Announcer #1: Well, I have to say,
the ladies are looking absolutely beautiful.
Announcer #2 : We have 51 gorgeous contestants
competing tonight.
Announcer #3: Let's crown ourselves a new Miss USA.
Pageant Host #1: The first runner-up is...
Pageant Host #2: First runner -up is Arianna Lemus.
Pageant Host #3: Congratulations, Nebraska!
Pageant Host #4: You are our new Miss Texas USA!
Pageant Host #4 :Taylor Hale, you are Miss Michigan USA 2021.
I was never a girl that grew up watching pageants
and wanting to participate in one.
It was just something that I would very casually catch on TV.
"Oh, Miss Universe is on. Miss USA is on."
♪♪♪
Listen, I get it.
Your first thought is, "Please be serious.
And why, as a society, are we giving any accolades to this?"
I get it. I used to be one of those people.
But I think the pageant is an arena where women get to be,
honestly, the most feminist that they can be.
I am all about marching for your body, for your rights.
Hale: I think the way that you win a pageant
is not by doing what the stereotype is.
It is honing who you are, looking the judges in the eyes,
and challenging them and saying, "I dare you not to choose me."
That's the girl that wins.
And that's the most feminist thing that you can do,
in my perspective.
News Reporter: Miss USA is entering a new era of ownership.
The multi-million-dollar organization is now being run
by a former national winner, Crystle Stewart.
-When I found out that Crystle was the new director of
Miss USA, I was just beside myself.
I mean, look, when's the last time
anybody on the street has watched Miss USA?
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
was more popular than Miss USA.
News Reporter: The nation's hottest national contest
is getting a reboot.
A woman that's unique, that's different, that's cool,
that's trendy, that can represent the United States
at Miss Universe.
Hale: I was just over the moon
when Crystle stepped up to the plate.
Or when I thought she was stepping up to the plate.
News Reporter #1: Ugly allegations at one of
the premier beauty pageants.
News Reporter #2: Favoritism, conflicts of interest,
and cheating.
We all are just looking for honesty.
News Reporter: The pageant world has been rocked...
I don't think any company would willingly want to broadcast
the scandals that we've seen even in the past year.
TikTokker: The alleged knowledge
of a sexual predator within the company.
Miss Universe is at a certain inflection point.
News Reporter: Are we past this whole thing as a society?
It's losing its relevance and its audience quickly.
Porter: It has to change.
That's not gonna happen until it gets shaken up.
News Reporter: ...leaving the future of the pageant in doubt.
Porter: We have a right to feel like we had a fair shot.
♪♪♪
Konstantinides: I would start this story
at the finale at Miss USA.
I'm sitting there in the audience.
And, you know, the finale always follows the same beat.
The two finalists are holding each other's hands.
They're looking at each other, a winner gets called,
and then the girls come and rush in and they're hugging her
and it's, like, this beautiful moment.
But that didn't happen at Miss USA 2022.
Everyone noticed that as Miss Texas got the crown,
the women started walking off the stage.
TikTokker #1: Like, see how the other contestants seem to be
leaving the stage instead of celebrating with her?
TikTokker #2: What's going on?
Walker: What in the world is happening at Miss USA?
And then I think it was the next day
that we started seeing those TikTok videos.
Welcome to Pageant Drama TikTok. Here are the facts.
We are speaking up
and jeopardizing our own reputations
and titles to speak out on something
because that's how important this is to us.
For contestants to publicly come out against the organization,
that is a huge risk.
TikTokker: Something that happened is not right.
Konstantinides: And that's when I knew there was
a huge story brewing.
I want to know what happened,
and I'm hoping I'll get an answer.
[ laughs ] Wow!
Uh...
Well, I guess my -- If you're asking me,
does it matter if beauty pageants are rigged,
I'd say, does it matter to who?
Because it certainly matters to the contestants
in that particular pageant.
And it does matter to a lot of, like, young people
who are watching, who is seen as representing them.
What many people don't realize -- that beauty pageants
has a deep link to the suffragist movement.
If you've ever wondered why beauty queens wear sashes,
you should look to suffragist marches
in the early part of the 20th century.
