Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo tells TMZ ... she did engage in underage drinking during her freshman year in college (like EVERY college student) ... but the 20-year-old insists her days of illegal boozing are long behind her.

Just days after Culpo emerged victorious at the Miss Universe competition last month, photos of the beauty queen taking shots of hard liquor surfaced on the web -- a problem since she's not exactly 21.

We reached out to Culpo -- who told us, "Like many college students I was curious and did experiment with alcohol in college."

She adds, "I would be lying if I told you I did not experience what many students do during their college years.  I take responsibility for my actions."

Culpo says the pics were taken during her freshman year at Boston University -- but notes she hasn't had one drink since she won the title of Miss USA back in June.

It's too bad Culpo's parents weren't with her during the boozing sessions -- 'cause Massachusetts is one of the states where it's OK for someone under 21 to booze in a bar as long as that person is with a parent who consents.

Moments after Miss USA Olivia Culpa emerged victorious in the Miss Universe pageant, she celebrated like a true beauty queen ... by STUFFING HERSELF WITH ACTUAL FOOD!!!

Culpa had been on a strict diet for months leading up to the competition (probably why she KILLED IT in the swimsuit portion) ... and afterward, she decided to treat herself to a mini room service feast.

The 20-year-old tells us ... when she went back to her room at the Planet Hollywood hotel in Las Vegas ... she "splurged" on the following meal:

-- One giant portion of penne pasta with chicken and red sauce
-- Some bread
-- Half a cupcake

SPLUUUURGE!!!!!!

Culpa says she was HOPING to add some cookie dough ice cream to her food party, but it just didn't happen. Bummer.

But there's more ... Olivia says she plans on eating a Reese's peanut butter cup "tree" thing in the near future ... because they have more peanut butter than the regular cups.

What a fatty.

Donald Trump isn't wasting his precious, billionaire time RIGGING beauty pageants, despite allegations from a scorned pageant contestant ... this according to a judge.

As we previously reported, Trump had filed a lawsuit against former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin ... claiming she defamed his Miss Universe Org. when she went on a media blitz and accused the Miss USA pageant of being rigged.  

At the time, Monnin had claimed a fellow Miss USA contestant had seen a list containing the top 5 contestants before they were officially announced at the event. Trump denied the allegations.

The case went to arbitration ... and now, the retired U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge who oversaw the case ruled that Monnin DID defame the Miss Universe Org. ... and awarded M.U.O. $5 million in damages.

Trump also released a statement saying, "We cannot allow a disgruntled contestant to make false and reckless statements which are damaging to the many people who have devoted their hearts and souls to the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageant systems.”

He added, "While I feel very badly for Sheena, she did the wrong thing. She was really nasty, and we had no choice. It is an expensive lesson for her."

Marc Anthony's Miss Universe ex-wife has been living off the singer's gravy train for eight years -- because ever since the former couple divorced ... Marc's been paying her a staggering $16,500 per month in alimony and child support. 

A judge in the Dominican Republic issued the alimony and child support order in 2004 -- when the divorce was finalized -- and now, for the first time, the order has been made public.

Marc's ex Dayanara Torres -- who recently moved to the U.S. -- had to file the order in an L.A. court so that she can enforce it on her new home turf.

According to the court docs, obtained by TMZ, Marc's been ordered to pay $3,500 USD a month in alimony to Torres -- and an additional $6,500 per month in child support for each of their two sons. All told, the bill is $16,500 a month.

Anthony and Torres were married back in 2000 in Vegas. Their two sons -- Cristian and Ryan -- were born in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

A week after their divorce was finalized in 2004, Marc married Jennifer Lopez.

And that's showbiz.

Andrea Ownbey -- aka the reigning 'Miss Howard Stern' pageant winner -- was arrested for DUI earlier this month ... after cops say she drunkenly smashed into another car and didn't even realize it.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ ... 29-year-old Ownbey -- who's been Miss Howard Stern since 2002 -- hit another car on the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee sometime after 10pm on October 8.

A cop who happened to be in the area, claims he heard the accident and rushed to the scene -- only to find Ownbey in her car ... reeking of booze ... and fumbling to put her cell phone back together.

In the report, the cop states, "[Ownbey] was not aware that she had been in a traffic crash."

The officer claims Ownbey admitted to drinking two glasses of wine before getting behind the wheel ... so he administered a field sobriety test ... and she bombed.

And to make matters worse, cops say they found a small baggie of weed in the car ... as well as a weed pipe and a variety of prescription drugs.

According to the police report, Ownbey was transported to a nearby hospital -- where she took a breathalyzer test ... and blew a .178 ... way over the legal limit, .08.

Once she was medically cleared, Ownbey was taken to a nearby jail where she was booked for DUI, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and driving while in possession.

We also spoke with the driver of the car Ownbey hit who tells us Andrea came "flying out of nowhere" and rear-ended him HARD. The driver says his Jeep was totaled in the wreck.

