Beauty pageants have always been a big thing. The glitz and glamour are blinding. But it’s 2025, and the question is: Are they really the grand women’s empowerment platforms they claim to be? The answer seems to unravel under their own polished exterior. The tiaras might still sparkle, but behind the scenes, there’s a growing sense that the industry’s glamour is only skin deep. Now, women who are part of these pageants, like Miss Grand International Rachel Gupta and Miss England Milla Magee, have started speaking out against alleged exploitation.

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“They made us sell these cheap products”

Rachel Gupta made headlines across India and the international pageant scene when she became the first Indian to win the Miss Grand International title in 2024. It should’ve been the start of a dream reign, except it wasn’t. In May 2025, Rachel publicly resigned.

 

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She didn’t sugarcoat her decision either. In her own words, “broken promises, mistreatment and a toxic environment” were the reasons Rachel left. She also posted a video on YouTube titled ‘The Truth about Miss Grand International — My Story,’ where she said, “They made us sell these cheap, tacky products on TikTok like we were salesgirls.” Rachel also made other alarming revelations. She said in her video that the organisers physically humiliated her. “They sent their representative to me, and he just comes up to me and he starts pinching me in different places and he’s like ‘Oh, you need to lose weight here, you need to lose weight here…It makes you feel so small and so bad.”

“Made me feel like a prostitute”

Meanwhile, England’s representative for Miss World 2025, Milla Magee, walked out of the competition altogether. She quit the competition while in India, saying the conditions made her feel like a “performing monkey” and “prostitute”.

According to her, the whole setup seemed to prioritise appearances and pleasing VIPs over actual empowerment or purpose. Milla’s claims shook people. Of course, the pageant organisers responded with smiles and footage showing her having a good time. The CEO of The Miss World Organisation Julia Morley also said, “I think she believed she didn’t stand a chance in the competition and decided to leave a mark anyway.” But that only highlights the problem. When women speak up, they’re often dismissed as dramatic or “ungrateful.”

Exploitation in the guise of empowerment?

Beauty pageants have spent the last few years trying to rebrand themselves. While they claim it’s not about appearances anymore, women are still paraded in evening gowns and graded on posture. Pageants claim to stand for female empowerment and education, but stories like Rachel’s and Milla’s make you wonder if that’s just clever marketing. Because when women who participate feel exploited, restricted, or silenced, it begs the question — who is this empowerment really for?

It’s too early to say if this marks the beginning of the end for traditional beauty pageants. But it’s certainly the start of a long-overdue reckoning. As the crown slips and the sheen fades, the pageant industry has a choice to make: evolve, or be left behind.

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