Miss America starts in 1921.
And how do they identify those women?
They're wearing sashes.
It is a window into something
that some people don't like to think about
or don't like to grapple with the complications.
Pageantry can tell us the history
and story of American feminism and show how far we've come.
♪♪♪
Narrator: Go ahead and drool. It's Miss America time.
Overpowering all opposition is strapping
5'10", 143-pound Miss Utah.
She's the biggest girl ever to win.
She likes men for their brains
and says she'd even marry a midget
if he were a mental giant.
Step right up, shorty.
Oh, my God.
It could be a 4-H festival,
and it's a contest for, like, a prized steer.
He's mentioning their height and weight.
Narrator: Nearby Asbury Park holds a quest for Mrs. America.
The cooking contest goes to Mrs. New York City.
Herstik: What everyone remembers is just
the superficiality of it.
It makes sense that the general conception of these pageants
and the women who participate in them
has nothing to do with the woman at all.
Friedman: Miss USA was born out of the Miss America pageant.
In the 1940s, it used to be that Miss America
was crowned in her bathing suit,
because Miss America started as a bathing-beauty contest
by a group of men in Atlantic City
who wanted to extend the tourist season.
How do you do that?
You put women in bathing suits out in public.
Narrator: Miss America modeled the official
Miss America suit for 1949.
Friedman: In 1950, Miss America who was crowned,
Yolande Betbeze, came out and said,
after she was crowned, "I'm not going to do
any appearances in a bathing suit anymore."
And so Catalina, which was one of the corporate sponsors --
and they make swimwear -- they were like,
"Okay, well, we're going to go start our own pageant."
And they went and started
Miss USA and Miss Universe, as well.
Pageant Host: Keylee Sue Sanders, Miss Kansas,
you're the new Miss Teen USA.
[ cheers and applause ] Congratulations.
The cash, the gifts are yours.
I'm very partial to the Miss USA/Miss Universe
organization because that's what I was a part of.
There's an old saying that Miss America
is the girl who lives next door,
and Miss USA is the girl you wish lived next door.
But the girls who win are smart and driven and dynamic.
Hi, my name is Michelle Pfeiffer.
I live in Midway City and I represent Orange County.
Thank you.
Friedman: So many of our journalists
got their starts competing in pageants.
Hale: These women were sexy and hyper-feminine,
but they were also doing amazing things in the world.
Lange: I was a Division I athlete.
There's always this underlying comparison to male athletes.
And something that I found interesting from pageants
was that there was never that comparison.
It really is a place where women can succeed,
and the focus stays on the woman.
Sanders: There is a sisterhood to it.
And as cheesy as this sounds, you find your lifelong friends.
I mean, I know that's what, like, is on the brochure
to sell this stuff, but it's actually true.
Friedman: And the thing about Miss USA and Miss Universe
is that it's a franchise business.
So it's kind of like McDonald's, if you want to think about it.
There's a corporate headquarters,
and then individuals can pick up a franchise.
And so for all 50 states and then District of Columbia,
you have to buy that franchise.
The Miss Universe organization that is doing the selling
is only successful because the thing that they're selling
is good, and the thing that they're selling is the women.
Watched Marla perform so nicely last year
at the Miss Universe pageant, and I said,
"This is a great event and this could really be a great event."
So I bought it.
Trump owned it for a number of years,
and then, in 2015, he sold it to WME IMG.
And a few years later, that company becomes Endeavor.
Endeavor took over at an interesting time.
We started seeing things like the Women's March and MeToo
and so many things happening in the world.
Interviewer: Have you ever had a MeToo moment?
-Yes. -Yes.
Sadly, yes.
Friedman: There has been a push in the MeToo era
to be like, "Women should be judges.
Women should be running things.
We are doing this amongst ourselves.
We are not just doing this for the male gaze."
So that's a really big thing.
What MeToo and Time's Up are about are making sure that
we foster safe and inclusive workplaces in our country.
As an attorney, that's exactly what I want to hear.
Konstantinides: In 2019, we had a black Miss USA,
a black Miss Universe, a black Miss America,
and a black Miss Teen USA.
