Miss Universe 2002 Swimsuit Competition

[Caleb Nelands]

Thats no longer the case for Miss Teen USA, after the Miss Universe organization announced that the pageant is going swimsuit-free. Instead, the 51 women (from the 50 states plus D.C.) will be judged in a brand-new athletic wear competition.

Pageant organizers have long said swimsuit portions were intended to show off the athleticism of the competitors. But Miss Teen USA's transition to athletic wear reads as less exploitative and more focused on the importance of physical fitness for its younger participants, aged 15-19.

The move is consistent with the overall rebranding of the Miss Universe Organization, which has shifted under WME-IMG, the talent agency that purchased it from former owner Donald Trump in September. The sale came after NBC and Univision dropped the broadcast of Miss USA following comments the Republican presidential candidate made regarding illegal immigrants.

Could the other pageants in the Miss Universe organization follow the lead of Miss Teen USA? Julianne Hough, the host and creative producer for this year's Miss USA, previously suggested that the competition should consider retiring the swimsuits in an interview with USA TODAY.

Hough hinted that the Miss Universe organization would refocus its pageants on health and wellness. "They've talked about different ideas for that aspect of the competition...being confident in the fact you worked hard to get that body and you go to the gym and you eat healthy and do certain things," she said.

Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.[1] Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.[2]

The Miss Universe Organization and its brand, is currently owned by JKN Global Group and Legacy Holding Group USA Inc., an American division of Mexican company Legacy Holding through the joint venture company JKN Legacy Inc.[3] Telemundo has the licensing rights to air the pageant through 2023.[4] The pageant's advocacy is "humanitarian issues and is a voice to affect positive change in the world."[5][6]

The title "Miss Universe" was first used by the International Pageant of Pulchritude in 1926. This contest was held annually until 1935, when the Great Depression and other events preceding World War II led to its demise.

The current Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by Pacific Knitting Mills, a California-based clothing company and manufacturer of Catalina Swimwear, and has since been headquartered in the United States. The company was the sponsor of the Miss America pageant until 1951, when the winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for publicity pictures wearing one of their swimsuits. In 1952, Pacific Knitting Mills organized the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, co-sponsoring them for decades to follow.[7]

The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California in 1952. It was won by Armi Kuusela from Finland, who gave up her title, though not officially, to get married shortly before her year was completed.[8] Until 1958, the Miss Universe title, like that of Miss America, was dated by the year following the contest, so at the time uusela's title was Miss Universe 1953. Since its founding by Pacific Mills, the pageant has been organized and conducted by the Miss Universe Organization. Eventually, Pacific Mills and its subsidiaries were acquired by the Kayser-Roth Corporation.[9]

The pageant was first televised in 1955. CBS began broadcasting the combined Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1960, and as separate contests in 1965. Eventually, Gulf and Western Industries bought the Kayser-Roth Corporation in 1975 which also acquired the Miss Universe pageant until 1991 when it was bought by Procter & Gamble.[9]

In 1996, Donald Trump bought the pageant from ITT Corp, with a broadcasting arrangement with CBS until 2002.[10] During this time, in 1998, Miss Universe, Inc. changed its name to the Miss Universe Organization, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City.[11][12] By late 2002, Trump entered into a joint venture with NBC,[1][13] which in 2003 outbid the other markets for the TV rights.[14] From 2003 to 2014, the pageant was broadcast in the United States on NBC.

In June 2015, NBC cancelled all business relationships with Trump and the Miss Universe Organization in response to controversial statements about illegal immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico.[15][16] As part of the legal settlement, in September 2015, Trump bought out NBC's 50% stake in the company, making him the company's sole owner. Three days later, he sold the whole company to WME/IMG.[17][18] Following the change of ownership, in October 2015, Fox and Azteca became the official broadcasters of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants.[19] The broadcast rights to the Miss Universe Pageant was temporarily split between Telemundo and FYI during the 2020 pageant. amidst COVID-19 pandemic restrictions at the time. The contract with Fox and then-emcee Steve Harvey was resumed for the 2021 edition.

