Aug 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Tonight at nine pm, EST, ‘NBC’ will be broadcasting the fifty-ninth annual edition of the Miss Universe Pageant, with the lead singer from the band ‘Poison’, Brett Michaels, and Natalie Morales from ‘NBC’ hosting the much anticipated event.

The Miss Universe Pageant was founded back in 1952, by Pacific Mills, a clothing company. It has become one of the most publicized events in the world, with an average of 600 million viewers watching each year. This year’s edition will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eighty three contestants from all over the world will be competing to be the one whom last year’s winner, Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela will crown as her successor. Jane Seymour, William Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri and a few other actors will be this year’s telecast judges of the highly anticipated event.

For various reason, there are three countries which have replaced their contestants. Guatemala, Romania, and Turkey have different contestants than the ones which they originally began with. Eight countries have decided to withdraw from the contest all together. These are Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Estonia, Ethiopia, Iceland, Montenegro, Namibia, and Vietnam.

But eight countries, are returning to the contest as well. Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Denmark, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago and the US Virgin Islands will be competing once again in the Miss Universe Pageant.