As a black woman who was entering the pageant arena,
to have black women in a position to speak,
advocate, and have a face in the world of beauty,
where people usually don't listen to women,
that felt all the more powerful.
The organization seizes upon that zeitgeist
and they do incorporate it into the pageant.
But viewership has been in steady decline since the '90s.
And then we get to 2020, and for the first time,
the organization decides to spin off Miss USA
and sell it to an individual director, Crystle Stewart.
Pageant Host: A former Miss USA herself, she is now the owner.
Give it up for Crystle Stewart,
president of the Miss USA organization!
[ cheers and applause ]
I am the first African-American woman
to have this position and the first person period.
So they've never licensed out the Miss USA pageant.
The Miss Universe organization does still own Miss USA.
It's just franchised it out
to Crystle Stewart as a director.
It was a surprise, but it also made sense to me,
because every other country had its own director.
I thought it was interesting they gave
a national directorship to a former titleholder
who had not even been a state director.
Stewart: It's been an amazing opportunity.
I think it's monumental and I'm very excited
about the things to come.
When Crystle took over, she really filled out that team
with the people who were closest to her.
Her husband, Max, became vice president of Miss USA.
The chaperons and the makeup artists,
like, these seemed to be like Texas people.
"Pageantry Reimagined" was her slogan,
and I think the intentions were amazing
and the rebrand definitely needed to happen.
She wants to put her own stamp on it,
and there's a big expectation there.
So I can see where that is what she wanted to do.
I just don't think that's what happened.
Announcer #2: Lafayette -- KT Scannell!
Announcer #3: Morgan Romano!
Announcer #4: Faith Porter.
Porter: U.S.A. is one of the only countries
where you have to win a regional title
just to walk on the Miss USA stage.
Announcer #4: Welcome to the sisterhood.
After I was crowned Miss DC USA,
the first correspondence that I had with the Miss USA staff
was a Zoom call that was in preparation for a retreat
for all of the titleholders in Cancún.
Konstantinides: Nizuc is a resort in Cancún,
and it's a national sponsor of Miss USA.
There was a retreat there a couple months
before the competition.
Porter: And the main purpose was to take our official headshots
for Miss USA.
Konstantinides: But two girls were missing from that retreat.
It was Miss Colorado and Miss Texas,
because they hadn't been crowned in their state pageants yet.
Announcer: You, R'Bonney Gabriel,
are our new Miss Texas USA!
Konstantinides: R'Bonney is from Texas, which, by the way,
is where the Miss USA director, Crystle Stewart, is from.
And Miss USA is based in Houston.
And Crystle, before R'Bonney, was the last person from Texas
to win the Miss USA crown.
The first time that I heard about R'Bonney
being preferred over any other contestants
was the day that she was crowned Miss Texas USA.
Her final question was posted on the official
Miss USA main feed page.
As a woman, I believe it's our right to make a decision.
It's a personal choice.
Until that point, no other contestant had been posted
on the Miss USA page.
When I really started to think
that something was happening out of the ordinary
was when I found out that the state directors
had a meeting with the national office
about the treatment that R'Bonney was getting,
how the Miss USA staff already openly has a favorite.
♪♪♪
Announcer: Live from the Grand Sierra Resort
in Reno, Tahoe, Nevada,
the 2022 Miss USA Preliminary Competition.
First of all, it's in Reno. That's where it gets weird.
Nobody wants to go to Reno.
I was asked to be a judge for the 2022 pageant
and I was never asked to sign a no-conflict contract.
Usually, the judges are given a list of contestants
and they say, "I don't know any of these contestants.
And if I do know these contestants,
do I believe I can be impartial?
Yes or no?" And you sign your name.
I was never asked for that.
Announcer: The first contestant moving on tonight is
District of Columbia!
[ cheers and applause ]
My whole family came, and they were telling me,
"So-and-so said, 'Oh, you know, apparently,
it's going to go to Texas.'"
Announcer: Alright, next up, we've got Texas!
I remember saying, "Everyone seems to really
like her and the staff, but I don't know
if they would crown her
because the directors are going to riot."
