Exclusive: Miss Universe, Under Pressure, Plans a Reality Show Makeover

ISRAEL-EILAT-MISS UNIVERSE

Indian contestant Harnaaz Sandhu, South African contestant Lalela Mswane and Paraguayan contestant Nadia Ferreira (from right to left, front) participate in the 70th Miss Universe in southern Israeli city of Eilat on Dec. 13, 2021. Credit - Shang Haoā€”Xinhua/Getty Images

Miss Universe, which has suffered a dramatic ratings decline in the last five yearsā€”and some big reputational hits more recentlyā€”has a new owner, Anne Jakapong, who will become the first non-American owner and first transgender woman to put her imprint on the beauty pageant. The billionaire CEO of Thai media company JKN Global plans to build a reality show from the competition, creating a series that she hopes will be a mashup of Project Runway and American Idol.

The 13 episodes will follow the contestants in the lead up to the competition, through the actual pageant, and then track the triumphs of the winner and the pressures she faces as she serves her term. The series is currently in development and has yet to sign a distribution deal. ā€œWe would love to have the iconic woman each year for everyone around the worldā€”particularly women and LGBTQā€”to look up to,ā€ says Jakapong, who is famous in Thailand as a TV personality and trans-rights activist.

If this year is anything like the last 12 months, however, the show may end up looking less like American Idol and more like Real Housewives. Miss Universe, which also owns the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, endured enough scandals, surprises, tirades and tragedies in 2022 to power several seasons worth of blue-chip reality TV, including accusations of rigging, global body-shaming of the current title holder, the coronation and then rapid dethroning of one national winner for denigrating her rivals, a secret wedding between two former contestants and a local area sex scandal.

What Miss Universe hasnā€™t had, at least in recent years, is a growing TV audience. The 71st edition of the show, which takes place in New Orleans on Jan. 14, will be streamed via Roku and broadcast on Telemundo. Last yearā€™s show, which took place in Israel and aired on Fox, drew its smallest audience ever, 2.7 million viewers, less than half the 6.2 million viewers who tuned in five years ago.

In October, Endeavor, the talent agency that bought the show from Donald Trump in 2015, sold it to JKN Global, which is mostly owned by Jakapong, reportedly much to the Hollywood agencyā€™s relief. Running a contest that requires women to walk around in a swimsuit and an evening gown and gives them five minutes to impress judges with their opinions is an awkward fit for any company in an era of MeToo, body positivity and contention on gender issues, but especially for one that represents such stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Emma Stone.