Miss USA 2020: Who were the top 5 contestants? Meet the beauty queens from Miss Mississippi to Miss Idaho
The 2020 Miss USA, the 69th installment of the pageant, was held on November 9, 2020, and was live on the FYI network. Hosted by Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and Allie LaForce, the event was held live from the Exhibition Centre and the Soundstage at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. It also featured a performance by Haley Reinhart while Cheslie Kryst and Christian Murphy served as backstage commentators. Kryst, who won Miss USA 2019, also crowned her successor at the end of the event.
The first four runner-ups at the 2020 Miss USA were as follows: Miss Alabama Kelly Hutchinson (4th runner-up), Miss Indiana Alexis Lete (3rd runner-up), Miss Oklahoma Mariah Jane Davis (2nd runner-up), and Miss Idaho Kim Layne (1st runner-up). The winner was Asya Branch (Miss Mississippi) making her the new Miss USA. Watch the clip of her winning in the tweet.
#MissUSA 2020 is....Mississippi!!! pic.twitter.com/zyH7yoTSgZ
— Miss USA (@MissUSA) November 10, 2020
The event was judged by a panel that included businesswoman and hairstylist Carolyn Aronson, Miss USA 2000 Lynnette Cole, Fox News contributor Abby Hornacek, motivational speaker Gloria Mayfield Banks, Miss USA 1999 Kimberly Pressler, and businesswoman and YouTuber Susan Yara. Here's all you need to know about the top five contestants at the 2020 Miss USA event.
Kelly Hutchinson
Crowned Miss Alabama in 2020, Hutchinson, 22, graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University and plans to attend law school next fall. As a member of Auburn's dance team, she performed in front of more than 87,000 people. Hutchinson lost her father to cancer when she was only 15 and has volunteered with the American Cancer Society for the last seven years. According to her Miss USA bio, Hutchinson hopes to "speak to today's youth about being present in every moment, and will encourage others to cherish the time they have with those they love most."
Alexis Lete
23 years of age, Lete graduated from George Washington University with a degree in communications and broadcast journalism before being crowned Miss Indiana. She has traveled everywhere from the UK to Slovenia as a volleyball player. She now resides in Los Angeles pursuing a career in acting and modeling. Hoping to be a television host one day, Lete talks for her 'Break the Mold' tour, hoping to inspire others to "chase their dreams and break through societal pressures," according to her Miss USA bio.
Mariah Jane Davis
Davis, 25, says in her Miss USA bio, "During a visit to my tribe's morning prayer group, about a hundred members of the Choctaw Nation formed a huge prayer circle around me and placed their hands on me while one of the female leaders of the tribe prayed over me and my journey." Davis, who previously survived a suicide attempt, hopes to use her platform to advocate for mental health through her social campaign #LiftUpYourSister, which gives women resources and a support group to "restore hope." She works in reality television and has dreams of becoming an entertainment-television host.
Kim Layne
Layne, 26, graduated from Cornell University and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University, as well as a Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota. She has been also crowned Miss Idaho Teen USA in 2012. According to her Miss USA bio, Layne is "passionate about health promotion and disease prevention."
Asya Branch
This year's winner Branch, 22, was, in 2020, the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi USA. Branch attended the University of Mississippi, where she once watched a football game with Morgan Freeman. She is currently working as a model and has her own cosmetic line, Branch Beauty. "What started as a makeup obsession has turned into a lucrative business that I am very proud of," she wrote on her Miss USA bio.