Courtesy of Miss Universe
Miss Universe, the biggest pageant in the world, has found itself plagued with scandal again…and again…and again.
There’s been a surprise leadership change, a Miss Universe director yelling at a contestant on camera, racist remarks from a former winner — and that was just in the past week.
All the bad press has brought renewed international attention to a brand that came under fire just last year after former CEO Anne Jakrajutatip appeared to laugh at contestants’ photos on Instagram Live and praised one titleholder’s blond hair and blue eyes as “the best here.”
Jakrajutatip never addressed the criticism.
Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt summed up the controversy-fatigue that many fans have been feeling, writing in an Instagram statement on November 7: “The drama in the pageant world has been weighing heavy on the hearts of so many.”
Only time will tell if more drama will follow before the November 21 final. Until then, here’s everything that’s happened so far at the Miss Universe 2025 pageant.
Miss Universe announced a new CEO just days before the 2025 pageant began.
Josh Brasted/Getty Images
Jakrajutatip made history when she acquired the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million in October 2022, becoming the first woman to own the pageant since its inception in 1952.
During the Miss Universe 2023 competition, Jakrajutatip promised to usher in a new era for the “global women’s empowerment platform.”
“From now on, it’s going to be run by women, owned by a trans woman, for all women around the world,” she said.
That era didn’t last long. On October 29, Miss Universe announced that former diplomat Mario Búcaro was the new CEO. Jakjrajutatip had quietly stepped down in June.
Búcaro, previously Miss Universe’s vice president for international relations, now works alongside Raul Rocha, who became president after Jakrajutatip sold a 50% stake to his company in January 2024.
Jakrajutatip’s resignation comes amid financial issues at her company, JKN Global Group. After defaulting on a multimillion-dollar loan in September 2023, the company petitioned Thailand’s bankruptcy court. In June 2025, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Jakrajutatip had included false or misleading information in JKN’s 2023 financial statements.
In the statement announcing Búcaro as CEO, the Miss Universe Organization said Jakrajutatip had stepped down to focus on her family. She has yet to make a public comment about her resignation or the SEC complaint.
Jakrajutatip did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The director of Miss Universe Thailand yelled at Miss Mexico, prompting contestants to walk out in protest.
Courtesy of Miss Universe
During a November 4 meeting with the Miss Universe contestants, Nawat Itsaragrisil, who was recently named the director of Miss Thailand and host for the 74th Miss Universe competition in Bangkok, confronted Miss Mexico Fátima Bosch and accused her of not participating in a promotional event for the pageant.
In the exchange, which was captured on Miss Universe Thailand’s Facebook livestream, Itsaragrisil goes back and forth with Bosch as he criticizes the Miss Mexico team. The other Miss Universe contestants can be seen on the livestream, silently watching from their seats.
“If you listen to your director, you’re a dumbhead,” Itsaragrisil appears to tell Bosch during the livestream. He later told reporters that the word he had used was “damage.”
“I have a voice,” Bosch told Itsaragrisil after he told her, “I did not give you an opportunity to talk.”
“You are not respecting me as a woman,” she added.
Multiple Miss Universe contestants walked out of the room after Itsaragrisil, who also runs the Miss Grand International pageant, called for security to remove Bosch. The director demanded that the contestants return to their seats, saying: “If anyone wants to continue the contest, sit down.”
Bosch ultimately decided to stay in the competition, sharing her reason in an Instagram caption. “Mexicans don’t give up because giving up has never been part of our history,” she wrote on November 6.
Representatives for Bosch, Itsaragrisil, and the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjær Theilvig walked out with contestants in support of Bosch.
Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images
“To trash another girl is beyond disrespectful,” Theilvig can be heard saying in a clip reposted across Instagram and TikTok as the scandal broke.
“That’s why I’m putting on my coat and leaving,” she added.
Past winners from Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Grand International — the pageant Itsaragrisil founded and still owns — also posted statements in support of Bosch.
“Since the beginning of this year’s Miss Universe competition, those of us on this side of the world have been waking up to ‘surprises’ every day — and today was no exception,” Miss Universe 2023 Sheynnis Palacios wrote on her Instagram story on November 4. “Some of the values that should guide Miss Universe — respect, dignity, gender equality, and transparency — are now being questioned.”
