The Miss Universe judge slams allegations that the 2023 contest was “rigged” despite feeling “cheated” after losing Miss New York

CONTROVERSY has surrounded the Miss Universe pageant since its finale on Saturday.

Claims of alleged manipulation of the results in favor of the winner, Miss USA R’Bonney Gabriel, have been doing the rounds online – allegations by the Miss Universe Organization to The US Sun were “absurd”.

4

4

These claims stemmed from the fact that Anne Jakrajutatip, CEO of KN Global Group, is not only the new owner of Miss Universe but Miss USA as well.

This caused theories to circulate online, while even rapper Cardi B authorized being “angry” about the results.

Now one of the pageant’s judges, 21-year-old Emily Austin, has spoken to The US Sun about the claims.

Austin, a former Miss New York contestant, currently works as a sports reporter, activist and adviser to the United Nations delegation of Israel.

She admitted that she “came up to Miss Universe and said to me, ‘I can’t wait to find out if this is rigged or not.’

“And as a judge, I thought that’s the fairest thing on the planet.”

Austin joked that the reason she was wondering whether or not the contest was rigged was because “when I lost Miss New York, I was like, ‘It’s rigged, they cheated, no way I have lost.'”

“But unfortunately I just lost because it’s totally fair and there’s no cheating.”

She explained how they attended “several briefings from the CEO, the President and everyone above us,” which stressed to the judges that the fate of this year’s Miss Universe was “in your hands.”

Austin also took the opportunity to dismiss any suggestion that the judges were unaware of any alleged tampering, stating, “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, but the judges don’t even know it’s tampered with.’ No, because after the contest all the judges spoke so we all know who we all voted for and it’s been pretty consistent.

“So, to address those rumours, no one knows better than me that it wasn’t rigged. As much as I want to say it. It just wasn’t.”

Now that the pageant is wrapped and dusted for another year, Austin’s focus will be on her new TV show, Hoop Chat with Emily Austin.

She told The US Sun that this “will be my first show where I literally sit down and just talk hoops.

“It’s not going to be a 30-minute interview, maybe a five-minute interview. It’s everyone that comes and tells gossip or that player was outstanding this week.”

The show, which is scheduled to start filming next week, will be screened at Game Day NBA.

4

4