The preliminaries serve as a taste test of what the Miss Universe finals will be like. They will be parading on the same stage, in the same swimsuits and most of the times, in the same evening gowns.

There are reports though that instead of the top 15 like what we know, only the top 10 from the preliminaries will enter the Top 16. Miss Universe Organization will send in 5 delegates and then the worldwide online vote in www.missuniverse.com will decide one more candidate into the Top 16.

For this year’s Miss Universe pageant, the judges will include Russian fashion icon Irina Agalarova, modeling veteran Corinne Nicolas, TV producer and journalist David Perozzi, E-News correspondent Alicia Quarles, publicist and philanthropist Gabriel Rivera- Barraza, VP for Business and Legal of Telemundo Media Jose Sariego and Miss Universe Canada 2010 Elena Semikina.

— CONTINUE READING HERE —