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Miss Universe CEO Anne Jakrajutatip shocked many fans last week when she said the pageant didn't need to evolve anymore because they "already got the best" with Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, who won the crown on November 16.
"We have blond and blue eyes, so we're coming to the ultimate evolution already," the CEO said when a reporter asked how she planned to evolve Miss Universe. "We don't need any more evolution here."
While some in the pageant community criticized Jakrajutatip's comments, the Miss Universe first runner-up Chidimma Adetshina — who made history as the first Miss Nigeria to place in the top five — told Business Insider they didn't faze her.
"I'm not really offended by it," she said. "Maybe that's just her perspective; maybe that's how she felt about the evolution of Miss Universe."
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Adetshina added that she was disappointed to see Donald Trump Jr.'s remarks about the pageant.
"Biological & objectively attractive women are allowed to win beauty pageants again. WE ARE SO BACK," Trump Jr. wrote in a message on X on November 18, which Jakrajutatip and Miss Universe co-owner Raul Rocha shared on their Instagram pages.
"All the queens that were crowned are so beautiful in their own different ways, so for him to make a comment like that, I feel like he was disregarding all the past queens," Adetshina told BI. "I can understand why people didn't really like a comment like that and why it was causing a spark on social media."
Representatives for Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.
When Jakrajutatip took over the Miss Universe brand in October 2022, she promised to "evolve the brand for the next generation" in a statement sent to BI.
Starting in 2023, the organization began allowing married women and mothers to compete. In September of that year, it was also announced that women over 28 would be allowed to participate.
Adetshina praised Miss Universe's progress, pointing to the many contestants who made history at this year's competition. Still, she believes there's still more to be done.
"I feel like they have done a lot this year," Adetshina said. "We had so many women who are mothers, who are married; we really had the year of breaking stereotypes and just being so inclusive."
"So I feel like we're getting somewhere," she said, "but the organization can do better."
Jakrajutatip previously received backlash when a video from an October 2023 Miss Universe staff meeting was leaked. The footage, which was obtained by BI, shows the CEO telling her staff that diverse pageant contestants "can compete, but they can't win," calling it a "communication strategy."
In a February statement on her Facebook page, Jakrajutatip said she was discussing a potential Miss Universe reality show rather than the competition.
Representatives for Jakrajutatip and the Miss Universe organization did not respond to requests for comment.
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As the chatter surrounding Miss Universe continues, Adetshina hopes more people focus on the "amount of work that beauty queens put in to achieve their dreams."
"I really wish more people knew what beauty queens go through because each and every one of us has a different journey," she said.
Adetshina's own journey to the Miss Universe stage was tumultuous . She was invited to compete in the Miss Nigeria pageant after she had to withdraw from Miss South Africa following xenophobic online attacks about her Nigerian name (Adetshina was born in South Africa, but her father is from Nigeria).
"People underestimate beauty queens," Adetshina added. "We always think it's just about the crown and the walk, but you get to empower and inspire a lot of people."
