MANILA, Philippines - Ten judges were tasked to select this year’s winner, including Cuban-American music mogul Emilio Estefan, Cuban soap opera star William Levy and Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao.
The 36-year-old Pacquiao, dashing in a black coat and tie, was judge number one.
Pacquiao threw his question at Miss USA.
“If you were given 30 seconds to deliver a message to a global terrorist, what would you say?” said the boxing icon.
Sanchez, from Las Vegas, repeated the question before coming up with an answer.
“I would just say that I know as Miss USA and I can always spread the message of hope and love and peace,” she said.
“I so I would do my very best to spread that message to them and everyone else in the world,” the American continued.
Meanwhile, last year’s Miss Universe, Venezuelan Gabriela Isler, talked about her visit to Yolanda-hit areas in the Philippines. The Miss Universe organization announced that it has raised $250,000 for relief efforts, according to GMA News.
The event is actually the 2014 Miss Universe pageant. The competition was pushed back until now to try to get a bigger television audience.
The Miss Universe contest started out in 1952 as a local “bathing beauty” competition organized by a swimwear company in Long Beach, California.