Catriona Gray hopes for transparency in Miss Universe judging after 2025 pageant

Catriona Gray is hoping for clearer judging guidelines and improved transparency in future editions of Miss Universe following this year’s controversial competition.

In her Instagram Broadcast Channel, the Miss Universe 2018 queen said she had only been able to fully watch the pageant on Saturday after landing from a flight and decided to share her personal opinions, as many followers had been asking.

Catriona clarified that she has never served as a Miss Universe judge and has no insight into the organization’s current scoring process.

“Pero assume ko lang - that after Top 30, from 0 na ang mga scores,” she said.

The Filipina beauty queen praised several candidates for strong performances, noting that fan favorites like Thailand, Venezuela, and Colombia delivered as expected, and also highlighted the consistent preliminaries and finals showings of the Philippines and Côte d'Ivoire, saying it was no surprise they made it to the Top 5.

“When it came to the Q&A, the selection of initial questions were good! Although I had super high expectations for the final word cause - I mean sa totoo guys, super basic yung tanong na yan in preparing for MU. If you dont have a super solid answer for that question, ewan ko nalang,” she said.

She named Côte d'Ivoire as her personal best performer in the initial Q&A and the Philippines as the strongest in the final word.

“But again, kung judge ako - I really value communication skills, so q&a means a lot to me personally,” Catriona said. “But just to share, I've sat on judging panels both locally and abroad and I have experienced (some, not all) being surprized by the results. Sometimes, the 'taste' of judges really is different. Baka they value a certain look, beauty, type of walk - basta, baka may personal trip lang nila. We dont know eh.”

She continued, “What i would like to see though, is transparency of criteria of judging, how is it being scored and to have an official tabulating firm in MU.”

Per Catriona, her prayer has always been to give the girls a fair competition.

“So my question becomes for the MU org. I hope moving forward they can regain the trust of the fans by having a more transparent judging process with a third party official tabulator. The doubts of us fans are not unfounded with multiple statements from judges and meant to be judges. It's disheartening considering all the effort, sacrifices, and dreams that were up there on that stage.”

She also expressed sadness over the negativity directed at Fátima Bosch, saying she admired how the newly crowned Miss Universe stood up for herself earlier in the competition and that she looks forward to seeing how she uses her platform.

“I'll be watching to see how she utilizes the platform to make a positive impact with her title as Miss Universe,” she said.

Closing her message, Catriona encouraged fans to uplift their representatives despite the outcome. 

“Ayun ang 2 cents ko. I hope the best years of MU aren't behind us. Let's uplift our girls and tell them how they impacted us, made us proud - and when they pursue their respective journeys lets support them,” she said.

The Philippines was represented by Ahtisa Manalo, who finished her Miss Universe 2025 journey as the third runner-up.

After the pageant, resigned Miss Universe judge Omar Harfouch alleged that the results of the just-concluded pageant were rigged and called Fatima a “fake Miss Universe.”

Several celebrities, including Catriona, also reacted to the pageant following the results.

“But also…? Wala na bang bearing ang Q&A sa MU?” Catriona said. —Carby Rose Basina/JCB, GMA Integrated News