The adage that attractiveness resides in the observer’s perception proves highly relevant for the recently beleaguered Miss Universe competition.
The opaque and subjective standards used for judging have muddled the situation surrounding the final night’s controversies. The debate surrounding whether Miss Mexico, Fátima Bosch, deserved her victory is less about her stage presence now and more about the accusations flying regarding manipulated results, operational secrecy, and preferential treatment.
One member of the judging panel, Omar Harfouch, has aired numerous damaging allegations on social networks since stepping down from his role just days before last Friday’s final event.
The Lebanese-French composer asserted that 30 contestants had already been chosen through a “secret ballot” conducted by an “ad-hoc panel” composed of individuals not officially assigned to judge duties—a claim the Miss Universe Organization has refuted. More sensationally, he alleged that Bosch’s win had also been predetermined, orchestrated by business connections between the pageant’s co-owner and president of the Miss Universe Organization, Raúl Rocha Cantú, and the Mexican titleholder’s father.
Neither the Miss Universe Organization nor counsel for Rocha Cantú offered comment when contacted by CNN. Regarding the latter accusation, Rocha Cantú informed Mexican journalist Adela Micha that an agreement his firm maintained with Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil enterprise—where Bosch’s father acts as an advisor—was secured through a transparent public tender process that predated his acquisition of a stake in Miss Universe. In a statement via X, Pemex confirmed a brief contract existed in 2023 with entities affiliated with Rocha Cantú, while stressing that this association had concluded.
Further complicating matters, on Wednesday, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office announced that Rocha Cantú is under investigation concerning potential ties to an illicit network involved in drug movements, arms trading, and fuel misappropriation. Rocha Cantú’s legal representative also failed to reply to CNN’s inquiries regarding these new allegations.
However, the pageant leader has posted several rebuttals via social media in recent days, attacking the other claims. In a determined three-part Instagram entry, Rocha Cantú dismissed Harfouch’s assertions, labeling him an “attention-seeker” leveraging these untruths to “boost his follower count.”
The repercussions have been severe for those running the pageant. Olivia Yacé, Ivory Coast’s delegate and fourth runner-up, whom many viewers felt was the rightful winner (and whom Harfouch claimed was eliminated from contention “purely because of potential visa hurdles”), has subsequently relinquished her Miss Universe Africa and Oceania title. She issued a carefully phrased declaration stating her desire to “uphold” her principles.
Pictured at last Friday’s pageant, Ivory Coast delegate and fourth runner-up Olivia Yacé (third from left) has since renounced her Miss Universe Africa and Oceania title.
Pictured at last Friday’s pageant, Ivory Coast delegate and fourth runner-up Olivia Yacé (third from left) has since renounced her Miss Universe Africa and Oceania title. Mohan Raj/Getty Images
Soon following this, Rocha Cantú seemed to acknowledge that factors like the strength of competitors’ passports were among “numerous elements to weigh.” Discussing Yacé’s Ivorian nationality in his interview with Micha, he mused, “She would be the Miss Universe confined to an apartment for a whole year due to the expense associated with the visa application and legal work. Some processes necessitate six months’ lead time. The year would already be over, correct?”
Even before the final night, the event had been marred by controversy. Earlier that month, a Thai pageant official harshly criticized Bosch during a pre-competition meeting, leading to a mass departure of other contestants.
Reputation for scandal
Pageants, frequently positioned where national pride meets politics, often become focal points for controversy. This year’s turmoil is merely the latest setback impacting Miss Universe, its participating delegates, and the wider network of national contests that feed representatives into the main event.
In just the last five years, local organizing bodies have faced accusations spanning biased entry rules (France), sexual misconduct (Indonesia), and national prejudice (South Africa). At Miss USA, the 2023 victor, Noelia Voigt, abruptly resigned via a cryptic social media message seemingly hinting at being “silenced” through the opening letters of her initial eleven sentences, fueling speculation about a rigid non-disclosure pact. Shortly after, Miss Teen USA also vacated her title.
