THE PRETHOUGHTS
THE RESULTS (November 17, 2024)
It's the first win for the birthplace of the Little Mermaid and pastry, Denmark! Surprisingly, this is only the 4th European Miss Universe win since 1990 succeeding Norway's Mona Grudt in 1990, Russia's Oxana Fedorova in 2002 who was replaced, France's Iris Mittenaere for 2016 and now Denmark's Victoria Kjær Theilvig. Victoria was actually appointed to represent Denmark. In September 2024, Emma Heyst, who had been crowned Miss Denmark 2024, declined to compete at Miss Universe 2024 due to a lack of preparation. Kjær Theilvig was subsequently chosen and designated by the Miss Denmark Organization to represent Denmark in Heyst's place at Miss Universe 2024. Kjær Theilvig began competing in pageantry after becoming a contestant for Miss Denmark 2021, ultimately placing as the second runner-up. The following year, she was appointed Miss Grand Denmark and represented Denmark at Miss Grand International 2022 in Indonesia, placing in the top 20.
This is also first time that two new countries have won in a row since when Russia won in 2002, later replaced by Panama and Dominican Republic in 2003. Victoria was born on November 13, 2003 in Herlev, Denmark making her the youngest of all Miss Universe winners. She is also the first blonde winner since Australia's Jennifer Hawkins in 2004 although France's Iris Mittenaere in 2016 had hints of blonde hair when she won.She grew up in a dysfunctional family which struggled with drug addiction, and Kjær Theilvig herself has been the victim of rape and abuse. Kjær Theilvig attended Lyngby Handels gymnasium, where she studied business and marketing. Kjær Theilvig afterwards became a professional dancer, and advocated for mental health awareness, animal rights, and entrepreneurship in the beauty industry.
The land of the Mariachi, Mexico served as the host country for the fifth time after hosting in 1978, 1989, 1993 and 2007 but 1993 and 2007 were marred by booing during the telecast due to the Mexican delegate not placing above the American delegate during those years but that was not an issue this year, especially since Miss USA did not place which is an extreme rarity at Miss Universe. There appears to be much less American bias now that the Miss Universe organization is owned by a Thai transwoman, Khun Anne (Jakkaphong) Jakrajutatip and Mexican businessman, Raul Rocha Cantu who has started a headquarters and museum in Mexico City. Unlike last year, it was not announced who will host the 2025 Miss Universe pageant but rumor has it is that it will be held in October 2025 rather than November giving Victoria a slightly shorter reign and they say there may be an online vote to choose from a list of countries but I can't see that working out since there are huge hosting fees involved. For the first time ever, there was a top 30 this year narrowed down from the largest number of contestants ever in history which was at final count was 125 shattering the previous record of 94 contestants at Miss Universe 2018. The number would have been 129 but Azerbaijan was a no-show, Panama's delegate was disqualified and dethroned for leaving her hotel room posing a security risk, Kosovo's delegate suffered a foot injury during the Gala de las Catrinas event and had to watch from the audience and finally, South Africa's delegate withdrew citing health reasons. South Africa's Mia Le Roux is partially deaf so some speculate this may have affected her ability to compete.
This year, they announced four continental queens of beauty would advance to the top 30 as would the winner of the online vote. The four continental queens were: Europe=Finland, Asia=Philippines, Africa/Oceania=Nigeria and Americas=Peru. The online vote was won by Chile. You will notice though that the only one of these continental winners, Nigeria made the top 5 so I suppose winning those titles only guaranteed a spot in the top 30 but the judges determined how each would rank.How did I do with my predictions? Well, I picked 17 of the top 30 plus 1 alternate (Cambodia) and 1 honorable mention (Bolivia). 11 of the semifinalists missed my list and four of them were in my next tier (Malaysia, Serbia, Nigeria and Japan) but the 7 I missed entirely were: Argentina, Aruba, China, Macau (a debuting country placed for the first time but this one was a major surprise), Nicaragua, Russia, Vietnam. My 13 ladies that didn't place were: Colombia, Australia, Somalia, Eritrea (Aw, Snit!), Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Jamaica, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Turks & Caicos and Brazil.
