The 2021 edition of Miss Universe kickstarted with political controversy when Israel was announced as the host nation. Pageant powerhouse, South Africa, was immediately placed in a tough diplomatic spot in determining their participation. The South African government withdrew its support and called on Miss South Africa, Lelela Mswane to withdraw, citing the Israeli treatment of Palestinians – labelling it as “apartheid”. South Africa had ended their apartheid system (a racially divisive movement) in 1994. Miss South Africa still opted to participate and finished as the second runner-up.
But that wasn’t the only visible “political” statement, as nations like Morocco and Bahrain participated in the contest – something that would’ve been deemed unimaginable a few years ago. Both Arab nations had signed historic normalisation agreements with Israel.
Despite the controversy, the night of swimsuits and evening gowns turned out to be a historic one for some of the contestants and their countries.
The Bahamas’ representative, Chantel O’Brien, made history as the first contestant from her island to make the semi-finals since they began competing in 1963. O’Brien started out in pageants at age 19 and previously represented The Bahamas at Miss World in 2015.
Miss Philippines, Beatrice Luigi Gomez, is the first openly queer contestant from her country to represent them at Miss Universe. Gomez identifies as bisexual and garnered thousands of support from the LGBTQ+ community.
Miss Aruba, Thessaly Zimmerman, gave Aruba its first placement since 1996. Zimmerman was speechless when she was announced as a top 16 semi-finalist.
Miss Bahrain, Manar Nadeem Deyani, made double history. She is the first representative from her country to compete at Miss Universe and the first contestant to wear a jumpsuit during the “swimsuit” preliminary contest. Deyani opted to stick to her cultural and religious belief.
The competition ended with India (Harnaaz Sandhu) announced as the winner. Paraguay (Nadia Ferreira ) finished second and South Africa (Lelela Mswane) finished third. Miss Nigeria (Maristella Okpala) took the Best National Costume Award, Miss Chile (Antonia Figueroa) took the Social Impact Award and Miss Bahamas (Chantel O’Brien) took the Spirit of Carnival Award.
The Twitter community live tweeted during the contest, sending the #MissUniverse hashtag trending in several countries. Here are some of the tweets.
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