On October 26, 2022, Thailand-based JKN Global Group acquired Miss Universe Organization (MUO) from Endeavor Group Holdings-owned IMG Worldwide at $14 million, making Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip the first transgender woman to own the organization and marking the first time the organization expands its headquarters outside the U.S. From the 2022 edition onwards, NBC has re-acquired broadcast rights via The Roku Channel for the competition as a result of the ownership changes, marking the first time in Miss Universe history that the pageant has transitioned from traditional broadcast network coverage to full streaming service in the United States.[20]

On November 16, 2023, Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, announced her departure from the Miss Universe Organization.[21] The aforementioned position will not be replaced.[21] Following the departure of Shugart, CEO of the Miss Universe Organization Amy Emmerich also announced her departure on 8 February 2024 and will be leaving the organization on 1 March 2024.[22]

To gain participation in Miss Universe, a country needs a local company or person to buy the local rights of the competition through a franchise fee. The fee includes the rights of image, brand and everything related to the pageant. Often the owner of the franchise returns the franchise to the Miss Universe Organization, which resells it to a new stakeholder. The reselling of the franchise from one owner to the next is recurrently common in the history of the event, sometimes for contractual breaches or financial reasons. The number of participants fluctuates annually because of the franchising of the pageant paired with conflicting schedules to the regular calendar, but has steadied above 70 countries since 1989.

Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in the nation's local subdivisions, where local winners compete in a national pageant, but there are some countries who opt for an internal selection. For example, from 2000 to 2004, Australian delegates were chosen by a modeling agency. Although such "castings" are generally discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, Jennifer Hawkins was chosen to represent the country in Miss Universe in 2004 (where she would eventually win the crown). Australia would eventually reinstate its national pageant for Miss Universe from 2005 onwards.

Recent countries that debuted in the pageant include Bhutan (2022) and Pakistan (2023). Pakistan is the latest newcomer and the most recent country to obtain its first ever semifinal placement at Miss Universe, after debuting in 2023 as a semifinalist in the Top 20.

There have been widespread speculations regarding Saudi Arabia's potential entry into the Miss Universe pageant. However, the Miss Universe Organization has officially denied these claims and dispelled any rumors regarding Saudi Arabia's participation in the contest. [23]

Meanwhile, Botswana remains the most recent first-time entry to ever win Miss Universe on its debut year (with Mpule Kwelagobe in 1999), and Nicaragua is the most recent country to obtain its first ever national win in Miss Universe (with Sheynnis Palacios in 2023).

Cultural barriers, particularly with the swimsuit competition, and the prohibitive franchise fees of the event have prevented some countries like Mozambique from participating. Nevertheless, the Miss Universe Pageant has historically proven popular in regions like the Americas, Africa and Asia, especially in countries like United States, Philippines, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia, given their successful track record of multiple semifinal appearances in the last decade and combined multiple titles in the competition's history. As of 2024, only two countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada and France.

Since 2012, openly transgender women have been allowed to compete as long as they won their national pageants.[24] Six years after this rule went into effect, Angela Ponce of Spain became the first openly transgender candidate to compete in the contest, in the 2018[25] edition. In 2019, Myanmar's Swe Zin Htet became the first openly lesbian woman to compete in Miss Universe. Spain's Patricia Yurena Rodrguez is currently the highest-placed LGBT member at Miss Universe, placing second to Venezuela's Gabriela Isler in 2013, but did not come out until years after the competition.[26][27][28] In 2021, the Philippines' Beatrice Gomez became the first openly bisexual (and LGBT) contestant to enter the Miss Universe semifinals, after finishing as a finalist in the Top 5 that year. In 2023, Portugal's Marina Machete became the first transgender contestant to enter the Miss Universe semifinals, after finishing as a semifinalist in the Top 20.

Previously, official rules had stated that pageant contestants, "must not have ever been married, not had a marriage annulled nor given birth to, or parented a child. The titleholders are also required to remain unmarried throughout their reign."[29][30] However, in August 2022, the Miss Universe Organization announced that mothers, married, or pregnant women are eligible to compete in the pageant.[31] The new rule has been instituted since 2023. Accepting married contestants reinvigorates tension between the American-based Miss Universe pageant and the European-based Mrs. Universe pageant, which was previously the only avenue for married women to compete for the Universe title. Later that same year, Colombia's Camila Avella became the first candidate to become a mother before clinching a semifinal placement at Miss Universe, after finishing as a finalist in the Top 5.

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