Surprises are always to be expected so you really never know how things will play out. I was racking my brain trying to decide to give my win to either Dominican Republic or Cuba but some there has been some commentary online about Dominican Republic staying on stage too long and not following the stage director's instructions and even saying her name in the intros when the others only said their country's name only (which I think is stupid... Let them say their names and country. You have time...) and some also claim that Celinée had an attitude problem but others claim she is so sweet. I also thought Cuba had powers in having two Cuban judges on the panel and Osmel Sousa (Czar of beauty behind Venezuela's past success) working with MUO as an advisor but both Cuba and Dominican Republic had to settle for top 30 semifinalist spots... The next morning after I had posted my predictions, practically everyone was picking Denmark as their winner and I was like... oh yeah, I see it. Why didn't I see it earlier??? To add to this, this is the third year in a row that the delegate I ranked in 10th place in my list ended up winning! I swear I'm not doing this on purpose! It must be some subconscious thing that the winner is a 10 and therefore, I put her 10th on my list??? Not only were USA's R'Bonney Gabriel and Nicaragua's Sheynnis Palacios 10th on my list for their respective years but also South Africa's two recent winners, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in 2017 and Zozibini Tunzi in 2019 also were 10th on my list! I guess we have to watch who ends up 10th on my list for next year!! This is reminiscent of 2004 and 2013 to 2015 when the delegates I ranked in 5th place all won.
With the age limit removed for this year and marriage restrictions or having children removed last year, we saw several delegates over the age of 28 place this year (Argentina, Aruba, Cambodia, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Serbia). Of the mothers, we had Nigeria, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cambodia, Egypt and married placing contestants were: Canada (a former Mrs. Universe 2015 who has been twice married), Cambodia, Egypt but Puerto Rico is divorced. and the first contestant with vitiligo (Egypt) earned her country's first placement ever!
On September 4, a press conference by the Miss Universe organization was held at the Postal Palace of CDMX, where details of what will be the 73rd edition of Miss Universe were given. In attendance were: Raúl Rocha Cantu, Mario Bucaro, Sheynnis Palacios, Osmel Sousa and two representatives of the CDMX government. The most important thing they said at the press conference is what the new format of the contest will be. The delegates will arrive in Mexico City on October 29 and a new change this year is that four continental queens will be evaluated and chosen, from Americas/Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Asia/Oceania. Miss World has been awarding continental queens for decades now. The continental queens will be announced upon completion of the preliminary competition. They automatically advance to the Top 30. The winner of the online fan vote will also advance to the Top 30. The judges vote will choose the other 25 semifinalists to fill the top 30. From Top 30, there will be a cut to Top 12, then Top 5. There will be 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st runner up like before. 
I think the new management seems to think that more people want to see more delegates in swimsuit and less in gown probably to attract more of a straight male audience and also because the evening gown competition tends to be slower-paced than swimsuit so I think that's their logic. Raúl Rocha mentioned that in the preliminary competition the candidates will also parade in their national costumes but apparently, evening gowns will not be featured during preliminaries this year but there will be a separate gala event where delegates will model their gowns... Some speculate the reasoning for this is that with so many delegates and the slower pace of the evening gown competition that they wanted fast-paced, exciting events like the swimsuit competition and national costume show for the preliminary show otherwise the show would be too long. The theme song for the 73rd edition of Miss Universe will be a special number performed by Emilio Estefan who is also a judge and has regularly made appearances in Miss Universe pageants since the 80s along with his wife, Gloria Estefan. The theme song will highlight Mexican culture. It will be performed by the Black Eyed Peas.
