Miss Universe CEO Accused of Making an attempt to Meddle With 2023 Pageant

• Miss Universe CEO Anne Jakrajutatip has been accused of making an attempt to favor Miss Thailand within the 2023 Miss Universe competitors.
• A former Miss Universe decide advised Enterprise Insider Jakrajutatip advised then-president Paula Shugart to place Thailand within the prime 5.
• Shugart resigned from the Miss Universe Group through the 2023 competitors.

In 2023, on the eve of the Miss Universe finals in El Salvador, Paula Shugart introduced the tip of her 23-year tenure because the president of the Miss Universe Group. Her resignation was met with shock and gasps from the 1000’s of pageant followers within the stands.

Nevertheless, Denise White, one of many judges for the November 2023 competitors, wasn’t stunned. White advised Enterprise Insider that Miss Universe CEO Anne Jakrajutatip tried to strain Shugart to favor Miss Thailand within the pageant, wanting the contestant to make the highest 5 through the competitors.

Jakrajutatip and her Thailand-based firm, JKN World, purchased the Miss Universe group for $20 million in October 2022.

“I actually cannot remark presently in gentle of my ongoing litigation in opposition to Anne in Thailand,” Shugart stated when BI reached out to her for remark, noting that she has a prison grievance in opposition to Jakrajutatip for defamation in Thailand court docket. “Nevertheless, there’s nothing I’ve seen in Denise’s feedback that I might refute.”

In keeping with ABC Information, Jakrajutatip denied any wrongdoing in Shugart’s grievance in opposition to her.

Representatives for Jakrajutatip and the Miss Universe Group didn’t reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.

“She stated, ‘I am unable to imagine Anne is telling me that, it doesn’t matter what, we have now to ensure Thailand is within the prime 5,'” White stated, recalling her dialog with Shugart. White added that Shugart refused to adjust to Jakrajutatip’s request, though Thailand’s contestant was chosen as the primary runner-up in the long run on her personal accord.

Voting ‘above board’

White, a former Miss Oregon who competed at Miss USA in 1994, focuses on disaster administration for high-profile athletes and celebrities. After judging Miss USA 2018, she reconnected with Shugart and was employed as a marketing consultant for the group in 2022.

The Miss Universe Group has traditionally had no say in who makes it to the highest 5. Nonetheless, the group has helped choose the semi-finalists for the pageant for practically 20 years, a proven fact that was well-known to the contestants.

In a 2018 New Yorker article, Miss Canada 2012 Adwoa Yamoah advised the journal that Donald Trump — who owned the Miss Universe Group, together with Miss USA, from 1996 to 2015 — “mainly advised us he picked 9 of the highest 15.”

Nevertheless, in response to one longtime Miss USA worker, the group had zero enter on the outcomes as soon as the preliminary competitors was over and the highest 15 contestants had been introduced on reside TV.

Every year’s televised last featured a special group of judges — usually celebrities, fashions, and previous Miss Universe winners — who would rank the contestants based mostly on their efficiency within the swimsuit, night robe, and interview rounds. Their votes had been all the time audited by the accounting agency Ernst & Younger.

“The judges made the choice, and Ernst & Younger would log out on it,” stated the Miss USA worker, who requested to stay nameless for concern of retribution. “Ernst & Younger was very proud that it was above board.”

A unique former Miss Universe worker, who additionally requested to stay nameless, confirmed that the Miss Universe 2023 pageant was audited by Ernst & Younger however that the group’s partnership with the accounting first didn’t proceed in 2024.

The supply stated that present Miss Universe President Raul Rocha publicly introduced Miss Universe 2024 can be audited by Deloitte however determined to let the corporate go a month earlier than the competitors in Mexico — choosing an area accountant as a substitute.

‘Why not Thailand?’

Miss Thailand 2023 Anntonia Porsild received first-runner up on the competitors, dropping the 2023 Miss Universe crown to Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios.

“I judged Thailand tougher as a result of I did not like that Anne was making an attempt to push Paula to one way or the other inform us,” stated White. “And no person knew about this besides me; the opposite judges had no concept this was happening.”

White stated Porsild earned first runner-up truthful and sq.. “She completely acquired it above board. She acquired this off her personal volition,” White added.

Representatives for Palacios and Prosild didn’t reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.

A number of sources who labored at Miss Universe and had been current on the 2023 pageant advised BI that Jakrajutatip was unhappy with the outcomes regardless of Thailand making the highest 5.

One supply, who requested to stay nameless for concern of retaliation, recalled the CEO saying, “Why not Thailand?” simply moments after the winner was introduced.

By then, Shugart had already resigned. White stated she suggested Shugart to make a public speech through the competitors.

“I stated, ‘What you have been requested to compromise, and the issues taking place behind the scenes, will not be OK,'” White recalled telling Shugart.

When Shugart gave her shock resignation speech the night time earlier than the finalists had been introduced, she advised the gang of pageant followers: “There’s a crucial distinction between declaring the phrases ‘transformational management’ and being an actual transformational chief.”

“It could actually and it should be empathetic past self-interest,” Shugart stated. “It could actually and it should be dedicated to constructing confidence via inspiration and teamwork, not insecurity and chaos.”

“Above all, it should be about honesty, respect, integrity, and residing by your phrase,” she added. “One can’t simply speak the speak. One should stroll the stroll.”

A scandal-plagued group

In January 2023, 4 months after Jakrajutatip acquired the Miss Universe model, she gave a rousing speech through the Miss Universe finals in New Orleans, promising to usher in a brand new period.

“Any more, it may be run by ladies, owned by a trans lady, for all ladies world wide,” Jakrajutatip stated.

That very same yr, married ladies and moms walked the Miss Universe stage for the primary time in its historical past. In 2024, all ladies over the age of 18 had been allowed to compete. Many hailed the group as a champion for range.

Months later, in an October 2023 video obtained by BI, Jakrajutatip advised her workers that various pageant contestants “can compete, however they can not win,” calling it a “communication technique.”

In an announcement later posted to her Fb web page, Jakrajutatip stated she was discussing a possible Miss Universe actuality present slightly than the competitors.

In October 2024, Jakrajutatip shocked pageant followers when she went on Instagram Dwell and commenced judging the pictures of the Miss Universe contestants, laughing and showing to grimace at among the ladies’s footage.

The next month, she made headlines as soon as once more after praising the blond hair and blue eyes of Miss Universe 2024 winner Victoria Kjaer Theilvig. When a reporter requested Jakrajutatip in regards to the evolution of the Miss Universe pageant, the CEO stated, “We already acquired one of the best right here.”

“We’ve blond and blue eyes, so we’re coming to the last word evolution already,” Jakrajutatip stated. “We do not want any extra evolution right here.”

White advised BI she believes Shugart’s resignation was the demise of the Miss Universe Group.

“I advised Paula, ‘Typically it’s important to watch one thing burn to reserve it,'” White recalled. “However after this burns, I do not know if there’s any saving it.”

“As soon as folks can’t belief that this can be a truthful competitors or a good group, most individuals do not wish to be part of it,” she added. “If folks suppose there is no equity and fairness in it and it is rigged, that factor is destined to fail.”

Have a tip? Contact this reporter securely through electronic mail at akonstantinides@businessinsider.com.