Miss Universe Scandal Erupts After Contestant Booted From Competition For Unauthorized Hotel Room Visit

Drama has hit the 73rd Miss Universe competition, which will be held on Saturday, November 16 in Mexico City. Drama is nothing new to the beauty pageant as last year's competition was "woke on PEDs."

This year's event has a different kind of drama and will reportedly take place without a representative from Panama. Miss Panama, Italy Mora, was booted from the competition earlier this month.

Members of Miss Universe arrive in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 10, 2024, at the Zocalo to take a panoramic photo under the flagpole. The Grand Final of Miss Universe 2024 takes place on November 16, 2024. After several weeks of competition, the gala and the final parade are held, at the end of which the new international beauty queen is crowned. (Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto)

Why was she sent packing? Well, the official statement from the Miss Universe organization doesn’t shed much light on that, other than "a thorough evaluation by our disciplinary commission" took place.

With rumors and speculation about why Miss Panama had been disqualified running wild, Italy decided to speak out. The 19-year-old revealed during an interview that an alleged unauthorized visit to her boyfriend’s hotel room was to blame for her departure.

Apparently, hanging with your boyfriend alone in a hotel room is against the rules. Although there are other reports of secret makeup that could very well have played a part.

A disappointed Miss Panama addressed the rumors, as reported by Hola, and provided a timeline of events that led to officials from Miss Universe determining that she had violated the rules. Italy said that the head of Senorita Panama, Cesar Anel Rodriguez, was aware of her meeting with boyfriend Juan Abadia.

Miss Panama Itay Mora puts the rumors from the Miss Universe scandal to rest

In fact, according to Italy, Cesar had arranged access to her boyfriend's room.

She said, "I was talking to my boyfriend, and he told that he was going to give me some things, and asked me to go to the hotel's gym. There are chats, where he says: 'You have to give Italy the key to go up to the room at dawn.'"

There was some sort of dispute in the room over finances between Italy, her boyfriend, and Cesar.

The dispute escalated to the point that Cesar left the room abruptly. 20 minutes later pageant officials were knocking on the door.

Italy tried to explain that Cesar had been there not that long before they had arrived. That only helped to fuel speculation.

"They never entered the room, they didn't know if there were more people there. Clearly they saw my boyfriend, because he opened the door and obviously they saw us alone," she added.

"They have every right to make thousands of speculations, because there were only the two of us and he couldn't be there. What people don't know is that Cesar stayed in that room."

When she met with pageant officials afterward, she thought there would be a warning coming her way because of the incident. Instead, she was informed that she had been disqualified and her efforts to have the decision overturned did not work.

The Miss Universe pageant apparently doesn’t play around when it comes to a contestant hanging out with her boyfriend in a hotel room alone. They're not trying to get down Olympic Village-style.

Italy, in her own statement, said, "Miss Universe just followed their rules. I take responsibility for my actions and accept the consequences."

What a shame. In the end, it's Miss Universe's loss. Although, who knows how many biological males will place at the top of this year's pageant?