Miss Universe 1997

Miss Universe 1997 was the 46th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, United States, on 16 May 1997. Brook Lee of the United States was crowned by Alicia Machado of Venezuela at the conclusion of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year.^[1] This is the first Miss Universe edition produced by Donald Trump.^[2]

The winner of Miss Universo Chile 1997, Hetu'u Rapu, from Easter Island, was replaced by her first runner-up, Claudia Delpín, because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days.^[3][4] The winner of Miss Deutschland 1997, Nadine Schmidt, elected not to participate at Miss Universe 1997, and was replaced by her third runner-up, Agathe Neunen, because the two other runners-up did not meet the age requirement of 18 to take part at Miss Universe. However, Schmidt later participated at Miss Baltic Sea 1997 and won the crown. Miss Russia 1996, Alexandra Petrova, couldn't participate because she was underage at the time, however, she attended the contest in Miami as a guest with the Russian organizers. Miss Slovakia 1996, Vladimíra Hreňovčíková, who was elected in November 1996, also couldn't attend the pageant due to being underage, and as a result, an emergency Miss Slovakia 1997 pageant was held in April, which was won by Lucia Povrazníková; however, Vladimíra was sent next year to Miss Universe 1998, where she won the Miss Photogenic award. Miss Ukraine 1996, Natalya Shvachko, was going to participate in this contest, but obtained a contract with the American Ford Models firm in the spring of 1997. She was replaced by Natalia Nadtochiy, because the Miss Ukraine 1997 pageant would be held in the first week of May 1997. She finally went to Miss Universe three years later. Miss Israel 1997, Mirit Greenberg, couldn't participate because she was underage. She was sent to Miss World 1997 instead. Miss Ireland 1996, Niamh Redmond, was replaced in Miss Universe by her second runner-up, Fiona Mullally, due to her poor performance at the Miss World 1996 pageant.

Miss Nicaragua 1996, Luz Maria Sanchez Herdocia, did not participate because the television station that ran the pageant, Canal 6 declared bankruptcy in April, and therefore, they couldn't pay the entry fee.^[5] Maryjane McKibben of Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after two days, but would later win the Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997. Miss Great Britain 1997, Liz Fuller, did not attend the Miss Universe 1997, because the national contest was held in Mexico in 1996, and by then, the rules of the Miss Universe pageant wanted that the national competitions should be held in the participant country, and as a result, the organizers of the pageant were admonished, forcing Fuller not to participate in Miami. Miss Norway 1996, Eva Sjoholt, did not participate, due to her studies and the lack of funds and sponsorship. Leoni Boon of the Netherlands and Mette Ravn Ibsen of Denmark withdrawed from the contest due to lack of money and sponsorship. Both would later compete in the Miss Europe 1997 pageant instead. It was The Netherlands' first absence in forty years of participating. For the second time in a row, the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 1996, Emma Komlosy, could not participate at the Miss Universe 1997 pageant, due to the lack of money and sponsors. Their national contest was not held until 1998. Charlemagne Cassidy of Cook Islands only went to Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997 due to the lack of funds. Miss Universe Zambia 1997, Kusobile Kamwambi, did not participate because her organization did not get the funds and money to compete, in addition to not paying her the promised awards by winning the title. Katia Brisson of Haiti didn't participate due to undisclosed reasons. The Puteri Indonesia 1997 pageant was cancelled due to the re-ban of beauty contests in Indonesia in late May 1996 by the Suharto government, due to religious reasons. Their ban ban was lifted in 2000, after political transition. Sri Lanka lost their licence for Miss Universe until 2005. Ghana & Cayman Islands didn't hold their national pageants until the summer or fall of 1997.

Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.