Public opinion reflects new stance
Choi Soon-hwa, an 80-year-old South Korean woman, is set to make history as the oldest contestant in the Miss Universe pageant. She qualified for the Miss Universe Korea competition and aims to represent South Korea at the international final in Mexico, in November. Choi's participation comes amidst recent changes to the pageant's eligibility criteria, which now allows women of all ages and marital statuses to compete. If she wins, she will be the oldest contestant in Miss Universe history.
Back in May both the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA 2023 winners relinquished their titles just days apart. Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, announced her decision on Instagram in a long cryptic post citing her mental health as one of the reasons. Fans noticed that the first 11 sentences seemed to spell out, "I am silenced." Voigt's resignation letter to the Miss USA organization was obtained by CNN and revealed allegations against CEO Laylah Rose, including "bullying" and a "toxic work environment." She accused Rose of building a culture of fear that was the antithesis of female empowerment, as well as failing to provide safeguards to protect titleholders from dangerous situations. Voigt referenced an incident where she was left alone in a car with a man who harassed her. Noelia Voigt was the first woman to voluntarily relinquish a title in the competition's history.
Shortly after Voigt's announcement, Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, 16, shared that she too was stepping down and returning her crown.
On Instagram, she wrote that her values "no longer aligned" with those of the organization. Neither Voigt nor Srivastava have given interviews or commented further. Instead, their mothers have come forward on their behalves, claiming their daughters are bound by strict lifelong NDAs. Barbara Srivastava said that both titleholders were “ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered" during their year as winners, which should have been a dream come true. The Miss USA title was transferred to runner-up Savannah Gankiewicz from Hawaii, but the organization had trouble finding a new Miss Teen USA. The runner-up, New York’s Stephanie Skinner, declined the crown in a public statement. The position remained vacant until Addie Carver, a 17-year-old dance teacher from Mississippi, was crowned Miss Teen USA in August 2024.
The financial collapse of the company that owns Miss Universe was announced just before the 2023 finale. The media distribution company JKN Global Group which owns the Miss Universe pageant filed for bankruptcy. The Thai firm purchased the Miss Universe organization for US$20 million in 2023. JKN reportedly missed a US$12 million loan repayment in September due to a “liquidity problem" and is working towards restructuring its debts.
Alicia Machado won Miss Universe in 1996, and under this new burning spotlight, the public was quick to notice her weight gain following the competition. Pageant officials threatened to revoke her title if she didn’t lose the weight.
During a Miss Universe pageant, Ingrid Marie Rivera's dress was doused in pepper spray, leading to a severe allergic reaction. She was initially accused of lying, but it was later revealed that a pageant volunteer had tampered with her dress.
Karlie Hay made headlines shortly after her 2016 victory when previous tweets surfaced in which she’d used the N-word multiple times. Somehow, she was allowed to keep her title.
The 1968 Miss America pageant was met with 400 female protesters who chanted, “Ain’t she sweet, makin’ profit off her meat,” and crowned a live sheep. They also dumped a huge amount of mops, aprons, dusters, cosmetics, and bras into a “Freedom Trash Can.”
Fakih won Miss USA in 2010, which involved her strutting around in a tiny bikini, but when photos surfaced of her dancing fully clothed on a pole in 2007 during a radio contest, suddenly everyone was upset. Fakih kept her title, but the controversy hindered her in the following Miss Universe contest.
A simple selfie of four Miss Universe contestants in 2015 would have gone unnoticed by most people, except that this selfie included both Miss Lebanon Saly Greige and Miss Israel Doron Matalon. With tensions high between Lebanon and Israel, Greige later wrote that she was “cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel," and she claimed that Matalon had just walked into the photo.
Longacre sued both pageants with claims that this act of disqualifying winners was a strategy used for fundraising and appearances. She did eventually get her scholarship money back, Delaware Online reports.
She said, “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.”
Miss Pennsylvania resigned from the Miss USA 2012 pageant and accused Trump and the other organizers of fixing the contest. She also took to social media to air her thoughts about how fraudulent the competition is. Unfortunately, Monnin had signed a settlement with the pageant agreeing not to defame it, and she was ordered to pay US$5 million to Trump. She also tried to sue her own lawyer, but she lost that case too.
For a while following the inception of Miss America, the pageant held racist clauses like “Rule 7” which stated contestants had to be “of good health and of the white race.” Though the clause was repealed, the effects are still felt. 2007’s Miss California, Christina Silva, blamed this codified racism when her title was stripped due to an alleged vote miscount. She sued the pageant, but eventually dropped the case for lack of evidence.
Miss World 1957 wore the crown for just one sweet day until her mother-in-law revealed that Gage was married, had two children, and wasn’t the age she said she was—all surefire ways to become a pageant outlaw.
Génesis Dávila lost her Miss Florida 2017 crown a week later, when the pageant director accused her of having her makeup done professionally, which is against the rules. She later sued the organization, seeking US$15 million for defamation. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
The former Miss New Jersey 2007 was forced to turn in her crown after becoming pregnant, as the Miss USA rules don't allow contestants who are pregnant or have children.
In 2014, Elizabeth Fechtel was named the winner of Miss Florida for a few days, until it became apparent that there had been a scoring error. She was forced to give the crown to her runner-up, Victoria Cowen, who could then go on to compete in Miss America.
Sources: (Ranker)
Controversial moments in beauty pageant history
Less honorable moments in beauty pageant history
LIFESTYLE Scandal
This seems to be a particularly disastrous time for the beauty pageant world, but scandals are nothing new. The world of beauty pageants appears to be one of beautiful women with poise and talent, but it's often marred by lies, scandals, drugs, and lawsuits, as well as waves upon waves of embarrassment. Click through this gallery to see the most controversial, and certainly less honorable, moments in beauty pageant history.