Announcer: May I have the results, please?
In second place, North Carolina.
Miss USA is Texas!
♪♪♪
There were 51 women who competed at Miss USA,
and the vast majority felt very strongly
that some fishy things went on in the pageant.
All we're told is, "Oh, yeah, this person won.
Take our word for it." We have to trust you.
But the organization had proved
a strong lack of trust.
Lange: After the pageant's over, everyone is leaving,
going back to their respective homes.
I was on the plane and I get a text from
one of my friends saying, "Are you seeing this?"
And I'm like, "Seeing what?"
♪♪♪
That is when things really blew up.
Lange: The main thing that was drawing concern
was the social-media posts
posted by the Cancún hotel sponsor.
Konstantinides: Inside Nizuc is the MIA Beauté spa,
which is also a national sponsor of Miss USA.
The video is a classic promo video,
and when it was posted on the Instagram page,
it was "Congrats to the new Miss USA."
The contestants were extremely confused,
because she hadn't been at the retreat.
So it was obvious she had gone on her own at some point
to film the promo video.
It made it look like it was planned.
Whether it was or not, that is what the optics looked like.
Herstik: It sort of rubs a lot of the girls the wrong way.
Like, "Why does she get this opportunity to spend
one-on-one time with a sponsor?"
Gabriel: The sponsor, Mia --
they are a Miss Texas USA sponsor.
They invited me to be a brand ambassador
for their new spa at Nizuc Resort.
So I flew myself out, shot the video,
and that was released after I won Miss USA.
It's not that big a deal on its own,
but in a competition where any edge you can get
could affect your chances, it starts to be a bigger deal.
Konstantinides: R'Bonney had been a customer at the spa
before she won Miss Texas.
There's actually pictures of her on the spa's social-media pages
dating back as early as 2021.
The spa was founded by Dr. Phi Nguyen,
and she's got photos with Dr. Nguyen.
The reason this is important is because Dr. Nguyen
was one of the judges of the State Costume competition
the night before the Miss USA final.
State Costume Host: Founder and owner of Mia Beauté,
Dr. Phi Nguyen.
Konstantinides: And the winner of that costume competition
was R'Bonney.
Now, State Costume competition
doesn't affect your score at all at Miss USA,
but it's a huge spotlight on whoever wins that.
The judges of the final night -- they know who won.
R'Bonney was definitely good enough to win Miss USA.
The issue was, there were so many conflicts of interest
within the organization that had already been brought up.
It was the perfect storm for everything to blow up.
When I was a director, th
in my opinion, than they are today.
I mean, to say the Trump years were better regulated
is hard words to come out of my mouth, but yes.
I was not allowed, as a director of a state pageant,
to own a gown shop.
I couldn't coach girls.
That was considered a conflict of interest.
I couldn't be a hair-and- makeup artist for girls.
That was considered a conflict of interest.
Konstantinides: What shocked me the most
when I started really doing my digging
was everything I found out about MISS Academy.
It just seemed like a huge, glaring conflict of interest
from the get-go.
Prior to taking over Miss USA,
Crystle has a business called MISS Academy.
Konstantinides: It was started by her and her husband, Max.
The biggest thing that we sell at MISS Academy is confidence.
You learn makeup, dining etiquette,
hairstyles, communication skills.
Once Crystle takes over Miss USA,
she does still have MISS Academy under her purview.
Konstantinides: She made MISS Academy a national sponsor
of the Miss USA pageant.
Not only were they the official coaching sponsors,
but a lot of their team were sponsors in other areas.
So if you got the headshot,
you took headshots with Grant Foto,
who was the official photographer for Miss USA,
and he also decides who wins Most Photogenic.
And the people who were teaching classes
were the creative directors for the entire pageant.
♪♪♪
Konstantinides: On the finals night of Miss USA,
MISS Academy posted, on Instagram,
a list of the 15 girls who had trained at the academy.
Of those 15 girls, eight made the top 16,
seven made the top 12, and three made the top five.
And of the top five, the winner and the runner-up
were both MISS Academy students.
