Why Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel Passed Her Miss USA Crown After Rigging Allegations

Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel passed her Miss USA crown to Miss North Carolina Morgan Romano over the weekend.

According to New York Post, Gabriel, 28, crowned Romano, 24, at Auburn University on Saturday during the preliminary contest of Miss Alabama USA and Miss Alabama Teen USA. 

Following her win on Saturday, Romano wrote on Instagram, "Heart full of gratitude. I'm all yours, USA."

When Texas' Gabriel won Miss USA in October, Romano became the pageant's first runner-up. Gabriel passed on her title as Miss USA to Romano after winning Miss Universe 2022 on January 14.

Romano is a chemical engineer and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. She was named Miss North Carolina USA in January 2022. It was a victory that sent her to the Miss USA pageant.

Gabriel will reportedly not be able to fulfill all her obligations as Miss USA as she is currently the Miss Universe 2022, so she had to pass her Miss USA crown to Romano.

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Rigging Allegations Plague Miss Universe 2022 and Miss USA

Many fans accused Anne Jakrajutatip, the new owner of Miss Universe, of rigging the beauty pageant for Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel, who won the Miss Universe 2022 crown over runner-up Miss Venezuela.

According to the fans, there was a conflict of interest since Jakrajutatip, the chief executive of JKN Global Group owns both the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. 

They also believed that Gabriel won the crown because this year's Miss Universe was held on U.S. soil in New Orleans.

Cheating claims heightened when Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said the crown was "stolen" from first runner-up, Miss Venezuela Amanda Dudamel.

This was not the first time Gabriel's victory was met with rigging allegations. Many of Gabriel's rivals in Miss USA thought that the competition was rigged to favor her, Business Insider reported.

According to Miss Missouri Mikala McGhee, many contestants felt it was the organization's plan from the beginning for Gabriel to win, regardless of who else was competing. McGhee and the other contenders left the platform after Gabriel was named Miss USA.

McGhee told Insider that they did it "to send a statement that we all had an idea of what was really going on behind the scenes," adding that they felt "disrespected and paraded around for a show."

Crystle Stewart, president of Miss USA, and her company, Miss Brand Corporation, were suspended by the Miss Universe Organization in late October, pending the outcome of an independent investigation into the rigging allegations, CNN reported.

Many Miss USA contestants cited multiple conflicts of interest between Gabriel and the pageant's national sponsors. 

According to reports, two of Miss USA's national sponsors, namely Miss Academy, the pageant school owned by Stewart, and the med spa Mia Beauté, were also state sponsors for Miss Texas USA. 

Both companies are based in Houston, Texas, where Gabriel lived before winning the Miss USA title. Stewart earlier denied any claims that the pageant was rigged and that she was cooperating with the investigation.

Miss Universe 2022 Official Denied Allegations Pageant Was Rigged in Favor of R'Bonney Gabriel

Amy Emmerich, CEO of the Miss Universe Organization, previously told TMZ that R'Bonney Gabriel won the Miss Universe 2022 crown fair and square. 

Emmerich noted that an independent party handled the results. She said "one of the top four accounting firms" in the U.S. handled the results and verified the process.

According to Emmerich, R'bonney was the "rightful Miss Universe" because she was a "strong and dedicated contestant."

The Miss Universe Organization further noted that the baseless rigging allegations were absurd and only distracted the "incredible milestones our organization and the delegates experienced this weekend."

In an exclusive interview, Emily Austin, one of the judges for both preliminary and finals night, told Latin Post that the whole process of selecting Miss Universe was not rigged.

"Guys, hear it from the judge. It is so fair. There is no cheating whatsoever. The CEO did not care who we voted for. The president didn't care. The manager didn't care. Nobody cared. It was fully up to us. They chose us because they trusted our opinion," Austin said.

Gabriel earlier told Fox News that the rigging allegations were "hurtful" and "disheartening" as she put her heart and soul" into it. 

"I hope people can see that. However, in this competition, I know there [are] always rumors that can start... I've been through this before because I won Miss USA. That was in the public eye and there [were] rigging allegations proven false as well," she told the outlet.

She continued: "There will always be people that try to bring you down... But being in the public eye, I think this is a great opportunity to show resiliency and to just keep moving forward... I'm focused on my end goal... on being successful and being positive in a world of negativity."

The 28-year-old fashion designer and model became the first Filipina-American to win Miss USA in October 2022 after she first became Miss Texas USA in December 2021.

R'Bonney Gabriel has also made history by becoming the first Filipina-American to win the Miss Universe competition.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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