[2] This is the second time that Las Vegas to host Miss Universe since 1991. She is the fourth Venezuelan woman to win Miss Universe following Maritza Sayalero in 1979, Irene Sáez in 1981, and Barbara Palacios in 1986.

Background

The New Aladdin before being rebranded as Planet Hollywood

Selection of participants

Contestants from 79 countries and territories competed in this year.

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1996	Venezuela – Alicia Machado[2]
1st Runner-Up	Aruba – Taryn Mansell[2]
2nd Runner-Up	Finland – Lola Odusoga[2]
Top 6	Mexico – Vanessa Guzmán[2]  Russia – Ilmira Shamsutdinova[2]  United States – Ali Landry[2]
Top 10	El Salvador – Milena Mayorga[2]  India – Sandhya Chib[2]  Peru – Natali Sacco[2]  Sweden – Annika Duckmark[2]

Contestants

Miss Universe 1996 participating nations and results

Seventy-nine contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	Verónica Ledezma	19	Buenos Aires
Aruba	Taryn Mansell	19	Oranjestad
Australia	Jodie McMullen[3]	22	Sydney
Bahamas	Michelle Rae Collie[4]	20	Nassau
Belgium	Véronique De Kock[5]	19	Antwerp
Belize	Ava Lovell	20	Belize City
Bolivia	Natalia Cronenbold[6]	19	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Bonaire	Jessy Viceisza	21	Kralendijk
Brazil	Maria Joana Parizotto[7]	19	Francisco Beltrão
British Virgin Islands	Linette Smith	19	Road Town
Bulgaria	Maria Sinigerova	20	Sofia
Canada	Renette Cruz[8]	25	Vancouver
Cayman Islands	Tasha Ebanks	22	George Town
Chile	Andrea L'Huillier	22	Santiago
Colombia	Lina María Gaviria[9]	21	Villavicencio
Cook Islands	Victoria Keil	23	Rarotonga
Costa Rica	Dafne Zeledón[10]	19	Limón
Curaçao	Vanessa Mambi	23	Willemstad
Cyprus	Froso Spyrou	20	Nicosia
Czech Republic	Renata Hornofová	21	Prague
Denmark	Anette Oldenborg	21	Copenhagen
Dominican Republic	Sandra Natasha Abreu	24	La Romana
Ecuador	Mónica Chalá[11]	23	Quito
Egypt	Hadeel Abol-Naga	19	Cairo
El Salvador	Milena Mayorga[12]	20	San Salvador
Estonia	Helen Mahmastol	18	Tallinn
Finland	Lola Odusoga[13]	18	Turku
France	Laure Belleville[14]	20	Lathuile
Germany	Miriam Ruppert[15]	21	Taunusstein
Ghana	Pearl Amoah[16]	19	Accra
Great Britain	Anita St. Rose	26	London
Greece	Nina Georgala	22	Athens
Guatemala	Karla Beteta[17]	22	Guatemala City
Honduras	Yazmín Fiallos	19	Francisco Morazán
Hong Kong	Sofie Rahman	21	Hong Kong
Hungary	Andrea Deák[18]	18	Budapest
Iceland	Hrafnhildur Hafsteinsdóttir[19]	20	Reykjavik
India	Sandhya Chib	19	Bangalore
Indonesia	Alya Rohali	19	Jakarta
Ireland	Joanne Black[20]	21	Cavan
Israel	Liraz Mesilaty	19	Beersheba
Italy	Anna Valle	20	Rome
Jamaica	Trudi-Ann Ferguson[21]	21	Kingston
Lebanon	Julia Syriani	18	Beirut
Malaysia	Adeline Ong	23	Johor Bahru
Malta	Roseanne Farrugia	18	Lija
Mexico	Vanessa Guzmán	20	Ciudad Juárez
Namibia	Faghma Absolom	21	Windhoek
Netherlands	Marja de Graaf	19	Drenthe
New Zealand	Sarah Brady	20	Auckland
Northern Mariana Islands	Belvilyn Ada Tenorio	18	Garapan
Norway	Inger Lise Ebeltoft	19	Troms
Panama	Reyna Royo	25	Panama City
Paraguay	Marta Elizabeth Lovera	25	Asunción
Peru	Natali Sacco	21	Trujillo
Philippines	Aileen Damiles[22]	20	Las Piñas
Poland	Monika Chróścicka-Wnętrzak	20	Słupsk
Portugal	Rita Carvalho	19	Bragança
Puerto Rico	Sarybel Velilla	19	Toa Alta
Romania	Roberta Anastase	20	Prahova
Russia	Ilmira Shamsutdinova	20	Saratov
Singapore	Angeline Putt	22	Singapore
Slovakia	Iveta Jankulárová[23]	18	Bratislava
South Africa	Carol Becker	23	Gauteng
South Korea	Kim Yoon-jung	22	Seoul
Spain	María José Suárez	20	Seville
Sri Lanka	Shivanthini Dharmasiri	25	Colombo
Sweden	Annika Duckmark	24	Borås
Switzerland	Stéphanie Berger[24]	18	Zürich
Taiwan	Chen Hsiao-Fen	23	Taipei
Thailand	Nirachala Kumya	19	Chiang Mai
Trinidad and Tobago	Michelle Kahn	23	Princes Town
Turkey	Serpil Sevilay Öztürk	19	Ankara
Turks and Caicos Islands	Shaneika Lightbourne	23	Grand Turk
Ukraine	Irina Borisova	18	Kyiv
United States	Ali Landry[25]	22	Breaux Bridge
Uruguay	Adriana Sandra Maidana	20	Maldonado
Venezuela	Alicia Machado[26]	19	Maracay
Zimbabwe	Langa Sibanda	26	Harare

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant