(CNN) — Noelia Voigt of Utah was topped the brand new Miss USA in Reno, Nevada, on the fruits of the 2023 pageant on the Grand Sierra Resort on Friday evening, broadcast stay on the CW Community. Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii positioned as first-runner-up.
Voigt, 23, beat out 50 different titleholders on the pageant. Initially of the tv competitors, the sphere was narrowed to twenty finalists, and lower additional to simply 5 — Voigt, Gankiewicz, Jasmine Daniels of Pennsylvania, Lluvia Alzate of Texas and Alexis Loomans of Wisconsin — after the requisite swimwear and night robe rounds.
Requested what she would contribute to the Miss Universe Group as a “model ambassador” and Miss USA within the remaining Q&A spherical, Voigt touted being a “bilingual Venezuelan-American,” and promised she would join with various communities throughout the USA.
Judges included Vivica A. Fox, former “Actual Housewife” Luann de Lesseps and sweetness vlogger Patrick Starrr.
The pageant aimed to supply “a contemporary and progressive method to a 70-year-old custom,” mentioned President and CEO of the Miss USA Group Laylah Rose in a press release launched in early September. Following a latest rule change applied by the Miss Universe Group, this 12 months’s Miss USA featured the first married state titleholder — Juliana Morehouse-Locklear of Maine. (Morehouse-Locklear, the daughter of a contestant within the 1994 Miss USA pageant, didn’t advance to the highest 20.)
Voigt succeeds the 2022 Miss USA, Morgan Romano of North Carolina. Romano herself took over the title from R’Bonney Gabriel, of Texas, who was crowned the 2022 Miss Universe in January.
Gabriel’s win on the 2022 Miss USA pageant was marred by claims made by a few of her fellow contestants that the pageant had been “rigged” in her favor.
Within the weeks after her crowning in October 2022, Miss USA’s father or mother firm, the Miss Universe Group, opened an investigation and suspended then-Miss USA nationwide director Crystle Stewart — winner of the 2008 Miss USA pageant — and her firm, Miss Manufacturers.
Gabriel, Stewart and different officers all refuted the allegations. “There was no unfair benefit and nothing was rigged,” Gabriel instructed E! Information on the time, whereas Stewart mentioned in a press release that, “The very last thing I’d ever need to do is discredit or deny the contestants an equal alternative to a good competitors. I’d by no means jeopardize my dream of operating a company that empowers these younger ladies.”
In August, the pageant introduced the top of its partnership with Stewart. In a press release confirming {that a} “thorough and in depth investigation” of accusations leveled towards the pageant discovered them to be false, Miss USA mentioned that, “after a lot dialogue and consideration, (the Miss Universe Group) and Crystle had been unable to succeed in an settlement as to Crystle and Miss Model’s persevering with involvement… Crystle has determined to leverage the success she has had with the Miss USA Group to pursue different entrepreneurial passions.”
On Thursday evening, additionally on the Grand Sierra Resort, 16-year-old UmaSofia Srivastava, of New Jersey, was topped Miss Teen USA. Stephanie Skinner, 19, of New York, positioned as first-runner-up.
