Miss Universe judge quits days before pageant, claims finalists pre-chosen
Global News
Omar Harfouch formally warned 'all past and current judges' that 'participation in the final jury of Miss Universe may legally implicate them in an act of global-scale fraud.'
The Miss Universe 2025 competition has taken another dramatic turn after one of the judges for this year’s pageant abruptly quit three days before the event this week, alleging that the 30 finalists were pre-selected by an “impromptu jury.”
On Tuesday, Omar Harfouch shared the news to his Instagram stories, announcing his withdrawal and expressing his “profound confusion and concern” about the 30 finalists.
“As I Jury member of Miss Universe, I wish to express my profound confusion and concern after discovering, via social media, that an impromptu jury has been formed to select the 30 finalists from among the 136 participating countries, without the presence of any of the real 8 members of the jury, including me, and that the results of this selection are currently being kept secret,” Harfouch began.
He said that according to information circulating online, the non-official jury was “composed of individuals with a significant potential conflict of interest due to some personal relationships with some of the Miss Universe contestants, including the person responsible for counting the votes and managing the results, which constitutes a further conflict of interest.”
Harfouch then claimed he spoke with the Miss Universe committee about his disapproval of the preliminary selection, which he says was “conducted without the presence of the eight official judges, including myself.”
“They rushed to publish a list of names associated with the selection on their Instagram page, without specifying the role played by these individuals, creating even greater confusion,” he added.
Following a “disrespectful conversation with Raul Rocha,” the Miss Universe organization’s president, about the “lack of transparency in the Miss Universe voting process,” Harfouch decided to resign from the jury and “refuse to be part of this charade.”
“I will also not be playing the music I composed for the event,” he added.
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