Location and date In December 2018, Filipino politician and businessman
Chavit Singson of the LCS Group of Companies, who financed
Miss Universe 2016, stated that the 2019 edition of the pageant would be in
Seoul, South Korea, which previously hosted
Miss Universe 1980. He added that he would assist in preparations for the competition in South Korea, although the details were not finalized; the Miss Universe Organization had never confirmed this. Later, in April 2019, it was reported that both the Philippines and
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were interested in hosting the competition. Interest in the Philippines grew following the win of Filipina
Catriona Gray in
Miss Universe 2018, looking to crown her successor in her home country, as
Pia Wurtzbach did at
Miss Universe 2016. Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro will be declared the World Capital of Architecture by
UNESCO for 2020, and was looking to host more international events in the city in anticipation of this title. In August 2019, Israel was also reportedly interested in hosting the competition. With a plan created by producers Danny Benaim and Assaf Blecher, talks regarding hosting the competition in Israel emerged after
Tel Aviv successfully hosted the
Eurovision Song Contest 2019. They stated that Israel was also interested in hosting the pageant on next two years. The country later hosted
Miss Universe 2021 in
Eilat. In May 2019, Richelle Singson-Michael, the daughter of Chavit Singson, stated that the Philippines was one of several countries bidding to host the 2019 competition, and that her family's business LCS Group was committed to hosting either in the Philippines or in South Korea. On 31 October 2019, the Miss Universe Organization confirmed that the competition would be at
Tyler Perry Studios in
Atlanta,
Georgia on 8 December 2019.
Selection of participants Contestants from ninety countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Six of these delegates were appointees to their national titles and another was selected after another national pageant was held to replace the original dethroned winner.
Replacements Angeline Flor Pua,
Miss Belgium 2018, was appointed to represent Belgium after Elena Castro Suarez,
Miss Belgium 2019, chose to compete at
Miss World 2019.
Maëva Coucke,
Miss France 2018, was appointed to the title by the
Miss France organization after
Vaimalama Chaves,
Miss France 2019, opted not to compete in an international pageant.
Vartika Singh of India, who previously represented India at Miss Grand International 2015, was appointed to represent India by the
Miss Diva organization.
Olga Buława,
Miss Polski 2018 was selected to represent Poland by the
Miss Polski organization after the
Miss Polonia organization relinquished the franchise. Fiona Tenuta of Uruguay was appointed by
Osmel Sousa, the national director of
Miss Universe Uruguay, through a casting process after they could not find enough sponsors to hold an actual competition.
Hoàng Thị Thùy, the first runner-up at the
Miss Universe Vietnam 2017 pageant, was appointed to represent Vietnam following an internal selection by
Dương Trương Thiên Lý, the country's national director. Anyella Grados originally was to represent Peru at Miss Universe, but was dethroned following a scandal where videos of her surfaced showing being severely drunk and vomiting in public. Due to the dethronement of Grados, a special edition of
Miss Perú 2019 took place to select the new representative.
Kelin Rivera was the winner.
Debuts, returns and withdrawals This edition marked the debuts of Bangladesh and Equatorial Guinea, and the returns of Lithuania, Romania, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Lithuania last competed in
2014, Sierra Leone in
2016, and the others in
2017. Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Russia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Zambia withdrew. Before the pageant, the
Miss Universe Ghana organization was suspended temporarily and resumed operations in 2020. Erika Kolani of Greece was unable to compete for undisclosed reasons. Lebanon withdrew from the competition after the
Miss Lebanon 2019 competition was continuously postponed and ultimately canceled due to the
2019–20 Lebanese protests.
Alina Sanko,
Miss Russia 2019, was originally going to be sent to both Miss Universe and
Miss World 2019, but was unable to do so due to overlapping dates. The
Miss Russia organization was unable to finalize replacement plans for Miss Universe due to the length of time it took for the Miss Universe Organization to publish details about its date and venue, making it difficult for the Russian entrant to receive an
American visa. However, Sanko did compete in
Miss Universe 2020. Zambia withdrew from the competition after Didia Mukwala,
Miss Universe Zambia 2019, and the Miss Universe Zambia organization failed to book Mukwala's trip to
Atlanta due to their organization's financial situation.
Swe Zin Htet of Myanmar became the first openly
lesbian to compete in Miss Universe after
coming out days before finals night. ==Results==