We did speak to a lot of directors
who said that they did feel pressured
to get involved in that business,
whether it was to maybe open their own MISS Academy
in their states or to funnel prospective contestants
to take classes at MISS Academy.
There just kind of was this strengthening pipeline
between the pageant and the academy.
When Crystle is the head of Miss USA
and her pageant school has become
the de facto official pageant school,
that's a huge win for her, profit-wise.
And if you can say the last Miss USA
was trained at MISS Academy, that's just going to be
even more girls coming and saying, "This is the school
that's going to get me onto that stage."
Pageantry is a big business.
I know of girls who spend $15,000
just on their state pageant and don't win.
Lange: Some women compete in pageants for years,
invest so much money and time into it,
and competing for Miss USA is like this ultra goal
that you have that you look forward to your whole life.
And I think so many women
felt like they had a wasted investment.
We didn't have any sort of third-party outlet or H.R.
to go to to really speak to.
So I think some of the women's thinking was,
"Well, if I talk in the media,
they have to pay attention to me."
I'm so proud of my Miss USA sisters in the class of 2022.
Lange: I don't think it would have been given the same kind of
priority if not for the media.
News Reporter: Contestants now questioning the legitimacy...
It's hard to miss a news post headline, right?
News Reporter: ...the competition was rigged.
Lange: The Miss Universe leadership -- they reached out
and offered to have a meeting with us.
On our first Zoom call, it was with
Amy Emmerich, the C.E.O. of Miss Universe,
and Paula Shugart, the president of Miss Universe.
Rather than all of us going in, you know,
separately with individual things, we were going to come up
with kind of just, like, an action-item list,
so that way, the meeting was more efficient,
our claims were more clear,
and we could, you know, reach resolution quicker.
Five days after R'Bonney wins Miss USA,
the 2022 contestants receive an e-mail
informing them that, immediately, Crystle Stewart
is going to be suspended indefinitely,
they were launching a third-party investigation,
and that the Holland & Knight law firm
was going to take over.
News Reporter #1: Crystle Stewart has
News Reporter#2 : President of the Miss USA organization
says there is no merit to the accusations.
The Miss Universe organization reached out and said,
"We're asking all the judges if they will talk to
the third-party investigators."
Then the Miss USA organization reached out and said,
"Please don't talk to anybody."
It wasn't a threat or it wasn't anything like that.
It was just a "We'd appreciate if you kept
your experience to yourself,"
which, to me, was just a dumb move on their part,
because why would you care if we talked to somebody
if there's nothing wrong?
If there's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong.
Lachey: The results have been tabulated by our
official accounting firm, Ernst & Young.
...as verified by Mr. Mark Ward of the accounting firm
of Ernst & Young. Thank you, Mark.
The accounting firm is very important.
They're always a third party.
As a director or as a pageant staff member,
you are never the person who is calculating ballots.
That is done by the accountant.
That is not even something you want to touch,
because you don't want any notion of impropriety,
any, like, whiff.
And it usually is pretty much written into the script
of, "The accounting firm..."
The accounting firm of Ernst & Young.
-...of Ernst & Young. -...accounting firm of Ernst & Young.
...from The accounting firm of EY has tabulated the votes.
Sanders: I don't remember being introduced to them.
They didn't talk to me about the ballots.
They didn't talk to me about scoring.
Pageant Host: May I have the results, please?
You know, during the telecast,
a staff member from the Miss USA office
is the person who collected the ballots.
There was no accounting firm listed in the credits,
and couldn't get any confirmation
that there were accountants present at all at Miss USA 2022.
Pageant Host: Miss USA is Texas!
It's not a good look,
but that doesn't even really begin to describe the issues.
There were much larger issues going on at the organization.
TikTokker #1: Nothing I'm about to share to you
has been mentioned in the news whatsoever.
All of this seems to be an open secret.
TikTokker #2: I feel sick sharing this with you.
I am shaking and trying to keep myself together.
Announcer: Here are the 2021 Miss USA contestants.
I had such an amazing experience at Miss USA...
from competing, rehearsing, laughing with the girls.
