Vietnamese beauty contestant not allowed to compete in 2023 Miss Universe

Quynh Nga, the CEO of Miss Universe Vietnam, said according to the new regulations of the holding company Miss Universe Organization (MUO), to participate in the global version of Miss Universe, a contestant must become the winner of the competition in their respective country and sign a contract with the copyright holder of the competition.

Miss Universe Vietnam has asked MUO to make an exception for Thao Nhi, who finished as the first runner-up in the 2022 contest. However, they failed to reach an agreement with Unicorp, the previous copyright holder of the Miss Universe Vietnam pageant, on transferring the management deal of Nhi to them.

Nhi signed the management deal last year with Unicorp, who organized the 2022 Miss Universe Vietnam pageant.

“We are sorry that this happened,” Nga said. “Le Thao Nhi was a potential candidate.”

Tran Viet Bao Hoang, a representative of Unicorp, said he was surprised when he read the announcement about Miss Universe Vietnam.

According to Hoang, Miss Universe Vietnam sent Unicorp a proposal on bringing Nhi to the 2023 Miss Universe pageant, but the two organizations only worked through email and there were no direct meetings or negotiations.

“We wanted to have a meeting to discuss a collaboration, but when we were still waiting for their reply, this announcement came out,” continued Hoang. “From a personal perspective, I’m really surprised.”

The Unicorp representative said the company has always been open-minded and willing to cooperate because they understand Nhi’s potential as well as the hopes of fans.

On Thursday, Nhi wrote on her Facebook page: ” Everything happens for a reason, and instead of being sad right now, we should keep being positive.”

Le Thao Nhi, 28, has nearly one million followers on Instagram. She’s the only Vietnamese to be included on the list of the world’s 100 most beautiful faces by independent critic TC Candler for three consecutive years (2020-2022).