Demi-Leigh Tebow (née Nel-Peters; born 28 June 1995) is a South African model, speaker, emcee, moderator, philanthropist and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss South Africa and Miss Universe in 2017. Demi is the second Miss Universe crowned from South Africa. She is married to former NFL Quarterback and current Outfielder for the NY Mets Org Tim Tebow.
Demi was born in Sedgefield, Western Cape, to Bennie Peters and Anne-Marie Steenkamp. Her half-sister, Franje, had cerebellar agenesis, and Demi has said that she was the most significant motivator in her life; Franje passed on May 4, 2019.
While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business management and entrepreneurship from North-West University, Demi modeled for Boss Models and Vision Management Cape Town and graduated in March 2017, a few days before winning the Miss South Africa 2017 competition. She is fluent in both English and Afrikaans.
Demi began her pageant career representing the Western Cape in the Miss South Africa 2017 competition on March 26, 2017, which she won. As Miss South Africa, she was awarded the opportunity to represent South Africa in both Miss World 2017 and Miss Universe 2017, but as the dates of the two pageants coincided, she competed for the title of Miss Universe, held in Las Vegas, Nevada. She went on to win the competition and was crowned Miss Universe 2017 by outgoing titleholder Iris Mittenaere.
In her capacity as Miss University, Nel-Peters visited the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, France, Mexico, Ecuador, India, Lebanon, Egypt, Malaysia as well as various cities in the US and her home country, South Africa.
Demi married Tim Tebow on Monday, January 20, 2020 in a sunset ceremony in South Africa.