By booing you off the stage!! Yes, we’ve been here before. 2024 marks the fifth time that the Miss Universe pageant is being held in Mexico. We thought the fourth time would be the last time but ownership changes seem to have altered all that. The other Miss Universe pageants previously held in Mexico were: 1978 (which inspired the headline for this article since ‘Bienvenidos a Mexico’ was the opening theme song for that pageant and the winner of that pageant, South Africa's Margaret Gardiner happens to be a judge this year), 1989, 1993 and 2007. 1978 and 1989 were fine but things took a turn in 1993 as Mexico’s delegate, Angelina González finished in 12th place just barely missing the top 10 and after her elimination, the rest of the pageant became a huge boo-fest with many members of the Mexican audience loudly booing throughout the show especially targeting then Miss USA, Kenya Moore (the second black Miss USA) who handled the booing with confidence and poise. Kenya would finish in 5th place that year in a pageant that ended up being won by Puerto Rico’s Dayanara Torres. We would have thought we learned our lesson but in 2006, then owner of the Miss Universe pageant, Donald Trump negotiated a deal with Mexican businessman, Pedro Rodriguez who signed a $6.5 million dollar deal to host Miss Universe in Mexico for 2007. Rodriguez paid $1 million upfront but for the remainder, an article from Bloomberg says one of Trump’s lawyers said Rodriguez agreed to set up a trust containing 26 properties belonging to a second businessman, Rodolfo Rosas. The remainder wasn’t paid so the case was taken to Mexican court and after interest and legal fees, the new amount owing grew to $12 million but the Mexican government ruled that much money couldn’t leave the country resulting in Trump tweeting on February 24, 2015, "I have a lawsuit in Mexico's corrupt court system that I won but so far can't collect. Don't do business with Mexico!" 
A week later, he vowed that Mexico will never again host the Miss Universe pageant. We know the rest of the story that Donald Trump ended up announcing that he was running for U.S. president later that year further expressing his rage against Mexicans resulting in the Miss Universe, USA and Teen USA pageants being sold to WME/IMG Endeavor. The 2007 Miss Universe pageant saw then Miss USA, Rachel Smith also booed while answering her top 5 question (similarly to Kenya Moore) likely due to Rachel advancing to the top 5 whereas the Mexican delegate, Rosa Maria Ojeda Cuen had to settle for a top 10 finish. Mexico did get a win a few years later in 2010… possibly to encourage payment of what was owed from 2007 but the Mexican win didn’t help things leading to the court case dragging on to 2015. It has been 17 years since the 2007 Miss Universe pageant in Mexico and 9 years since Trump’s initial run for president resulting in the sale of the Miss Universe organization to IMG but now, the ownership of Miss Universe pageant as of 2022 fell under the ownership of wealthy Thai transwoman, Khun Anne (Jakkaphong) Jakrajutatip who bought the Miss Universe pageant for $20 million but Khun Anne’s company JKN Global experienced financial difficulties in that turbulent inflationary year of 2023 filing for bankruptcy resulting in Khun Anne selling half of her share for $16 million to Mexican businessman, Raul Rocha Cantu who has been named president of the Miss Universe Organization and has created a headquarters for the current Miss Universe organization in Mexico City complete with a museum featuring keepsakes of Miss Universe pageants past like program books, crowns, sashes and other memorabilia. So the question remains… will Miss USA 2024, Alma Cooper (also from the state of Michigan like 1993 titleholder, Kenya Moore and Alma is