Fátima Bosch of Mexico has won this year's scandal-plagued Miss Universe competition, just days after she walked out of one of its events in protest.
Bosch, 25, was crowned the new Miss Universe on Friday, capping off a chaotic few weeks of drama — both on and off the pageant stage.
It started before the competition officially began, in an early November sash ceremony that was livestreamed on Facebook.
In it, Nawat Itsaragrisil — a Thai media personality and businessman who at that point was the pageant's director — stood in front of a room of begowned contestants, microphone in hand, and berated Bosch for not participating in some of its promotional activities.
When Bosch stood up and tried to respond, Itsaragrisil called security to escort her out. She walked out of the room, followed by several other contestants including then-reigning Miss Universe Victoria Kjaer Theilvig of Denmark.
Bosch told Thai media afterward that the director "called me dumb because he has problems with the organization," which she said was unfair "because I'm here and I do everything … and I'm just trying to [give] my best."
"And I think that the world needs to see this, because we are empowered women and this is a platform for our voice," she added. "And no one can shut our voice, and no one will do that to me."
At a press conference, a tearful Itsaragrisil said he had not called Bosch a "dumbhead," as was widely reported, but was rather speaking about "damage" her behavior caused. He also apologized — to Bosch, whom he did not name, and fans — onstage at a preliminary event the next day, saying the "pressure is a lot and I am … human."
But the fallout continued.
Miss Universe Organization (MUO) President Raúl Rocha criticized him in a six-minute video, in which he said Itsaragrisil, who is also the director of Miss Universe Thailand, "has forgotten the true meaning of what it means to be a genuine host" by showing the women a lack of respect "in addition to the serious abuse of having called security to intimidate a defenseless woman, trying to silence and exclude her."
"Nawat, you need to stop," Rocha declared, adding there would be legal and corporate consequences from the organization.
Rocha also said he would restrict Itsaragrisil's participation in the pageant, "limiting it as much as possible or eliminating it entirely," though the two were photographed together at pageant events as recently as Thursday.
In the final round of the pageant on Friday, Bosch was asked how she would use the title of Miss Universe to "create a safe space for women around the world."
"As a woman and as Miss Universe, I would put my voice in the power and the service of others," she replied. "We are here to speak up, to make change … because we are women, and the brave ones that stand up are the ones that will make history."
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — the first woman to hold that position — applauded Bosch's win at her daily press briefing on Friday.
"I like that she spoke up when she felt that was an injustice and that is an example," Sheinbaum said, according to the Associated Press. "That thing they said about being prettier when you're quiet has been left behind. Women are prettier when we speak and we participate."
Quitting judges, rigging allegations and a contestant's hospitalization
The confrontation between Itsaragrisil and Bosch put Miss Universe in the spotlight weeks before the pageant kicked off. But recent days have brought even more scrutiny.
This week, just before the pageant began, two out of the eight judges abruptly quit on Tuesday, just hours apart.
One, French soccer player-turned-coach Claude Makélélé, said he would not be able to attend the event "due to unforeseen personal reasons." The other, Lebanese-French composer Omar Harfouch, has been much more vocal about his departure, alleging that the competition was rigged.
Harfouch alleged in a number of videos and Instagram posts that two days before the final, a "secret vote was held to pre-select 30 contestants out of the 136," carried out by individuals who were not official jury members.
"I could not stand before the public and television cameras, pretending to legitimize a vote I never took part in," he wrote.
The Miss Universe Organization responded with a lengthy statement denying Harfouch's accusations and suggesting he may have been referring to the selection committee of its "Beyond the Crown Program," a separate social impact initiative with its own judging panel.
"The Miss Universe Organization firmly clarifies that no impromptu jury has been created, that no external group has been authorized to evaluate delegates or select finalists, and that all competition evaluations continue to follow the established, transparent, and supervised MUO protocols," it wrote.
When the preliminary events finally got underway on Wednesday, they were not without incident either. During the evening gown round, Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry fell off the stage toward the end of her walk. Social media videos showed her being taken away on a stretcher.
Henry did not compete in the finals. On Friday, Rocha, the organization president, said in an Instagram update that he had just visited her and her family in a Bangkok hospital, where she is under observation but has no broken bones.
Since 2024, the Miss Universe Organization has been jointly owned by the Thai media company JKN and Legacy Holding Group USA Inc., a division of a Mexican company owned by Rocha. It has changed ownership multiple times since its creation in 1952, including a nearly two-decade stretch under now-President Trump that ended in 2015.
The organization has struggled with declining viewership and financial instability in recent years, as well as broader questions around relevance, objectification and inclusivity in the modern age. Its host country changes frequently, and Puerto Rico's Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón announced Friday that the island will host the competition next year.
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