Beauty Queen Quits Major Pageant With ‘Toxic’ Body Shaming Allegations

Rachel Gupta, the (now former) Miss Grand International, recently took to YouTube to announce her decision to give up her title and crown. In a teary, 56-minute-long YouTube video, Gupta cited mistreatment, neglect and body shaming from pageant officials.

“I realized they would never, never support me, and I was completely on my own,” Gupta said.

The Miss Grand International pageant has since called Gupta’s claims “false, misleading, and defamatory.” In a statement shared on social media following the publication of Gupta’s video, the organization accused her of relying on “emotional appeals and tearful storytelling without any physical evidence to support her claims.”

Gupta’s decision to ‘decrown’ herself follows the resignation of England’s representative in the Miss World pageant last month. 24-year-old Milla Magee quit the competition, explaining she was made to feel “like a prostitute” while participating in pre-pageant activities and preliminary events.

The Miss Grand International Pageant, founded in 2013 by businessman Nawat Itsaragrisil, is a global pageantry franchise based in Thailand.

Gupta, a 21-year-old model, actress and entrepreneur became the first Indian contestant to win the pageant at the Miss Grand International Hall in Bangkok, Thailand last October.

But the happiness she experienced in her historic victory would be short-lived. In her video, Gupta described a “toxic” work environment and lamented the unpleasant experiences she endured in the months since.

Pageant organizers had assured her she would have luxury accommodations during her reign as titleholder, even allegedly promising a penthouse, she said. The reality, however, very different, with Gupta describing a “cramped hotel room” that she was moved into immediately after her victory. The space was so tight, she added, that her suitcases couldn’t even fully open.

According to Gupta, she had to live out of the room for more than a month before being transferred to a “dilapidated house” on the outskirts of Bangkok. She alleged that she was given no transportation, no phone to communicate with loved ones—and even no cookware.

In the video, Gupta recalled a particular incident in which a pageant representative was “pinching” different areas of her body while saying, “You need to lose weight here and lose weight here.” That kind of treatment, she said, “makes you feel so small and so bad.”

The Miss Grand International organization neglected her financially, Gupta claimed, forcing her parents to supplement her income. She added that pageant officials rejected any attempt for her legal counsel to review her contract and threatened to strip her of her crown when concerns were raised.

In an official statement, the organization wrote that it had authorized “the termination of Miss Rachel Gupta’s title as Miss Grand International 2024, effective immediately,” as a consequence of her “failure to fulfill her assigned duties.”

The pageant countered her claims in two other lengthy Instagram statements, which include email chains and legal missives. Addressing her body shaming allegations—though without outright refuting them—the statements assert that any comments made regarding her physical appearance were “done within contractual boundaries.” Photos of the home and hotel where Gupta stayed during the periods described in her YouTube video were also included in the posts.

The statements accused Gupta in turn of defamatory and “unprofessional behavior,” contract violations and claimed she sought free cosmetic surgery procedures for family members from a sponsor of the pageant.

Gupta ended her video with a warning to future contestants. She claimed that her concerns demonstrated mistreatment by Miss Grand International on a “systemic level,” and that “I don’t think they can ever change this.”

Gupta’s replacement, Christine Juliane Opiaza of the Philippines, will be crowned in her place on June 3. If Gupta put the tiara back in the mail already, that is.