Two months before crowning the new Miss Universe, the organizers announced how she will be selected, along with other changes related to the competition, during a press conference held in Mexico City on September 4 (September 5 in Manila).
The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) confirmed that 130 countries and territories will send delegates for the 73rd edition of the international competition. The pageant will take place in Mexico, where delegates will visit various destinations throughout the country.
To accommodate the largest number of delegates this year, the competition will feature the biggest stage in the history of the global event. There will also be a new Miss Universe song released for the 2024 competition. It may be recalled that there was a Miss Universe theme song used in the earlier years of the pageant.
Representing the Philippines is Chelsea Manalo, a model and tourism management graduate, who aims to bring a new story for Filipino contestants in the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Mexico. In the four previous times Mexico hosted in 1978, 1989, 1993, and 2007, representatives from the Philippines did not make it past the first cut.
Manalo aims to become the fifth Miss Universe from the Philippines, following Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), Pia Wurtzbach (2015), and Catriona Gray (2018). Last year's representative, Michelle Marquez Dee, made it to the Top 10, received the "Spirit of Carnival" award, was one of the three “gold finalists” in the "Voice for Change" initiative, and topped the online popularity poll and voting for national costume.
