Olivia Culpo, a 20-year-old Boston University sophomore, brought the Miss Universe crown back to the United States for the first time in more than a decade after winning the televised contest Wednesday.

Culpo’s coronation ends a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC. An American had not won the right to be called Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.

Minutes before the middle child of five was crowned, she was asked whether she had she had ever done something she regretted.

“I’d like to start off by saying that every experience no matter what it is, good or bad, you’ll learn from it. That’s just life,” she said. “But something I’ve done I’ve regretted is probably picking on my siblings growing up, because you appreciate them so much more as you grow older.”

Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, came in second, while Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, placed third.

As Miss Universe, Culpo will receive an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.

As a WagerWeb tradition, we always like to put out a list of our favorite Miss Universe contestants before the show airs (by the way, it’s on the 19th). We usually have an easy top 20 or 25 depending on the hotness index of the year’s batch, but I’m sorry to report that this year’s girls are so sub-par we barely had for a top 15 list… and decided to include a Bottom 5 just out of spite.

Here are our favorite girls for 2012!

15. Miss Croatia
Name: Elizabeta Burg
From: Vrbanja
Age: 19

14. Miss Poland
Name: Marcelina Zawadzka
From: Malbork
Age: 23

13. Miss Montenegro
Name: Andrea Radonjic
From: Podgorica
Age: 20

12. Miss Serbia
Name: Branislava Mandić
From: Čurug
Age: 21

11. Miss Greece
Name: Vasiliki Tsirogianni
From: Thessaloniki
Age: 26

10. Miss Trinidad & Tobago
Name: Avionne Mark
From: Champ Fleurs
Age: 23

9. Miss Philippines
Name: Janine Tugonon
From: Orion
Age: 23

8. Miss Venezuela
Name: Irene Sofia Esser Quintero
From: Sucre
Age: 21

7. Miss Kosovo
Name: Diana Avdiu
From: Mitrovica
Age: 19

6. Miss Sri Lanka
Name: Sabrina Herft
From: Colombo
Age: 25

5. Miss Mexico
Name: Karina Gonzalez
From: Aguascalientes
Age: 21

4. Miss Brazil
Name: Gabriela Markus
From: Teutonia
Age: 24

3. Miss Australia
Name: Renae Ayris
From: Perth
Age: 22

2. Miss Chile
Name: Ana Luisa Konig
From: Santiago
Age: 22

1. Miss Czech Republic
Name: Tereza Chlebovská
From: Krnov
Age: 22

And now, in no particular order, the infamous Bottom 5

Miss Great Britain
Name: Holly Hale
From: Llanelli
Age: 22

At least she has all her teeth

Miss Mauritius
Name: Ameeksha Devi Dilchand
From: Curepipe
Age: 26

Two years straight Mautirius… what’s happening?

Miss Cyprus
Name: Ioanna Yiannakou
From: Paphos
Age: 19

This is her photoshopped pic…

Miss Costa Rica
Name: Nazareth Cascante
From: Alajuela
Age: 22 (yeah, sure)

Costa Rica is specially disappointing considering they sent her last year:

Miss Dominican Republic
Name: Dulcita Lynn Lieggi
From: Santo Domingo
Age: 23

It’s official, we have a new Miss USA: Olivia Culpo of Rhode Island has been crowned our new queen.

Culpo is a cellist who describes herself as a nerd and aspires to be more like Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn. Culpo said after winning her crown Sunday night that she plans to go to Tiffany & Co. in New York and recreate Hepburn’s iconic opening scene from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Culpo, a Boston University sophomore, will take a year off from her studies to tackle her duties as Miss USA and represent the nation in the 61st Miss Universe contest in December.

After making it to the final five, Culpo voiced her support for transgender beauty queens during the make-or-break interview round.

“Would you feel it would be fair that a transgender woman wins the Miss USA title over a natural-born woman?” asked celebrity judge Rob Kardashian. The question came from a pageant follower on Twitter, a first for the competition.

Culpo didn’t hesitate before embracing the Miss Universe Organization’s recent decision to admit transgender contestants.

“I do think that that would be fair, but I can understand that people would be a little apprehensive to take that road because there is a tradition of natural-born women, but today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it’s a free country,” Culpo said.

Culpo said after the pageant that she wasn’t put off by the question when she heard it.

“This is a free country and to each their own,” she said.

Carlina Duran was set to become Miss Dominican Republic… but a wedding stood in her way.

Organizers discovered within days of crowning Duran last week that she was married in 2009, making her ineligible to win the contest reserved for single females.