also sporting an official Miss Universe USA sash like the other contestants for the first time ever for the USA in history) experience the similar unpleasant reception for the Mexican audience? I guess we have yet to see but if Alma does rank above Mexico’s delegate then I foresee the booing to resume as it did in 2007 but if the USA doesn’t place at all this year, this would likely eliminate the amount of booing and is actually the direction I’m leaning towards when making predictions this year. I fully expect the Mexican delegate, María Fernanda Beltrán Figueroa, to place and do very well this year and if she doesn’t place, expect a lot of booing but how far will she go? Will they outright give her the crown? Will top 5 be ample or perhaps top 10 to satisfy the audience? Fernanda previously represented Mexico at Miss Grand International 2023 but didn't place among the top 20 at that pageant resulting in cyberbullying and combatting this has since become her platform. Fernanda was crowned as Mexico’s representative by the reigning Miss Universe, Sheynnis Palacios after a bunch of potential directors (including Cynthia de la Vega who was famously dethroned as Mexico’s representative for Miss World 2011 by Lupita Jones and Mexico’s 1986 Miss International representative, Martha Merino) to select Miss Universe Mexico were replaced and Mexico’s director was finalized on George Figueroa. You will remember that Mexico’s first Miss Universe, Lupita Jones (who won her crown in 1991) was famously ousted as Mexico’s long-time director going back to 1994 which many speculate was due to Lupita’s anti-trans comments when one of the current owners of the Miss Universe organization, Khun Anne is a transwoman and the final slap to the face was when Lupita’s last Mexican delegate, Melissa Flores was blatantly eliminated in the 2023 Miss Universe competition resulting in Lupita leaving the audience in disgust after last year’s semifinalists were announced. 
The 2024 Miss Universe pageant will be the first without the leadership of former Miss Universe Organization president, Paula Shugart who started in the year 2000 succeeding Maureen Reidy during the era of ownership by Donald Trump, then jointly between Trump and NBC, then to WME/IMG Endeavor, then finally to the ownership of Thai trans businesswoman, Khun Anne (Jakkaphong) Jakrajutatip who bought ownership of the Miss Universe organization for $20 million U.S. in 2022 but then sold half of her share to Mexican businessman, Raul Rocha Cantu for $16 million U.S. earlier this year with Raul currently as president of MUO. Osmel Sousa, (also known as the Czar of beauty who was behind Venezuela’s success in pageantry from assisting in the 70s and taking over as Venezuela’s director in 1981 until 2018 and he would then direct Argentina and Uruguay from 2019 to 2023), was named the Advisor President of the Miss Universe organization as of 2024. Osmel is currently 78 years old and was recently seen on camera sitting in Khun Anne in true Mean-Girls (or as I call Bros-before-Pantyhose) fashion commenting on the headshots of this year's contestants that he liked or didn't like and Lebanon's Nada Koussa almost dropped out after seeing that Osmel said he didn't like her headshot but they reconciled and Nada will compete. Paula Shugart was recently seen in Vietnam judging a new Vietnamese-based international pageant called Miss Cosmo on October 5 and another judge present at that pageant was Miss Universe 2021, India’s Harnaaz Sandhu who lost much weight after completing her reign as Miss Universe and looked phenomenal. Recent CEO, Amy Emmerich also stepped down effective March 2024 which came shortly after Paula’s announcement of her resignation during the 2023 Miss Universe preliminaries last year in November.