We reached out to Ownbey -- so far, no response.

Fired Miss USA Carrie Prejean is officially on the move ... she and her former NFL husband Kyle Boller just sold their massive San Diego pad -- but they took a pretty nasty hit.

Kyle -- who quit the NFL this summer, ONE DAY after signing with the Chargers -- purchased the 4,322 square-foot house in 2008 for $2.55 million ... two years before he met Carrie.

Prejean -- who notoriously slammed same-sex marriage during her 2009 run and was later STRIPPED of her crown for breach of contract -- was added to the home's deed when she got engaged to Boller in 2010.

But, after owning the house for several years, the couple decided it was time to go ... and unloaded the 4-bedroom, 4-bath crib last month for $2.35 mil -- way below what Kyle paid.

It's a steal for the new owner -- who gets a cool modern decor ... sick ocean views ... a vanishing edge pool ... and not to mention a whopping 140 palm trees.

It's the end of a hot chick saga -- former Miss Arizona Teen USA Tori Vance will NOT do time for her DUI arrest because she just struck a sweet plea deal ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... 18-year-old Tori was charged with DUI after she made an illegal U-turn in Hollywood back in May, and allegedly showing signs of intoxication.

Tori originally plead "not guilty" to the DUI -- but this week the first time offender made a deal with prosecutors ... pleading "no contest" to reckless driving.

In exchange for her plea,  prosecutors dropped the DUI charges against Tori ... and she got 3 years probation instead of jail time.

Ex-Miss USA Rima Fakih has learned her lesson after narrowly dodging a jail sentence in her recent DUI case -- stumbling drunk out of a club last weekend in Hollywood, saying, "TMZ, I'm not driving!!!"

As we previously reported, a Michigan judge sentenced Fakih to 6 months probation and alcohol-education course in May, after the former beauty queen pled no contest to driving while visibly impaired.

Fakih was arrested in December -- when cops said she had been driving with a blood alcohol level over double the legal limit.

But last Sunday, Fakih wasn't making the same mistake -- leaving Greystone Manor in Hollywood extremely intoxicated ... but refusing to get behind the wheel. Good call.

Drunk girls walking around in high heels ... never gets old.

Former Miss Arizona Teen USA Tori Vance -- who pled "not guilty" to DUI last week after her recent arrest -- is now admitting ... she DID have something to drink before cops busted her behind the wheel last month.

Tori was out shopping in L.A. yesterday with a beauty pageant buddy when she gave us the blow-by-blow -- saying, "I was coming from Rosa Mexicana. It was Cinco de Mayo. So I shouldn't have been driving. I know better."

Tori added, "I didn't even give it a thought and I had something to drink."

QUICK REMINDER -- TORI IS ONLY 18 YEARS OLD.

After leaving the restaurant, Tori said she pulled an illegal U-turn and -- just her luck -- a cop car was right behind her. The giant sombrero she was wearing at the time probably didn't help her case.

As we reported, Tori pled "not guilty" -- but our guess ... her lawyer's are currently hammering out a plea deal with prosecutors. Tori's due back in court July 25th.

Former Miss Arizona Teen USA Tori Vance insists ... she wasn't driving drunk before her May arrest -- pleading "not guilty" to DUI yesterday.

TMZ broke the story ... Vance was pulled over last month in Hollywood after flipping a bitch (making an illegal u-ey) -- and according to law enforcement, she showed signs of intoxication when cops approached her vehicle. Officers gave Vance a field sobriety test ... she bombed.

Vance was charged with two counts of DUI and faces up to six months in jail if convicted. And since she's underage, she could lose her license for a year too.

Last we spoke to Vance, she apologized for the incident, telling us, “I’m truly sorry as my conduct was wrong and not a reflection of who I really am." Safe to say ... she's probably trying to hammer out a plea deal with prosecutors.

A pretrial hearing has been set for July 25th.

If the Miss USA pageant really was fixed, you can rule out one possible culprit -- the number crunchers responsible for tabulating the girls' scores ... this according to the number-crunching company.

As we reported, Ex-Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin surrendered her sash last week -- claiming another contestant had seen a list of the top 5 girls long before the final competition ... meaning the results were fixed.

But a rep for Ernst & Young -- the tabulating company employed by the Miss Universe organization -- released a statement today, explaining how its firm did NOTHING unsavory.

According to the rep, Miss USA judges submitted their scores directly to E&Y, and E&Y then independently tabulated them -- the scores remained under E&Y's control until the results were handed directly to the hosts for announcement.

The rep says, no one could have seen a list of the top 10 or top 5 beforehand "because they did not exist until they were tabulated by us."

E&Y insists the results determining the top 5 were determined Sunday June 3rd -- AFTER the evening gown competition -- which rules out the possibility of a preexisting list.

Unfortunately, that's not necessarily true -- the judges could still theoretically have colluded independent of E&Y, which basically makes its statement completely meaningless.