TikTok is popping off following the crowning of Miss Texas USA R’Bonney Gabriel at the Miss USA 2022 pageant. The competition, which crowned Gabriel on Oct. 3, has been drawing in large amounts of criticism from other contestants who have alleged that the pageant was rigged from the beginning. Miss Montana USA Heather Lee O’Keefe is one of the contestants speaking out against the Miss USA pageant system on “pageant drama TikTok,” and she has officially spilled the tea on the confusing, allegedly rigged Miss USA 2022 pageant. Her Campus reached out to Miss USA, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Speculation began almost immediately after Gabriel was crowned the new Miss USA as a multitude of contestants walked off stage while she was still celebrating her new title. The former Miss USA looked extremely excited for Gabriel, but there was no hiding the other women clearly walking off the stage. Viewers also questioned Gabriel’s reaction to winning the title, comparing the difference in her reaction to past pageant winners before her. TikTok creator Jasmine noted that she had watched and taken part in various crowning moments in her lifetime, and that contestants typically hug and congratulate the winner after they’ve won — making this moment a little suspicious.
The Miss USA 2022 drama got even messier when O’Keefe pointed out that one of the competition’s sponsors, NIZUC Resort and Spa, posted content of Gabriel indulging in her price package almost immediately after she was crowned. The official NIZUC Instagram also has content posted to their archive stories of Gabriel at the spa around eight weeks before the competition took place, leading to assumptions that the content being posted after Gabriel’s crowning was pre-recorded. I told you: The tea is hot!
O’Keefe has posted various other videos to TikTok where she highlights other sponsors and pageant owner Crystal Stewart’s “favoritism” for Gabriel before and during the 2022 competition. People are going so far as to criticize the Miss USA’s official reveal video of Gabriel on their social media platforms as the new winner of the competition. In the video, Bree Runway’s “THAT GIRL” is played over clips of Gabriel strutting, glammed up with her new sash and crown. The lyrics state, “I already been that girl,” to which some people are claiming that the Miss USA pageant knew long before Oct. 3 that Gabriel would be the one taking home the crown.
Was Miss USA 2022 really rigged? I guess that’s a story we may never know the truth about. Miss USA has not released an official statement responding to these allegations at the time of publication.