For the first time since 1967 (57 years ago), a delegate has been chosen to represent the Caribbean island of Cuba. Between 1961 and 1967, the name used for the Cuban delegate in Miss Universe was "Cuba Free", where the Miss Cuba competition used the name "Free" and was held in Miami, Florida, USA. Since 1968, Cuba has not been allowed to participate in Miss Universe due to political factors. Today, Cuba still is in a state of economic disarray. Cuba regularly experiences shortages of basic necessities including food, medicine and fuel. As a result, the method of selecting a "Miss Cuba Free" was restarted this year. The 2024 Miss Universe Cuba pageant was again held in Miami, Florida, USA featuring contestants of Cuban descent. The winner was 31-year-old model Marianela Ancheta who fled Cuba as a child with her mother through Mexico to enter the United States where she actually lives. Many have likened Marianela Ancheta to Venezuela's Irene Esser who was 2nd runner up at Miss Universe 2012. The czar of beauty, 78-year-old Osmel Sousa (who was born in Cuba and was behind Venezuela's success in international pageantry for decades and perhaps wants to see his birth country Cuba win Miss Universe during his lifetime) assisted in the crowning of Marianela and Osmel is employed as an advisor with the current Miss Universe organization so we shall see if the Cuban delegate gets an easy ride in this year's competition. Further aiding the Cuban delegate, one of the judges for the 2024 Miss Universe pageant is Emilio Estefan who was the mastermind behind his wife, Gloria Estefan’s illustrious singing career and their group, Miami Sound Machine. Emilio is judging the Miss Universe pageant for the fifth time. He previously judged in 1984, 1996, 2004, 2014 and now 2024. We have a ten year chain from 2004, 2014 and 2024 so we’ll see if he’s still around in 2034 when he will 81 years of age! 1996 was one of those rare years where the judge’s individual scores were shown on the television screen as each competition occurred (a practice that I so wish would return) and I remember his scores had such a narrow bracket usually between 9 and 9.3 that his score was often the lowest of all the judges and was often eliminated. His highest score was a 9.3 given for the eventual winner, Venezuela’s Alicia Machado for her evening gown but her average score was a 9.87 (one of the highest recorded scores in history just behind 3 others: Lara Dutta’s score for her top 5 interview in 2000 which was 9.954, then 1994’s Colombian delegate, Carolina Gomez who earned a 9.897 in the evening gown competition, then in 2002, Russia’s Oxana Fedorova earned a 9.88 in swimsuit. I seriously questioned Emilio’s judging ability after seeing the scores he was giving in 1996 but the powers that be make all the decisions so he is judging. There is also another Cuban-American judge this year, Dr. Camila Guiribitey. So with "the three powers" of Camila, Emilio and Osmel involved, I fully expect the Cuban delegate to be helped in this year’s competition but will she get the crown therefore making her the oldest woman to win the Miss Universe crown?? Renowned Venezuelan fashion designer, Prince Julio Cesar (who also co-directs Miss Earth Venezuela) is currently Cuba’s director for Miss Universe and he also seems to be aiding Cuba's quest for its first Miss Universe crown? 
When asked how she would use her qualities of being beautiful and confident to empower others during the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant, Chelsea replied, "As a woman of color, I have always faced challenges in my life. I was told that beauty has standards. But for me, I have listened to always believe in my mother, to always believe in myself, and uphold the vows that I have. Because of these, I am already influencing a lot of women who are facing me right now. As a transformational woman, I have here 52 other delegates with me who have helped me to become the woman I am." Chelsea wore a fabulous white gown with a feather-boa reminiscent of the popular style of the 70s and Chelsea is using her racial background as an empowering factor and I expect her to be richly rewarded for it.
New Zealand had an interesting route to get to Miss Universe this year. Originally, Frances "Franki" Russell was appointed to represent New Zealand but in March 2024 but in August 2024, then franchise-holder, Josh Yugen’s public relations team released a statement that the Miss Universe New Zealand franchise was canceled "as a result of the team's non-compliance with a specific order from the Miss Universe Organization." Due to controversies of her career in acting for Viva movies which contained intimate scenes but no full-frontal nudity and the cancellation of the Miss Universe New Zealand franchise, her title was removed. Franki was once a "Pinoy Big Brother" housemate and previously tried to get to the Miss Universe stage trying for New Zealand’s title in 2015 and the United Arab Emirates in 2021. Her initial New Zealand attempt came to an end when the franchise asked her to back out as Russell was living in Australia at the time. Franki was born and raised in New Zealand and was only in Australia for work. Franki has since closed the chapter on trying to compete for Miss Universe. Franki would go on to represent New Zealand instead for the new Vietnamese-based international pageant, Miss Cosmo pageant where she placed among the top 21 and won the best in national costume award. The Miss Cosmo 2024 title was won by Indonesia’s Ketut Permata Juliastrid and among the top 5 at that pageant were USA’s Samantha Elliott (who made top 20 for Miss USA 2023 representing Illinois) and Peru’s Romina Lozano (who went unplaced at Miss Universe 2018). 