Michigan, Taylor Hale.
I wouldn't change anything about my Miss USA experience,
because it truly was so much of what I could have asked for.
But it's been buried in my memory.
I haven't thought about it.
I woke up the next morning and I got a direct message
from Max Sebrechts, the co-owner of Miss USA,
married to Crystle Stewart.
You know what? Let me just pull it up.
Can I pull it up and read it? Is that okay? Okay.
And this is where I just knew there's no world
in which a man will invite you to the presidential suite
without wanting something in return.
Of the Tulsa river? That was dried up at the time?
So then there's a time gap here.
I'm off-site, I am coming back,
and I have this giant costume that is wrapped up in plastic
and I'm rolling it through the lobby.
And I remember, out the corner of my eye,
I see Max picking up pace.
Max said, "Don't worry. I got it."
Hale: Hey, Max. Thank you.
I'm not Ja Rule, but, hey, you know...
Hale: But it's better. Even better.
...I can do this.
He took the costume to my room with me,
and when he put the costume down,
he walked all the way inside the room,
made himself very comfortable very quickly.
Unfortunately, a lot of women have to experience this
where you have to quickly make a decision.
"How am I going to navigate the situation?
How am I going to appease this person's ego
so that I'm not in danger?"
He finally stood up and he went to give me a hug.
He really pulled me in and he caressed the back of my hair.
And he whispered in my ear and said, "You're so gorgeous."
And he kissed my cheek.
But it was really the corner of my mouth.
I kind of weasel my way out of the hug and I'm thinking,
"Alright, we did it!
He's going to walk out the door."
This fucker sits down again and he kicks his feet up
and he just picks up conversation
like nothing happened.
I remember texting my two best friends and saying,
"Max is in my room."
And they were terrified for me,
because we know how this goes down.
So, finally, I said something joking around like,
"Okay, well, you need to get the hell out of here,
'cause I got to get to work."
And I let him hug me.
He does the same song and dance just even more.
I said, "Please just get out." [ laughs ]
And I go, "Ha ha ha." close the door.
And I remember I just had my hand on the door
and I start laughing to myself, thinking,
"There's no way that just happened.
You're asking to be called out. You're asking to get caught."
And when I realized that, I got a gut feeling
that I wasn't the only person that he tried this with.
As part of this, we have an accusation
that this behavior took place even prior to 2021.
We have impropriety across media platforms --
written content, images, video.
We spoke with one contestant, and she told us
that Crystle did know about all of this that year.
I think what's most insidious about all of this
is that he did this to women who were competing
before the competition even happened.
At least my entire experience before standing on that stage
is not tainted,
wondering whether or not this one guy in power
is pulling strings because he wants to fuck me.
After the incident with Max in 2021,
Taylor ran it up the chain.
She told Paula Shugart.
I didn't hear anything from Paula
or the Miss Universe organization
since that phone call.
I did receive the same e-mail
that everybody else in the Miss USA organization received.
"Dear 2021 Miss USA State Titleholders,
I would like to make you aware of a structural change
within the Miss USA organization.
Max Sebrechts will no longer serve
as the Miss USA Organization Vice President
and will be focusing his efforts on other business ventures.
Sincerely, Crystle Stewart."
After the 2022 contest,
all of these allegations of favoritism
and rigging start to become international news,
and amidst all of this, the Max story breaks.
Hale: I had the then-co-owner
of the organization in my room, hitting on me.
You expect me to give a fuck about rigging allegations?
Please be serious.
A beauty pageant is an interesting thing,
because there's such a power dynamic at play,
and when a particular person or a couple owns that pageant
and is perceived as having lots and lots of influence,
whether or not they can pick the ultimate winner,
they could certainly tank a few contestants.
That adds a different dimension.
Sanders: I mean, this is an organization
that's supposed to empower women?
That's not very empowering.
It's December 2022, and Paula Shugart sets up
a Zoom call with all of the girls that they assume
is meant to address the allegations,
but ends up just being damage control.
It's about the integrity from the moment
all of this happened in October.
It's about keeping this -- making sure that the integrity
and any perceptions of impropriety,
even during this investigation.
