Miss USA almost wins Miss Universe

She was this close to the crown!

Miss USA Nia Sanchez stood face-to-face with Miss Colombia Paulina Vega waiting for the big announcement at the end of Sunday's Miss Universe competition in Miami.

"Take a deep breath," said co-host Thomas Roberts, "This is a very special moment in your lives."

And then he announced that the new Miss Universe is ... "Colombia!"

That left Miss USA as the runner-up.

The other finalists chosen from among the 88 contestants were Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell (who stood out for her short spiky haircut), Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha and Miss Netherlands Yasmin Verheijen.

Sanchez, a 24-year-old contestant from Las Vegas, had said she was looking forward to the often-dreaded interview portion. She had been doing practice questions all week with her roommate Miss Australia Tegan Martin, who made it to the top 10.

She drew a question from boxer Manny Pacquiao: "If you were given 30 seconds to deliver a message to a global terrorist, what would you say?" Her answer? "As Miss USA I can always spread a message of hope and love and peace."

Miss Colombia, who is studying business administration, said earlier in the night she was thrilled to be advancing. "It will be a dream come true to represent the woman of today. A woman that not only care about being beautiful and being glamorous, but also cares about being a professional, intelligent, hard-working person," she said, reports AP.

Today show co-anchor Natalie Morales co-hosted the show, which included performances by Gavin DeGraw (whose microphone needed to be turned up a bit) and Nick Jonas.

Oh and about those national costumes? Miss Indonesia won that portion of the contest.

There was an outcry on Twitter when Miss Jamaica was announced as fourth runner-up. Boos were heard from the crowd.

And there was also an outcry when crowd favorite Miss Venezuela Migbelis Lynette Castellanos was cut after the top ten. Three of the last six Miss Universe titles have gone to Venezuela, where beauty pageants are big business. Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavais, who was raised in Venezuela, tweeted his support for her earlier in the night.

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