Miss USA 1957, Maryland’s Leona Gage was notably dethroned when it was discovered that she was a twice-married mother of two boys at age 18! Some mothers got away with competing in later years and the most notable case of this was Wales’ Helen Morgan who was 1st runner up to Miss Universe 1974, Spain’s Amparo Munoz but Helen hid that she was the mother of a young son while competing and then Helen would go on to win the 1974 Miss World title representing the United Kingdom but motherhood was not against the rules for the Miss World pageant at the time but the pressure from the press caused Helen to resign as Miss World 1974 relinquishing her title to her runner-up, South Africa's Anneline Kriel. 
2023 saw the end of the age limit for the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageant. It used to be that contestants would have to be aged 18 to 26 on the date of the final pageant but the age limit was upped to 27 in 2013 and 28 in 2018. Several contestants in years past have been disqualified for being under-aged over the years and yet others got away with it and even won like the first Miss Universe in 1952, Finland’s Armi Kuusela, Miss Universe 1953-Christiane Martel of France and Miss Universe 1957-Gladys Zender of Peru who were all 17 years old when they won their titles. Some were even disqualified after the pageant like the case of Miss USA 1954 which crowned the first American Miss Universe, Miriam Stevenson but Miriam’s runner-up, Virginia’s Ellen Whitehead was discovered to be only 16 years old and was therefore disqualified after the 1954 pageant had already occurred.
She’s off the wall! I truly enjoy Beatrice Njoya of Malta who is a contestant that breaks all the norms as she currently holds the distinction of being the oldest contestant ever to compete in the history of the Miss Universe pageant so far. Beatrice will be competing for the 2024 Miss Universe title at the age of 40! And if this delegate didn’t already make enough history, she is the first black delegate to represent Malta in the history of the Miss Universe pageant. The heart of the Mediterranean adores Beatrice and I think the judges will enjoy Beatrice Njoya too!
"All the old paintings on the tomb. They do the sand dance. Don’t you know? If they move too quick (Oh-way-oh), they're falling down like a domino." The land of ancient wonders and modern progress, Egypt is giving us a first in Miss Universe history by sending a contestant with vitiligo! Logina Salah is 34 years of age and is a single mother who proudly sports her very unique skin condition where patches of her skin are much lighter than the rest of her skin and I expect the audience to cheer so loudly for this girl that the judges likely be thoroughly encouraged to let her place and do very well in the competition. Diversity and representation matters and Logina is one unique representative! Logina recently took over Miss Universe’s social media for a few days and she answered questions from fans worldwide that are fascinated with her and she answered with such poise and she is even a pageant fan herself citing queens of yesteryear like Miss World 2000, india’s Priyanka Chopra-Jonas. She speaks English fluently as Logina is of Egyptian descent but currently lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where she is a make-up artist, entrepreneur, model, influencer and skin positivity advocate. She graduated from Beverly International Beauty School. In 2022, she was among the brides on the Arabian version of the reality show Say Yes to the Dress. In 2021, Cosmopolitan magazine nominated her for People's Choice Awards in the Middle East Social Media Star category. 
Later, she settled in Italy, already married to Luiz Carlos Farsoni where her son Pedro was born. After modelling, Luana expanded her career to television and movies. She acted in the film "Battle for Saipan", filmed in Bangkok. In Brazil, Luana acted in the film "Filhos do Mangue", scheduled to premiere this year in 2024 consolidating her position in both the national and international markets. After her consecration as an actress and model, Luana accepted the challenge of competing in Miss Universe Brazil and won the crown bringing her region of Pernambuco, the first national title in the history of the Miss Brazil pageant. Do these impressive achievements make Luana automatic semifinalist-material and could she captured the land of Samba’s third Miss Universe crown succeeding Ieda Vargas in 1963 and Martha Vasconcellos in 1968? I should point out here that each time that Mario Lopez has hosted the Miss Universe pageant (2007 and 2020), Brazil has finished as 1st runner up so since Mario is hosting this year, is Brazil about to place as 1st runner up yet again??
