Egypt’s contestant for the Miss Universe pageant is 23-year old Sara El-Khouly. Part Croatian descent, but definitely an Egyptian beauty, she grew up in Dubai, UAE.

The political turmoil in Egypt didn’t allow for a national pageant in 2011, but as experienced beauty pageant contestant that won the Miss Mediterranean pageant and the Miss Egypt Universe on 9 June, 2011, Sara was handpicked as the official Egyptian representative to 2011 Miss Universe pageant.

For her Cairo supporters, you can watch it on NBC, technically on 13 September at 3am, but that means 12 September very late at night - after the late night café. Why not? Cairenes are not known to sleep much anyway – and this year the audience can vote.

The pageant gets the attention of 600 million viewers and this year marks an interesting step into modern times for the Miss Universe Organisation. They launched online real-time fan voting during the pageant. Actually, people have been able to show their support since its launch on 23 August. The public can vote for Miss Universe at http://missuniverse.com/members/contestants

19 August: gown fitting with Syrian designer, Rami Al Ali

23 August: arrived in Brazil after she stepped down from the competition, but then stepped back up

12 September: Miss Universe competition plays on NBC!