Catriona Gray's journey to the Miss Universe 2018 crown

Catriona Gray was crowned as the new Miss Universe queen in Thailand on Monday, December 17 (PHL time).

Catriona is the fourth Filipina to be hailed as Miss Universe queen after Pia Wurtzbach (2015), Gloria Diaz (1969) and Margarita Moran (1973).

Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters relinquished the Mikimoto crown to Catriona.

This is the country's first time to win with the Mikimoto crown, by the way.

Miss Venezuela finished as 2nd runner-up, while Miss South Africa, 1st runner-up. 

Catriona Gray was on fire as she did her 'lava walk' clad in a glimmering red slit gown, which she said was inspired by the Mayon volcano in her hometown Albay in Bicol. She also wore the winning ear cuff "Three Stars and the Sun" during the Evening Gown portion. 

Catriona also did the iconic slow-mo show-stopping twirl as she graced the stage during the swimsuit portion clad in a one-piece hot pink swimsuit.

When asked by reporters about her iconic twirl, Catriona simply said, "I turned slowly."

Q&A and final walk

In the Final Word portion of the pageant, Catriona was asked "What is the most important lesson you've learned in your life and how will you apply it on your time as Miss Universe?

Her winning answer was:

"I work a lot in the slums of Tondo, Manila and the life there is very poor and it's very sad, and I've always taught myself to look for the beauty in it, to look in the beauty of the faces of the children and to be grateful and I will bring this aspect as a Miss Universe to see situation in a silver lining and to assess where I could give something, where I could provide something as a spokesperson and this I think if I could teach also to be grateful we could have an amazing world where negativity could not grow and  foster and children will have a smile on their face."

In the first Q&A portion, Catriona was asked about her opinion regarding the legalization of Marijuana.

Her answer was, "I'm for it being used in a medical use but not so for recreational use, because I think if people were to argue what about alchohol and cigarettes, well everything is good but in moderation." 

This isn't Catriona's first pageant. In 2016, she finished in the Top 5 of Miss World. — LA, GMA News