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There’s big trouble in the glamorous world of international beauty pageants. 

Controversy is swirling around the troubled Miss Universe organization, with several people claiming that the 2025 contest was rigged in favor of the winner, Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch. 

Miss Universe contestant says pageant was ‘a nightmare’ 

Bosch was crowned at the November 21 pageant in Bangkok. Her win came days after her heated confrontation with a Miss Universe official went viral. Now, insiders are alleging that the top 30 finalists were selected prior to the competition (via People) and that Bosch’s win may have been a foregone conclusion. 

At least one contestant, Melissa Queenie Sapini, who represented Haiti at the pageant, has gone public with her concerns about the judging. 

“I have spent my entire life dreaming of representing Haiti on the biggest stage in the world. But that dream quickly turned into a nightmare,” she said in a statement shared with Showbiz Cheat Sheet. 

“Something was deeply wrong behind the scenes, Sapini – a former Miss Massachusetts who finished in the top 10 at the 2024 Miss USA pageant – continued. “We felt it. We saw it. We lived it. I personally witnessed gross misconduct at the Miss Universe pageant.”

Sapini was not among the 30 women who advanced to the final stage of the contest. But she said she was “speaking out to protect the dignity and emotional safety” of her fellow Miss Universe hopefuls. 

“You’ve seen the headlines,” she said. “But what we went through was far worse. A rigged voting system. Judges with personal relationships with contestants. Blatant favoritism towards certain contestants based on the color of their skin.

“This is just the beginning,” she added. “The truth is coming.”

Ex-Miss Universe judge calls out pageant 

One Miss Universe 2025 judge, Omar Harfouch, resigned three days before the pageant. He wrote on his Instagram Story that the informal judging panel was “composed of individuals with a significant potential conflict of interest due to some [personal] relationships with some of the Miss Universe contestants, including the person responsible for counting the votes and managing the results, which constitutes a further conflict of interest.” The Miss Universe organization has denied those allegations. 

“All judging procedures for the 74th Miss Universe competition remain official, transparent, and fully governed by MUO protocols,” the organization said in a statement shared on Instagram. 

In a series of follow-up Instagram posts, Harfouch has claimed that Raul Rocha, the Miss Universe president and co-owner of the pageant, has business ties “worth millions” to Bosch’s father. He also alleged that Rocha told him not to vote for contestants from certain countries, including all African and several Asian countries. He claimed those contestants would supposedly face visa issues, which Harfouch described as “not only discriminatory, but purely racist.”

Rocha has since said he’s “fed up” with the drama surrounding Miss Universe. He now wants to sell his stake in the business (via People). In a statement on Instagram written in Spanish, he also denied that he had anything to do with Bosch being crowned the winner. 

Meanwhile, Bosch appeared to address the controversy surrounding her win with a social media post. 

“What God knows about you is more important than what others think about you,” she wrote on November 24. “God knows your heart.”

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