…Miss France!
Miss France, Iris Mittenaere, was named Miss Universe at the conclusion of the 65th Miss Universe Pageant. Mittenaere, a twenty-three-year-old dental student from France, won the title for her country for the first time in 60 years. Mittenaere is the second competitor to win from France and the first victor from Europe in over a decade! In a post-pageant news conference she stated, “I think France and Europe really need a Miss Universe.”
In this year’s Q and A round, the contestants were faced with important questions pertaining to current events that are relevant to every country. The questions all had a similar focus on controversial politics and social justice problems including: expectations of the Trump presidency, marches across the United States for human and women’s rights, the refugee controversy, and violence in society. The complete list of questions and answers for the top six finalists can be found here.
Miss France was asked, “Given today’s worldwide refugee crisis, do countries have an obligation to accept refugees, or do they have a right to close their borders?”
She responded saying, “The country should have the right to open or close their borders. Throughout the world, people can choose to have the borders open or closed. In Europe, we have open borders. In France, we want to have the most globalization that we can, we want to have the biggest exchange of people that we can. Maybe someday that will change, but now we have open borders. Having open borders allows us to travel more through the world, and to find out more about what’s out there in the world.”
For the final question the top three contestants, Miss Haiti, Miss Colombia, and Miss France, were asked, “Name something over the course of your life that you failed at, and tell us what you learned from this experience.”
Miss France replied, “I’ve failed several times in my life, so I thought that I failed the first time that I went out on a casting, because my name wasn’t on the list. The very next day, I found that I was in a new book. So I think that when you fail, you have to be elevated, you have to try again, and keep going. If tonight, I’m not one of the winners, I will still have the great honor of being one of the 3 finalists, so I think that I have failed before, but I think this is a great first opportunity.”
Mittenaere’s answer was met with criticism on social media because some Twitter users posted saying that her answer in French is not the same as the interpreter’s translation. But despite some resistance over Mittenaere’s win, the public is genuinely happy for France’s victory.
As stated during the victory conference, Iris Mittenaere plans on using her influential title to help children attend school, girls in particular. She also hopes her triumph will make pageants more popular in Europe. Miss Universe believes that her win for her country will improve the morale of French citizens in the wake of terrorist attacks in the past few years.
In the victory conference she was quoted saying, “I want to help people, I want to understand people, I want to meet people, that’s why this is a dream for me.”
Miss Haiti, Raquel Pelissier, won first runner-up and Miss Colombia, Andrea Tovar, was named second runner-up.
Despite the huge turn out by the countries that participated, eighty-six countries boycotted the Miss Universe pageant, which was formerly owned by President Donald Trump. It’s inspiring to see how even during such a divisive time globally, nations can still come together with the Miss Universe pageant. Miss Universe pageants extend beyond the glittery surface; this event promotes female empowerment, nationalism, and unity.
The Washington Post. Reuters.