The winner of this year’s Miss USA pageant has insisted she rightfully won the contest after her defeated rivals blew up social media with allegations that the pageant was fixed for her to win.
R’Bonney Gabriel became the first Filipina American woman in the pageant’s 70-year history to claim the coveted crown at a glitzy ceremony in Reno, Nevada on Monday. At 28, Gabriel was also the oldest entrant to claim the top prize and was the first Asian American woman to have been made Miss Texas.
But her record-breaking victory was instantly soured when her fellow contestants allegedly walked off stage instead of being involved in a customary joint celebration. In the days since, Gabriel’s competitors have taken to social media to spill the tea on what they claim is evidence that the entire pageant was gifted to Miss Texas.
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“Most of the Miss USA contestants feel very strongly that there was favoritism towards Miss Texas USA and we have the receipts to prove it,” Miss Montana Heather Lee O’Keefe said on TikTok.
In another video, O’Keefe called it “a little suspect” that a sponsor of the pageant, NIZUC Spa, shared a post of Gabriel receiving treatment at their facility less than 24 hours after the competition ended. The winner of Miss USA is given treatments at the spa as part of their prize—but O’Keefe also pointed to a highlight video on the spa’s Instagram story showing Gabriel at the spa nine weeks before the pageant even took place.
O’Keefe then raised suspicions about Gabriel’s apparent close relationship with Miss USA director Crystle Stewart, who was apparently pictured doing Gabriel’s hair. “It’s not clear when this photo was taken, if it was before or after the competition” O’Keefe said, “But I can tell you this is the room where all the contestants were getting their hair and makeup done before the competition.” In the same clip, she also alleged that one of the competition’s sponsors only reposted Miss Texas’ Instagram uploads during the competition “before she even won”—though O’Keefe did concede that the same person separately sponsored the Miss Texas competition itself.
Other competitors have vented their frustration online, with Miss New York Heather Nunez saying in an Instagram story that she felt “humiliated,” while Miss Alabama Katelyn Vinson wrote: “It’s crushing and heartbreaking to have worked so hard towards a goal only to realize you never stood a chance.”
Despite the allegations, Gabriel spoke out on Friday to insist she won fair and square.
“I would never enter any pageant or any competition that I know I would win,” Gabriel told E! News on Friday, adding that she would be open to discussing the allegations with O’Keefe.
“I would love to communicate with her because I think there’s a lot of allegations that are coming up that aren’t true, and people are leading to conclusions that just simply aren’t true,” Gabriel said. “I want to be transparent, and I want everybody to know that there was no unfair advantage and nothing was rigged.”
Gabriel explained that she had paid to fly herself out for a promotional video with the spa—which had sponsored the Miss Texas competition—but the video wasn’t released until after she’d been crowned Miss USA. She added that the picture with Crystle Stewart was taken on the morning after she’d won the title.
She also claimed that it was timing issues that prevented the other competitors appearing with her on stage during her crowning moment, and that “when I went back to the girls, they all hugged me.”
