Jennifer Hawkins (born 22 December 1983 in Holmesville, New South Wales, Australia[1]) is a beauty queen and television presenter from Newcastle, Australia who held the Miss Universe 2004 title.
Early life
Hawkins was a former cheerleader for the Newcastle Knights rugby league team,[2] and the Hunter Pirates basketball team and also worked as a model. It was as a model that she was cast as Miss Australia for the Miss Universe competition.
Pageant
The Miss Universe pageant was held in Quito, Ecuador on 1 June 2004. A week prior to the event, Hawkins was ranked sixth favourite to win the crown.[5] During the final competition, Hawkins became the first Australian to make the semi-finals since Voni Delfos in 1993. She then proceeded to the top ten after competing in the evening gown competition, where she wore an unusual vintage copper gown that was designed by Bora and cost AU$25,000.[6] . After the swimsuit competition, Hawkins advanced to the top five, and eventually won the Miss Universe title.[4] The remaining top five were all delegates from the Americas and Caribbean, including Shandi Finnessey of the USA (1st runner-up), Alba Reyes of Puerto Rico (2nd runner-up), Yanina Gonzalez of Paraguay (3rd runner-up) and Danielle Jones of Trinidad and Tobago (4th runner-up).[4] Hawkins was the first winner from Oceania since Lorraine Downes of New Zealand held the title in 1983, and the first Australian since Kerry Anne Wells in 1972.
Hawkins was crowned by outgoing titleholder Amelia Vega from the Dominican Republic, after famously being announced by host Billy Bush as the "thunder from down under".[7] Pageant co-owner Donald Trump described Hawkins as "the most beautiful Miss Universe I have seen in many, many years".[
Life after Miss Universe
Hawkins signed a contract with the Seven Network at the 2004 Melbourne Cup Carnival. Her first appearances were as a guest presenter on the network's travel show, The Great Outdoors, where she took viewers on tours throughout the world. When she ended her reign as Miss Universe, she became a regular presenter on the show, which resulted in a 2006 Logie nomination for Most Popular New Female Talent.
Hawkins was one of the participants in the fourth season of Australia's Dancing with the Stars and was the fifth celebrity eliminated. On February 15, 2006 she was in a celebrity version of Deal or No Deal called Dancing with the Deal which featured celebrities from Dancing with the Stars.
In August 2006, Jennifer Hawkins initially accepted Bathurst school student Daniel Dibley's invitation to accompany him to his Year 12 graduation ball.[10] She later declined because she did not wish to draw attention from the other couples. She did however agree to go with him on a private date.