However, Dr. Nora Kenéz would not allow her dreams of the pursuit of the coveted Miss Universe crown disrupt her plans to get married. Nora’s scenario is very similar to that of Maine’s delegate for Miss USA 2023, Juliana Morehouse-Locklear got married on April 29, 2023 which was a few months after winning her state title of Miss Maine USA 2023 on November 20, 2022 but before competing for Miss USA 2023 on August 4, 2023 making her the first married contestant allowed to compete for Miss USA since the rule change for the 2023 season allowing married contestants to compete for the first time since 1956 which was a scenario that saw Miss USA 1957, Maryland’s Leona Gage dethroned shortly after winning her title when it was discovered that she was a twice-married mother of two boys who lied about her age saying she was 21 when she was actually 18.
You guys, I feel like Snit! I’ve just been having a real Snitty day… and the reason for that is Eritrea is competing for the very first time at the Miss Universe pageant and Eritrea is being represented by the mesmerizing Snit Tewoldemedhin and I know you are guys are thinking what kind of Snit country is Eritrea and where is that Snit?? I didn’t know the Miss Universe pageant was getting all Eritreatic and Snit… So, Eritrea is in Eastern Africa just northwest of Djibouti (pronounced Ja Booty), and north of Ethiopia and east of Sudan and none of those countries are being represented this year but nearby Somalia is getting represented by a Canadian of Somalian descent. Snit was actually born in Eritrea but relocated to the United States 5 years ago. Snit really is the Snit though as she has previous pageant experience and even won the Miss Africa USA title in 2023 so you better get that Snit!
Just exactly how does one go from being Mrs. Universe to Miss Universe? Well, the answer to this question may lie in the results of Canada’s representative this year, Ashley Callingbull-Rabbit. A true Canadian, Ashley is proud to be the first fully indigenous/First Nations woman to represent the land of the maple leaf in the history of the Miss Universe pageant. Canada is one of only two nations to compete in the finals of every edition of the Miss Universe pageant since its inception in 1952. France is the other nation but other nations have had excellent attendance like the USA only missing the finals in 1957 when Leona Gage was dethroned after preliminaries but before the finals that year and Germany only missed the Covid year of 2020.
for someone to have the Miss Universe VIP experience sponsored by Omaze and the winner of that challenge was Ashley Callingbull! She was seen in the audience cheering on Canada’s then representative, Siera Bearchell. Siera also has partial indigenous ancestry like Ashley. Ashley got to be crowned and sashed as if she was Miss Universe by Pia Wurtzbach-Miss Universe 2015. At that time, Ashley already had quite the pageant history of her own as she was 2nd runner up to Miss Universe Canada 2010-Elena Semikina, then she would place among the top 20 (but not top 12) for Miss Universe Canada 2013 and then Ashley was also crowned Mrs. Universe 2015 (Mrs. Universe is a smaller pageant founded in 2007 in Bulgaria and is exclusively for married women and is not affiliated with the Miss Universe brand. The Miss Universe organization of that era in 2010 took legal action for them to stop using the Universe name in the title and did again in 2015 when Ashley won bringing more awareness of that pageant after she criticized the Canadian government for her perceived lack of support of First Nations’ people so some wonder if this previous Mrs. Universe title and Ashley’s outspokenness will be a hindrance or will it help her as she competes for Miss Universe? The Mrs. Universe pageant still exists though and crowned the delegate from Belarus this year which was coincidentally the host country of the Mrs. Universe pageant that Ashley won in 2015). Ashley even placed 3rd at the 2016 edition of ‘Amazing Race Canada’ competing with her stepfather, Joel Ground. Now, the question remains. Was this picture of Pia Wurtzbach pseudo-crowning Ashley as Miss Universe actually prophetic and is Ashley about to go from Mrs. Universe 2015 to Miss Universe 2024??? 