“A crown should never come at the cost of a woman’s dignity,” she added.
Voigt, who resigned her title in May 2024 due to the leadership of former Miss USA CEO Laylah Rose, said she was “shocked, disgusted, disappointed, and genuinely horrified” by the video.
“I understand what it feels like when your voice is dismissed and your dignity is demeaned,” Voigt wrote in a November 6 Instagram statement. “I spent years being a chronic people pleaser… but walking away from that fear, speaking up, reclaiming my dignity and my voice was the most liberating act I’ve ever taken.”
Miss Universe president Raul Rocha restricted Itsaragrisil from future Miss Universe 2025 events.
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Rocha posted a video on the official Miss Universe Instagram on November 4 stating that he would not “allow the values of respect and dignity of women to be violated.”
“I have restricted Nawat’s participation in the events that are part of the 74th Miss Universe competition, limiting it as much as possible or eliminating it entirely,” he said.
Rocha added that Itsaragrisil’s decision to call security on Bosch was a “serious abuse,” and he accused the Miss Thailand director of having a “constant desire to be the center of attention.”
“The only ones who should shine are our delegates who represent each of their countries with dignity,” he added.
Itsaragrisil broke down in tears as he apologized while speaking to reporters on November 5.
NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images
Itsaragrisil apologized for the confrontation with Bosch a day later while giving a tearful press conference.
“This issue has dragged me down to this point. I understand and I apologize,” he added. “I am human. I didn’t want to do anything like that.”
A former Miss Universe winner made racist remarks following Itsaragrisil’s confrontation with Miss Mexico.
Gustavo Caballero/Billboard via Getty Images
Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado was discussing the argument between Itsaragrisil and Bosch during a November 5 Instagram Live when she referred to him as Chinese. When a commenter pointed out that Itsaragrisil was of Thai descent, Machado said “everyone with slanted eyes” was Chinese to her. The Venezuelan beauty queen then pulled back the corners of her eyes on camera to demonstrate.
Machado’s comments prompted a response from Voigt, who made history as the first Venezuelan-American to win the Miss USA title.
Voigt said she was “deeply saddened and disappointed” by Machado’s comments, adding that many of her supporters had reached out and asked if she would stand up for the Asian community.
“The statements she made about Thailand, Thai people, and Asian communities were completely inappropriate, hurtful, and untrue,” Voigt wrote. “The world of pageantry is unique and passionate… but in recent days, the level of drama and negativity online has gone too far.”
Machado is no stranger to headlines since her Miss Universe days. The beauty queen became a central part of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the last days of the 2016 election after the Democratic candidate said Donald Trump had called Machado “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” when he owned the Miss Universe pageant.
A spokesperson for Trump denied that he called Machado those names in a statement sent to The New York Times following the presidential debate.
Machado, Itsaragrisil, and Voigt did not respond to requests for comment.
Miss Chile apologized after her makeup video shocked pageant fans.
Courtesy of Miss Universe
On November 6, Miss Chile Inna Moll posted a TikTok video that showed her pretending to snort a line of cocaine.
The clip, part of the “Addicted to You” trend, shows a makeup-free Moll dusting some white powder from a compact on her arm. She then leans down and pretends to snort the powder before the video cuts to her in full glam for a Miss Universe event.
Moll was quick to react to the criticism that followed as people began reposting her TikTok. She removed the clip from her page and posted an apology video to her Instagram stories the very next day.
“I want to apologize to those who were offended,” she said in the video, according to Hola!. “The makeup artist told me to record it and, maybe because of the language barrier, I didn’t fully grasp what was happening.”
“I said no at first, but he insisted, and I went along. I should have said no firmly,” Moll added.
Taratorn Aek, the makeup artist behind the video, posted an Instagram statement apologizing to Moll on the same day.
“What I did was thoughtless and without any hidden intent to harm the contestant or the country’s image,” he wrote. “It was merely a piece of content following a current online trend. I assure you that something like this will not happen again.”
While rumors swirled that Moll could be disqualified from the pageant, she remains in the competition and has been frequently featured on Miss Universe’s social media pages.
Moll, Aek, and the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
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