The nature of the controversies swirling around the 2025 Miss Universe are “certainly not novel” within the pageant sphere, according to Hilary Levey Friedman, a sociologist and author of “Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America.”
“People have always remarked, ‘Good heavens, it was fixed,’ or ‘They knew somebody,’ or ‘There’s an obvious conflict of interest,'” she commented, adding that commercial interests are equally historical. “These competitions have consistently maintained a strong commercial foundation, along with a long-standing tradition of being run by men while women compete.”
Miss Universe, under Donald Trump’s co-ownership from 1996 to 2015, remains, above all else, a commercial enterprise. While organizers might possess an ethical obligation toward impartiality and a responsibility to care for delegates, the competition’s authenticity is fundamentally about its public image. As Rocha Cantú stressed to his detractors on Instagram this week, “It is not a governmental body. We do not secure public funding or backing from any state agency.”
Struggle for relevance
In recent history, the volume of media attention focused on pageant scandals seems to eclipse interest in the contests themselves. This brings up the unavoidable query: does this spectacle still captivate anyone?
Though Miss Universe is often dubbed the beauty pageant “Super Bowl,” this year’s concluding event wasn’t even aired on mainstream US channels in English. (It was accessible in the US exclusively through streaming, though Telemundo broadcast it live in Spanish.) “That represents a truly immense shift from two decades ago, let alone half a century ago,” Friedman observed, adding, “Audience numbers have plummeted, yet media coverage of the controversies is extremely high. It’s quite remarkable.”
How the Philippines became a global pageant powerhouse
Widely criticized by critics of feminism and others for promoting narrow standards of beauty and outdated views on womanhood, the downturn of these contests reflects broader societal evolution. Whether beauty pageants—events inherently centered on the visual appraisal of women—merit a place today is debatable. Yet, even advocates for their continuation might find it hard to argue that certain elements of the competitions haven’t become hopelessly archaic.
Recent modifications to Miss Universe’s regulations, though positioned as progressive, lag decades behind current norms. The novel rules finally permitting participants over 28, mothers, and married women—a concession astonishingly enacted in this decade—were hardly groundbreaking. Furthermore, the swimsuit (i.e., bikini) segment persists, many years after rivals like Miss World and Miss America abandoned theirs for slightly more modest alternatives, such as athleisure presentations.
However, Friedman highlighted a core friction between efforts toward modernization and the “pomp and circumstance” these events depend on for viewership. “They’ve attempted to incorporate more intellectualism, shifting focus to ‘platform’ concerns like community service and similar areas,” she noted. “But that isn’t hugely captivating to watch, is it?”
“I genuinely believe there are so many diverse avenues available to women today,” stated Friedman, who is also the daughter of the late Miss America 1970, Pamela Eldred. “In the past, when they were so popular, it was partly because women simply lacked as many avenues to pursue their aspirations, their career goals, and that kind of thing. So, one could argue, on some level, that pageants are casualties of their own past success.”
Too little, too late
For Miss Universe, an immediate remedy might involve implementing clearer standards for voting and enhanced auditing protocols. The organizers had previously engaged accounting firm Ernst & Young to oversee the tallying process, but it remains unclear if the recent competition was audited (or by whom, if it was). Critics swiftly pointed out that the results were announced from a simple sheet of paper rather than extracted from a sealed envelope, as was the prior tradition. The Miss Universe Organization did not clarify this point when asked by CNN.
It might simply be that for major pageants, the window for reforming their way back into mainstream cultural relevance has closed. Nevertheless, entirely ruling out their future neglects the significant regard they command in numerous nations outside the Western sphere—the Philippines, for example, where pageantry holds an almost national sport status.
Advocates also emphasize that many pageant winners utilize their visibility to champion and raise funds for charitable causes; some have leveraged pageants as a route out of poverty for themselves and their families. This year’s Miss Philippines, Ahtisa Manalo, for instance, claims she financed her university education through a mix of scholarships and prize money won in competitions.
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