The year the crowns came crashing down

SHOCK EXITS AND SCANDALOUS WINS

- KAMOGELO MAKHURA

THE year 2025 was full of controversies in the beauty pageant world, whether it was national or international.

From Miss SA’s rocky start, leaving us confused but at the same time shocked about this year’s pageant, to the Miss Universe's never-ending sagas that sent tongues wagging week after week, it was a lot!

Here are the scandals that had fans and contestants talking:

Werner Wessels and Stephanie Weil’s departure

When people who hold high positions in an organisation announce that they are leaving, it’s very questionable and raises eyebrows, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened when Werner Wessels first resigned in January as the creative director.

A few months down the line, in July, the CEO of the organisation, Stephanie Weil, also stepped down from her position.

A lot of us were shocked because this was what many would call an “abrupt” decision; however, we somehow accepted it and quickly moved on because everything happened so quickly.

In the same breath that Weil's departure was announced, it was also announced that the Motsepe company had officially taken over the organisation

No Miss SA 2025 updates

While all of this is taking place, we were still in the dark about the pageant itself because we were all eager to know when the finale would take place, and will SA would have a Miss Universe representative? Will we still have Crown Chasers even though the Top 30 has not been announced?

Everyone was looking at the timeline because by July, we all had an update on at least something, and the excitement started to kick in.

In August, while we were all thinking that the finale date would be announced soon, a wave of disappointment hit the nation when it was revealed that the pageant had been postponed to a later date.

The Top 10 and finale date announcement met with drama