Mara Topic will be the Topic of discussion for this article regarding her representation this year of the land where the hemispheres meet, Ecuador. Mara Štefica Topić Verduga stands at 5 feet 10 inches tall and was born on the 18th of March in 1994 so she will be competing for the Miss Universe title at age 30. Mara was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador to an Ecuadorian mother but her last name of Topić comes from Mara’s Croatian father, businessman Tomislav Topić. At the age of 18, Mara moved to Los Angeles, California. Her eldest half-brother, Jan Topić ran for the presidency of Ecuador during the 2023 Ecuadorian general election but finished in 4th place obtaining 14.66% of the vote. And if that wasn’t enough of a "Topic" of interest, Mara suffers from Hashimoto's thyroiditis which is an autoimmune disease in which the thyroid gland is gradually destroyed and can result in a number of side-effects including hair loss which Mara has experienced and therefore, has had to wear a wig. You may recall that Miss Universe 1970, the late Marisol Malaret of Puerto Rico (who passed away just last year in 2023) wore a wig so Mara certainly not be the first to compete wearing a wig so could she also win the Miss Universe title which would be a first for Ecuador? Their highest ranking was in 2013 when Constanza Baez ranked as 2nd runner up that year. Could Mara even pull a gimmick similar to the wig removal tactic that was recently done by France’s Safiétou Kabengele during the preliminary swimsuit competition of the recently concluded 2024 Miss Grand International pageant in Bangkok, Thailand won by India’s Rachel Gupta but Safiétou finished in 4th place. 
Safiétou’s claim to viral fame occurred when she removed her wig mid-walk, revealing a shaved head and handing the wig to the previous competitor from El Salvador’s representative as she completed her swimsuit performance and walked past Safiétou to go off stage. The move thrilled the audience and sparked a social media frenzy making international headlines and even garnered the interest of entertainment gossip shows like TMZ. Will Miss Universe come up with a similar gimmick to go viral this year??
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we are about the witness the dawning of the European Sheynnis Palacios! Like the reigning Miss Universe (Nicaragua’s Sheynnis Palacios), Finland’s Matilda Wirtavuori also sports a similar short hair-cut and a very fierce, smooth and impactful catwalk and the land where tolerance and northern lights shine bright is expected to make a huge comeback this year with Waltzing Matilda. I call her Waltzing Matilda not only because of that notable Australian song that was used in the 1979 Miss Universe pageant held in Australia, but also because Matilda is quite the dancer and she is using those graceful movement skills effectively in her catwalk and her distinct short blonde hair, fit body and classic good looks are sure to get her noticed in a big way this year. Matilda is a 24-year-old model and host from the city of Tampere who is highly educated holding a Master’s Degree of Science in Business Analytics. She is also a mental health advocate and spearheaded Mind The Future which is a project focused on promoting the mental health of young people.
Celinee has extensive pageant experience as she first competed for the 2019 Miss Dominican Republic pageant finishing in the top 6 later placing in the top 20 of Miss Intercontinental 2019 but getting 1st runner up in the Reina Mundial del Banano (World Banana Queen) 2019 competition. Celinée also previously competed in the 2022 Miss International pageant finishing as 4th runner up but she has surely polished her speaking and presentation skills and is extremely prepared for the Miss Universe competition. She will also be meeting Peru’s Tatiana Calmell (who also competed for the 2022 Miss International title as well but finishing as 2nd runner up) and Tatiana is also an accomplished model and actress with much experience so will these two stunning ladies meet yet again in the top 5 of Miss Universe 2024 and will one of them win this time?? I’m actually counting on it currently as Celinee is my winner at the moment with Tatiana also in my top 5!