Fatima Bosch: Miss Mexico, 25, crowned new Miss Universe in Thailand after walking out of pageant event due to official publicly berating her
Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch has been crowned the 74th Miss Universe, after accusing an organiser in Thailand of insulting her.
The 25-year-old contestant had earlier in November walked out of a pageant event after an official publicly berated her in front of dozens of contestants and threatened to disqualify those who supported her. A week after, two judges resigned, with one of them accusing organisers of rigging the competition.
Miss Universe, founded in the US, is one of the longest-running beauty pageants on the planet. The recent controversies, analysts say, underscore the cultural and strategic differences between the pageant's Thai and Mexican owners. The pageant saw Thailand's Praveenar Singh place second while the rest of the top five included Venezuela, the Philippines and Cote d'Ivoire.
The pageant events are being organised by Thai media mogul Nawat Itsaragrasil, who is known to fans as the founder and owner of Miss Grand International, a smaller Thai-based contest that is known for its loud social media presence. Things took a dramatic turn at a pre-pageant ceremony early this month, when Mr Nawat told off Miss Mexico, Fatima Bosch, in front of dozens of contestants for failing to post promotional content.
When she objected, Mr Nawat called security and threatened to disqualify those supporting her. Ms Bosch then left the room and others joined her in solidarity. The Miss Universe Organisation condemned Mr Nawat's behaviour as "malicious" and Mr Rocha, speaking by video from Mexico, told his Thai business partner to just "stop".
Mr Nawat later apologised and claimed that some of his words were misunderstood - but a delegation of international executives were sent to take over running the competition. A week later, two judges resigned with one of them accusing organisers of rigging the selection process.
Then during the preliminary evening gown round on Wednesday night, Miss Jamaica accidentally fell onstage and had to be rushed out of the theatre in a stretcher. She is recovering in hospital.