A cheating controversy involving allegations that Miss Texas was given a win-at-all-costs advantage has shaken the Miss USA organization.
On Monday night, R’Bonney Gabriel, the first Asian and Filipina American to win, was proclaimed queen and left to enjoy her victory alone as virtually all the other contestants rushed off stage.
Typically, the competitors remain on stage for the crowning as well as the celebration that follows the young lady winning.
Others assert that Gabriel was the predetermined victor. Nine weeks before winning, she visited a spa offering cosmetic surgery, which they used as proof.
After she won, that clinic posted a picture of Gabriel’s visit, raising suspicions that they were aware she would win all along. None of the other competitors is known to have traveled or been recorded for a personal advertisement should they have won.
Gabriel’s friendship with Miss USA director Crystle Stewart also alarmed competitors. Weeks before the victory, Gabriel’s hair was seen being styled by Stewart, a previous champion herself.
Heather Lee O’Keefe, Miss Montana, detailed the allegations of infidelity on TikTok.
In a TikTok video, she stated: “The majority of the Miss USA competitors believe strongly that there was partiality towards Miss Texas USA and we have the receipts to show it.”
In an Instagram Live on Wednesday, O’Keefe stated, “We are putting our titles on the line, putting our reputations on the line.” That is how committed we are to believing in and defending what is right.
Because of how serious we are about this, several of us have even said that we are prepared to renounce our titles in order to take this position.
O’Keefe also said that the Class of 2021 had brought legal action against the event planners, but he withheld any details.
Miss USA has been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.
The allegations that have sparked the most concern include…
After R’Bonney Gabriel was crowned, Losers defied convention and stormed off stage in front of cameras.
As the credits rolled, contestants began to leave the stage, leaving Gabriel to celebrate by himself, and rumors started to fly.
It is customary for the runners-up to stand and clap as the credits roll, but this year’s pageant ended without any such formalities.
It was “obvious” that the competition was rigged, according to former Miss USA contestant Jasmine Jones, who has competed in pageants for ten years. You’ve always been in pageants, and the production manager always tells you to stay on stage until she’s finished, stand there, and clap.
Before she even turned around for the other contestants to give her a congrats hug, girls could be heard “literally clapping [weakly] in the background and they started leaving the stage.”
The competitors behind her were leaving the stage before she had even gotten halfway down the runway for her crowning moment.
It was a “huge tell-all,” she claimed, that “something was amiss.”
O’Keefe said that the early departure was “unusual” and had “never occurred before” during an Instagram Live on Wednesday.
It was “not premeditated,” according to the beauty queen, and it wasn’t done out of “bitter” sentiments.
In the course of the live broadcast on Wednesday, she added, “We all simply did what we believed was right.” We are a group of Division I athletes, Harvard alums, attorneys, medical professionals, researchers, and individuals who struggled to get U.S. citizenship.
We are the farthest thing from losers who are resentful.
They both publicly said that they had nothing against Gabriel.
No offense to Texas personally, but I really believe she could have won by a clear margin without any of this nonsense. O’Keefe said on social media that there was “simply too much evidence of bias to let this go unreported.”
Hours after she was announced as the winner, the center released footage of the winner visiting the cosmetic surgery facility that is offering part of the prize before the final.
O’Keefe noted that NIZUC Resort & Spa broadcast a video of Gabriel enjoying an all-inclusive spa – which is included in her reward – less than 24 hours after the competition. This seemed fishy in another way.
O’Keefe said that it was an obvious sign of “favoritism” and that the trip took place “nine weeks ago,” far before the Monday night coronation.
The blond bombshell said on Instagram, “@MissUSA was crowned less than 24 hours ago, however she already secured her sponsored trip to @NIZUCResort.” ‘Are you serious? I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but this is now plain humiliating.
In a further turn of events, the founder of MIA Beaute, a company connected to NIZUC, was allegedly one of the judges for the Miss USA competition.
The entrepreneur apparently also shared a picture of Miss Texas on his Instagram story, fueling even more rumors.
“Ever since Miss Texas was crowned a few months ago, the Miss USA organization has exhibited partiality via their companies, which are also all controlled by the same lady,” said O’Keefe.
The tournament’s president is close to Gabriel and is said to have done her hair weeks before the event and assisted in preparing Gabriel for the competition.
O’Keefe also posted a picture of Crystle Stewart, one of the Miss USA organizers, fixing Gabriel’s hair backstage.
Gabriel is seated in a white, asymmetrical shirt while Stewart ties the woman’s hair up tightly in a ponytail, giving the impression that the two are close and at ease with one another.
O’Keefe said that Gabriel allegedly visited Stewart’s Miss Academy, a pageant coaching company, before the crowning.
A move that O’Keefe said “no other state contender received” was that Miss Texas was apparently the “only one” displayed on the official Miss USA page.
Then, she added, “they published a public apology.” You people shouldn’t claim that you can’t see [favoritism].
She said that many contenders felt they had to pay for Miss Academy lessons out of their own pockets in order to “feel like they had a shot.”
She said on the livestream that “many ladies felt that they needed to train with Miss Academy to feel like they had a shot to perform well at Miss USA.” Which is sad, in my opinion.
According to O’Keefe, tuition costs between $2,500 and $1,400. $500 ‘a la carte’ lessons are also available.
I’m trying to convey the point that it’s a lot of money, she added. At least a lot of us were under the assumption that we needed to attend Miss Academy to learn these lessons from them in order to do well at Miss USA.
O’Keefe did participate in a few of Miss Academy’s online courses.
On her Instagram stories, Miss Montana also criticized the judges, sponsors, and staff, writing: “Lol @ all of the sponsors, judges, employees, etc. watching my tales and vids.” I see you. When are you going to speak up?
Silence is seen as consent.