Miss World 1996
Miss World 1996, the 46th edition of the Miss World pageant, took place at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India on 23 November 1996.
At the end of the event, Irene Skliva of Greece was crowned as Miss World 1996 by Jacqueline Aguilera of Venezuela. Skliva was the first Greek to win the title.
Contestants from eighty-eighty countries and territories participated in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Richard Steinmetz and Ruby Bhatia.
Background
Controversy
The event was organised by ABCL which was led by Amitabh Bachchan. The beauty pageant saw resistance by several groups due to the perceived culture clash. However, due to support of the local government, the event was held successfully.Selection of participants
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals
This edition saw the debut of Bonaire, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, and the return of Grenada, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Urugauy and Yugoslavia; Grenada, which last competed in 1970, Yugoslavia last competed in 1991, Uganda and Urugauy last competed in 1993 and Kenya and Nigeria last competed in 1994.Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Denmark, withdrew from the competition.
Judges
- Andre Sekulic
- Linda Pétursdóttir – Miss World 1988 from Iceland
- Vijay Mallya
- Marlene Cardin
- Aamir Khan
- Aishwarya Rai – Miss World 1994 from India
- Sanath Jayasuriya
- Ninibeth Leal – Miss World 1991 from Venezuela
- Tom Nuyens – Mister World 1996 from Belgium
- Parmeshwar Godrej
Contestants
Withdrawals
' – Nicole Symonette could not compete due to financial problems with the Miss Bahamas Committee that ran Miss Bahamas for both Miss World and Miss Universe and thus was only able to send a representative to Miss Universe 1996.- '