That was the thought behind going through a third party.
Also on the Zoom call,
Paula lets all the women know that Holland & Knight
has concluded their investigation into the rigging.
They told us that there was no foul play
in the crowning at Miss USA, but they were
still investigating the whole situation.
And before they were even finished explaining
what the next steps were, the call just shut.
That is is really it for us on this end.
We will get back to you shortly,
and please continue to send your questions.
No, we were on mute.
The pageants, for me, are like a way to gain your voice,
and what happened on the final call
is that it felt like our voice was taken away,
because we were muted.
I think, for the current directors,
they are at risk of losing their livelihood.
These people have been directors for 20-plus years,
30-plus years.
They want to keep their jobs.
We all are just looking for honesty,
and when stuff like that happens,
you are going to assume the worst because
you're wondering, "What's been going on all this time
that I didn't know that before?"
♪♪♪
Stewart: How do we find ourselves here?
It's difficult to understand, to be honest.
I didn't know that it would blow up the way that it did
and to see all the things that I did be torn down.
Reporter: At 39, she is the youngest owner
and the first black woman to take on this major role.
Stewart: I hit the ground running, to be honest,
once I took over Miss USA.
I was so focused on getting the job done
and doing a great job for these young women.
Mm... [ chuckles ]
Not a lot of assistance. There wasn't a playbook.
I took everything from scratch and created it myself.
Pageant Host: Miss USA is Texas!
Favored by staff -- To my recollection,
I don't remember that being brought up.
But, again, these meetings happened over a year ago,
so I can't remember everything.
But we did take notes at every meeting.
After the winner was chosen, everything seemed fine.
I believe I got a phone call about a video
that was made at Nizuc.
There was a time stamp of when the video was shot,
and it was way before the pageant.
She never wore her Texas sash and she never wore her crown.
Mm...I think the way --
I think hindsight is always 20/20, right?
I think, at the time, you know, with her going as a model
for a sponsor, it would have been fine,
but looking back, there just would have been some guidelines
that would need to have been put in place.
State Costume Host: Founder and owner of Mia Beauté,
Dr. Phi Nguyen.
He did the costume show, which has no bearing on
the final results.
All the other judges were sponsors, as well.
Mm, that's not true. All of them signed one.
Director: Okay.
That may actually probably -- Since it wasn't a specific name,
probably actually just a slip-up
of putting the accounting firm's name.
We chose to use accounting firms from the local city
that we had the pageant at.
I forget who we used for both, actually, the accounting firms.
One thing for sure is that we had two accounting firms --
one in Tulsa and one in Reno.
Yeah, we -- Yeah, we can get it after -- Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Director: Okay. Got it.
Not at all.
Mm-hmm. No, it wouldn't suck, but that wasn't the intention.
But it does show that the training she received
at the academy was of a, you know, great caliber for her.
Mm-hmm. When I first
wanted to implement MISS Academy, no,
because my thought was in my why, of why I was doing it.
Sheffield: [ whispering indistinctly ]
Okay. Okay, okay.
The Miss Universe organization was very well aware
of the school and that I would be sponsoring the pageant
and they knew my intent.
Mm-hmm.
It's disappointing. It's really disappointing.
I'm sorry. I'm not a crier. Director: That's okay.
That wasn't the intent.
So they felt that they were pushed
or forced to open an academy?
Oh, wow.
Pressured to open a MISS Academy.
No, this is the first time I'm hearing this. Not at all.
They weren't pressured to open an academy at all.
I wanted you to want an academy.
If you don't want one, that's completely fine.
And that wasn't, you know, in the discussions
in our meetings at all.
It was in 2021.
I was made aware in December of messages that were sent.
Business-wise, that was very clear and cut for me,
so step down from the organization.
That was done, sent out, set out new policies,
spoke to the directors about it of how we were moving forward.
Personally, you know, that was difficult.
That was difficult.
That would have been challenging for sure.
Director: Right. Yeah. No, absolutely.
If I had knowledge about this -- And, unfortunately,
I didn't have knowledge about it.
I found out when everyone else found out.