Duran, 25, insisted the marriage was “brief” and that annulment proceedings had begun, though it’s not clear when. “In my daily life, I remained like a single woman, without thinking of myself neither materially nor spiritually married,” said her statement. The crown has been given instead to the first runner up, Dulcita Lieggi, reports AP.

Canada’s Miss Universe pageant is booting Jenna Talackova from the contest because of her birth certificate: That’s because even if Jenna looks like a total babe, she was born male.

The transgender contestant from Vancouver might be a “real girl” now, say officials, but pageant rules require that each contender be a “naturally born female.” Talackova claimed on her registration form that she was born female, but officials suspected otherwise, and she finally ‘fessed up. Talackova “feels like a real girl, and she is a real girl,” pageant official Denis Davila tells the Toronto Star. “She didn’t expect people to question it. She was hoping we could put her back in the competition, but the rules are very clear, and there’s no way we can go back on it.”

Talackova, 24, says she knew she was a female at the age of 4. She began hormone therapy at 14 and had surgery at 19. “I regard myself as a woman—with a history,” she said in an earlier interview. Davila claims there’s no hard feelings between Talackova and pageant officials. “She was excited about the competition,” he said. “Just because she can’t compete doesn’t mean we stopped loving her.”

Eva Ekvall was many things in her short life—a mother, an actress, a TV news anchor and, at the age of 17, Miss Venezuela. But she will be best remembered for her fight against breast cancer, which raised awareness of the disease among thousands of ordinary Venezuelans.

Ekvall, who died in a Houston hospital over the weekend at the age of 28, became an advocate for a cancer charity after her diagnosis last year—and authored a book about her struggle, which included images of her undergoing chemotherapy, bald and without makeup, reports AP.

“I hate to see photos in which I come out ugly,” Ekvall said. “But you know what? Nobody ever said cancer is pretty or that I should look like Miss Venezuela when I have cancer.”

Ekvall, the daughter of an American father and a Jamaican mother, leaves behind a husband and a 2-year-old daughter. Health workers credit her efforts with an increase in the number of women going for breast examinations. She demonstrated “extraordinary calm and courage in her fight against cancer,” said writer Leonardo Padron, one of many prominent Venezuelans who offered their condolences.

We have to admit it, choosing a top 15 for this year’s Miss Universe pageant was HARD WORK, but after a whole day of searching the internet for nudie pics we have finally agreed on a final list.

These are WagerWeb’s official picks for Miss Universe 2011!

15. Trinidad y Tobago

Name: Gabrielle Walcott
Age: 27

14. Thailand

Name: Chanyasorn Sakornchan
Age: 21

13. Ghana

Name: Erica Nego
Age: 26

12. USA

Name: Alyssa Campanella
Age: 21

11. Uruguay

Name: Fernanda Semino
Age: 18

10. Ukraine

Name: Vanessa Goncalves
Age: 25

9. Haiti

Name: Anedie Azael
Age: 22

8. Costa Rica

Name: Johanna Solano
Age: 20

7. Russia

Name: Natalia Gantimurova
Age: 20

6. Brazil

Name: Priscila Machado
Age: 25

5. Switzerland

Name: Kerstin Cook
Age: 22

4. Greece

Name: Iliana Papageorgiou
Age: 23

3. Puerto Rico

Name: Viviana Ortiz
Age: 24

2. Australia

Name: Scherri-lee Biggs
Age: 21
Why we like her:

1. Panama

Name: Sheldry Saez
Age: 19

Fun facts:

-If you do a Google search for 640×480 images of Britain’s candidate, Chloe-Beth Morgan, your results will yield porn.

Unfortunately, she doesn't star in any of it...

-We were going to add super hottie Yara El Khoury-Mikhael (Miss Lebanon) until we realized she has a lazy eye. Lazy eyes freak us out.

It's looking at you!!! ... or not

-We heard a lot of buzz about Miss Mauritius Laetitia Darche, but after reviewing some pics we decided not to include her…

The jaws of life

..

Did you check out Project Runway’s season 9 competitors and thought: Hmmm, that Anya sure looks familiar… Well, wonder no more: Anya Ayoung-Chee realized she had “designer potential” when she “had the opportunity to consult on my wardrobe for the Miss Universe pageant in 2008,” as Miss Trinidad-and-Tobago.

Did you guess yet?

She’s the same Miss Trinidad-and-Tobago who would go on to have a sex tape scandal involving girl-on-girl action and an indignant ex-boyfriend. Link to NSFW video here.

I can hear you going: Oh yeah, now I remember.