Beauty pageants are known for their fierce competition but also for the way that contestants conduct themselves. No matter the outcome or fierceness of the competition, viewers are treated to images of the beauty queens all in joyous moments celebrating each other. Fernanda Pavisic, the former Miss Universe Bolivia, learned the hard way what happens when you don’t follow these rules.
In a now-deleted, yet screen-recorded video, Pavicis is seen scrolling through photos of fellow Miss Universe contestants and things spiral fast. As the beauty queen is looking at photos of contestants, she quickly turns to name-calling while laughing with a friend who is off-screen.
During the video, you see Pavisic scrolling on her phone looking at photos of Miss Brazil, Miss El Salvador, and Miss Paraguay. In Spanish, she refers to them as “damas” or “old ladies” disparaging their physical looks. She then turns her attention to Miss Ecuador, Miss Aruba, and Miss Curacao calling them the “thanks for participating” contestants.
The backlash was swift and decisive. Pavisic’s comments ran afoul of the cultural acceptance of Miss Universe contestants holding themselves to a standard of camaraderie and mutual celebration.
Pavisic immediately got on the defensive when the news broke that she lost her title and crown because of her actions. In a social media post, Pavisic claims that the decision was “absolutely unjust” and that nothing she said in the video can be taken as racist or discriminatory. That didn’t change the fact that she will no longer be representing Bolivia in the Miss Universe 2022 pageant.
In other news, congratulations to Camila Sanabria, the current Miss Universe Bolivia.