You know, I want to tell them that I actually commend them
for using their voice and coming together,
because it shows people if you unify and work together,
how it can amplify your voice.
But they used it for the wrong reason.
The thing that I really wanted
was for things to change in Miss USA,
because Miss USA and Miss Universe
is like the house at the top of the hill
that every pageant aspires to be,
and if they can set a precedent,
that'll trickle down to all the state pageants,
all the other countries, all different pageant systems.
So, in Thai?
I'm looking forward to having
the transformational leadership in women.
This is why I acquire Miss Universe organization.
In October 2022, Miss Universe organization
sells to a Thai media conglomerate
run by Anne Jakrajutatip,
a Thai celebrity, a trans woman,
and a very successful businessperson.
It's part of my personal life mission to teach, to lead,
and to inspire other women in the universe.
Whoo!
Anne's takeover of the pageant represents a couple things.
First, the geographical shift of power.
Miss Universe's economic centers of gravity are predominantly in
Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Second, the re-assumption of the pageant
by a very public figure who understands the media,
who understands how to create a brand,
and how to really kind of spark attention around it.
It's so super well-known, like Formula 1, like Olympic.
This is a unique company in its own game.
One of the most important things about this program
and why is so incredibly relevant still,
even for Americans, is,
it's a way of democratizing access to fame and opportunity.
We give opportunities to poor kids from any race,
any creed, any economic background
if they can hit a ball really well.
You might not view beauty as, in and of itself, meritocratic,
but the process of becoming Miss Universe
is highly dependent on your work ethic,
your skills, and your ability to perform in a true competition.
I want to hear it for who your favorite is tonight.
Let me hear it, fans. [ cheers and applause ]
The new Miss Universe is...
U.S.A.!
News Reporter: R'Bonney Gabriel crowned
the 71st Miss Universe on Saturday night.
R'Bonney did an amazing job at Miss Universe,
and I am so happy that she won.
The purpose was never that she was not good enough to win.
The issue was always, we have a right
to feel like we had a fair shot.
Herstik: The investigation concludes,
and the organization pretty much closes the book on it.
This is not the way you want to run a business
if you want to be taken seriously.
You have this organization
that claims to be about women's empowerment,
and then you're really not walking the walk,
and it's sort of a wasted opportunity.
[ cheers and applause ]
It has been 70 years that Miss Universe organization
run by men,
but now time is up.
[ cheers and applause ]
Herstik: Anne has announced her intentions to turn this
into a true vehicle of women's empowerment
and to take the company public.
So to put the money where its mouth is.
We would love to see Miss Universe organization
and the competition here to be the new paradigm of women's --
in fact, the global women's empowerment platform.
Mm-hmm.
They want their brand to be viewed as an
empowerment platform,
but people don't repost somebody giving a speech,
necessarily, about climate activism.
I think what it is is that, you know, 70 years of precedent
have been set for what audiences
and fans of Miss Universe expect.
And so I think that's an issue
that Miss Universe kind of has to solve.
I think we're in a cool moment, because now
the most powerful women that we see in the culture,
specifically after this summer of Taylor Swift, Eras Tour,
Beyoncé, Renaissance, and "Barbie,"
we are idolizing women who look just like pageant queens
and who embrace their beauty and are presentational
with their makeup and their costumes.
Herren: Barbie is a really fascinating comparison
to the Miss Universe organization.
It's interesting that a brand like Mattel
can be so conscious of the problems
and create something out of it, that bad images and perceptions
don't have to stay bad,
and that you can create something that's going to become
the subject of cultural fascination
and obsession out of your legacy.
Sanders: I don't think there's anything wrong
with being beautiful.
I don't think there's anything wrong with being ambitious.
I don't think there's anything wrong
with wanting to show off your physical fitness.
Women and girls do it every day
in a million different ways all over the planet.
If we could all change the way that we think about it
and talk about it, then women would feel empowered
to actually support these pageants
and, in turn, support the women who participate in them.
Hale: It can be a good thing.
It can be an amazing tool that you use to enact
positive change and to give someone the training wheels
to become the star that they are.
♪♪♪