Inside the 71st Miss Universe Pageant in New Orleans

• The 71st annual Miss Universe pageant takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday. 
• Hosts Jeannie Mai and Olivia Culpo posted behind-the-scenes details on their Instagram stories. 
• The official Miss Universe Instagram account also shared photos from the event. 

Nearly 90 women from across the globe will compete in the Miss Universe pageant on Saturday. 

The pageant will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where the future Miss Universe will be crowned by current title holder Harnaaz Sandhu of India. While the Miss Universe website shared photos of the 86 contestants’ headshots and national costumes, cohosts Jeannie Mai Jenkins and Olivia Culpo posted some behind-the-scenes photos from rehearsals. 

Variety reported that Jenkins and Culpo, the former 2012 Miss Universe, replaced Steve Harvey, who previously hosted the event for five years. 

Culpo shared glimpses of the contestants during rehearsals and posed with the 2021 Miss Universe winner, Harnaaz Sandhu

On Friday, Culpo shared three videos from the Miss Universe pageant rehearsals that showed the contestants standing onstage in gowns and sashes. 

“Someone’s life is about to change forever,” Culpo wrote in one video caption. 

Culpo later posted a photo of her with Sandhu. During the 2021 pageant, fans rallied behind Sandhu after Steve Harvey asked her to do her best animal impersonation during the competition. 

Other videos showed Culpo dancing and joking around with Jenkins while practicing their lines. She also shared a picture from a recent table read.

On Saturday in the hours leading up to the event, Culpo also shared a video of Miss Universe fans cheering for the contestants.

Jenkins, who’s married to rapper Jeezy, shared similar videos to Culpo that showed her working on set. 

The Miss Universe Instagram account has also posted photos and videos ahead of the event

The official Miss Universe account shared an Instagram photo of Miss Universe 2018, Catriona Gray, who’s participating as the Miss Universe behind-the-scenes commentator. The post also showed current contestants, including Miss Korea and Miss Spain. 

A post shared by Miss Universe (@missuniverse)

The 71st Miss Universe will stream live on Roku Channel and Telemundo at 7 p.m. ET.