Saudi Arabia could have its first Miss Universe contestant this year after a fashion model and influencer claimed she had been selected.
The Miss Universe Organisation “is currently undergoing a rigorous vetting process qualifying a potential candidate to be awarded the Saudi Arabia franchise”, Maria Jose Unda, the organisation’s coordinator of international relations, said in a statement to AFP.
Fielding a Miss Universe candidate, if it happens, would mark another step in Saudi Arabia’s effort to soften its ultra-conservative image as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, tries to lure tourists and investors. And women, including prominent activists, have been rounded up in a wide-reaching campaign against dissent.
“I have been contacted from the Miss Universe committee to represent Saudi Arabia. Negotiations started but it was during the month of Ramadan and I wasn’t able to respond,” she told AFP in her first interview since her March Instagram post went viral.Maria Jose Unda, the Miss Universe official, said the procedure calls for a national director to hold a Miss Universe Saudi Arabia pageant to choose a delegate to send to Mexico.
She described fielding a host of unexpected questions about Saudi Arabia during her bid to take the beauty pageant world by storm, including one from a fellow contestant in Europe who wanted to know if she kept barrels of crude oil stored in her house. “In beauty pageants also, each girl carries her own country’s flag, so I didn’t mean anything offensive at all.”
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