Miss Universe 2024 has finally been crowned and it's Miss Denmark Victoria Theilvig. But before the crown was turned over from Miss Universe 2023 Sheynnis Palacios, the Top 5 contenders had to answer two rounds of questions from the judges. Aside from Victoria, the other contenders were Miss Nigeria Chidimma Adetshina, Miss Mexico Maria Fernanda Beltran, Miss Thailand Opal Suchata Chuangsri, and Miss Venezuela Ileana Marquez Pedroza.
"These questions are meant to test their poise under pressure and their communication skills—both of which are essential in their potential role as Miss Universe," host and Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo explains. The first round had the queens answer different questions from the judges they randomly picked. For the second round, they were all asked the same question. Here's what they had to say.
The Round 1 Questions And Answers At Miss Universe 2024
Michael Cinco: What is more important—being liked or being respected? Why?
Miss Nigeria: I feel like it's being respected. We live in a society where we often don't feel respected because of who we are. And I feel like when you respect yourself, you respect others around you. And respect is really important. Thank you.
Camila Giribitey: When something bad is happening in your life, what gives you power to keep going?
Miss Mexico: To keep going in my life—is my mom. Through [her] fight in cancer, right now, I'm feeling very happy to be here to represent [her] resilience, [her] perseverance, and [her] discipline about all of this illness. I wanna invite you to always fulfill your dreams. And as a powerful woman says, I wanna be the queen of the people's hearts.
Lele Pons: How would you live your life differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Denmark: I would never change how I live my life. We learn from our mistakes. We learn every day, we learn something new and we gotta take that. We gotta take that and bring into the future and that's why I live each day by each day and I just gotta stay positive and yeah. So no, I will not change [anything].
Gary Nader: What qualities must someone have to be a truly successful leader?
Thailand: A quality that a leader should have for me is empathy. Because no matter how good you are, no matter what kind of education you [have], in the end, you need empathy to care about your people, to care about their well-being. And not only leaders, I believe that everyone in this world needs to have empathy among each other. That's how we can unite.
Margaret Gardiner: Describe the ideal woman of today and what you have in common with her.
Venezuela: Buenas Noches, Mexico. My ideal moment today has been sharing with these 127 women from all across the world, leaving behind our differences, and sending the world a message of respect, love, and union, because that is the way the world is built.
In between the two rounds of questioning, host and Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray also shared her own question if she had the chance to ask the contestants. "If they weren't going to bring home the Miss Universe crown tonight, and were given the opportunity to use a time machine, would they go back and redo their performance? Yes or no? Because you can go either way, depending on your personality like 'Oh I wish I had an extra shot of ceffeine before getting out on that stage' or you know, destiny, it is what it is."
The Round 2 Question And Answers At Miss Universe 2024
Miss Universe has inspired generations of women, what is your message to the ones watching you right now?
Nigeria: As a woman who has faced adversity, I feel like I have a powerful story. I don't stand here has Chidimma Adetshina. I stand here as a symbol of hope, a beacon of faith as someone who has persevered with grace. I believe I have fought for not only myself but for Africa.
Mexico: As my social projects says say no to cyber bullying, no cyber harassment right now. We're in a huge problem that is social media. And the message that I want to give to the world is to fight, control, and adapt to this new situation with the emotional intelligence that we need to have. We need to have this emotional intelligence so we can control that emotions and with that emotions, we can give that message with no fears.
Denmark: My message to all the world that are watching out there is no matter where you come from, no matter your past, you can always choose to turn it into your strengths.
It will never define who you are. You just gotta keep fighting. I stand here today because I want to change. I wanna make history and that's what I'm doing tonight. So never give up, always believe in yourself and your dreams and that is exactly what you're going to do. Thank you.
Thailand: One message I would like to give them is to always believe and to always have hope. Working on my project Opal for Hope, I work along breast cancer patients and doctors. We all know that it is a hard thing to overcome this disease. But what I can feel is everyone has hope and everyone believes that tomorrow will be a better day. As long as you believe, your power is infinite. And as long as you have hope, your spirits and your power will shine. Thank you.
Venezuela: My message tonight is addressed to the most important persons in the world, not only the women here tonight, but across the world. The crown tonight does not only go to the representative of Miss Universe tonight, but the crown goes to every single woman that has earned their respect, love and visibilities for us to be here tonight.
