Copyright thenassauguardian
Miss Universe Bahamas, Maliqué Maranda Bowe’s goal remains to represent The Bahamas to the best of her ability, share Bahamian culture and strive to make Bahamian history on the Miss Universe stage. Bowe was among a number of contestants at the 74th edition of the pageant who walked out during a pre-sash ceremony event in Thailand, after a heated exchange between fellow contestant, Miss Mexico, and a Miss Universe pageant executive, which was livestreamed. Yesterday, Bowe said she felt more confident in continuing with the pageant after contestants had a meeting with Miss Universe organization officials, who assured them that the matter would be settled. “Following the altercation, a video response by the president of Miss Universe, Raul Rocha, made it very clear that the actions displayed by Nawat [Itsaragrisil] were not representative of the Miss Universe brand and called him out directly. They’ve since restricted his participation in Miss Universe events,” said Bowe. “I’ve felt more confident in continuing after the actions of Nawat were reprimanded and dealt with. I didn’t want to lose faith in an organization that I’ve loved for so long, and their commitment to female empowerment assured me that there was still hope in the organization. I hope to continue carrying our country’s name across my chest on that stage and to give a performance worthy of a Miss Universe title.” Nawat Itsaragrisil had called out Bosch for allegedly not following through on an obligation for the competition. Before beginning the sashing ceremony, Bowe said Itsaragrisil wanted to address a matter that was brought to his attention. And that he was under the impression that a few of the delegates had refused to promote sponsored items by direction of their own national directors and asked the contestants to reveal themselves. She said he claimed that he had a list of the countries already and wanted to give contestants a chance to own up to it. “When no one responded, he decided to directly call on Miss Universe Mexico, accusing her of denying the crew the opportunity to film her for sponsors, suggesting that her national director was the one that told her not to. She denied this accusation and also stated that it would have been better for them to discuss the matter privately and not at that time. Nawat continued to go on about this situation, making snarky remarks towards Mexico and her national director, as well as disclosing information about her national director being removed from the country by Thai police. “Fatima – Miss Universe Mexico, then stood back up to stand her ground and defend herself, which Nawat didn’t appreciate, saying that he didn’t give her permission to speak and trying to get her to sit down. He even went as far as calling on security to forcibly remove her from the room, which then prompted her to leave on her own. When she walked out, accompanied by another delegate, a couple of us stood initially to check on her. This led to Nawat telling us that if we follow her out of the room, only the ones that stay will be in the competition. When the reigning queen walked out of the room, I’m not sure it’s captured in any videos, but he tried to have security block the way for us to leave, but it was unsuccessful and a number of us continued out of the room.” Bowe said her initial reaction was of wanting to see if Miss Mexico was okay. She said it wasn’t until they were threatened about being removed from the competition if they followed Miss Mexico that it turned into a movement of solidarity. “The core of Miss Universe is female empowerment, and so is the heart of my own personal platform. Asking a group of Miss Universe delegates to stand against one of our own when she was clearly mistreated and disrespected was the most insane thing anyone could have expected,” said the Bahamian representative. A day after the incident, Itsaragrisil apologized for his actions. Bowe arrived in Thailand on November 3, ahead of the Friday, November 21, pageant finale. Prior to departing The Bahamas on November 1, Bowe told The Nassau Guardian that she had done a lot of work to prepare for her Miss Universe appearance – getting wardrobe ready, practicing routines for the walking aspect of it and what she considers more important, getting mental health training. “As someone who has battled mental health issues – depression and anxiety – it puts a lot of pressure on you, and you want to make sure your headspace is clear.” She said the Miss Universe pageant is pressure, but fun pressure. Bowe also beefed up on her interview and question and answer skills to perform well, to give herself a better chance of placing in the competition. She went in thinking that apart from meeting her fellow contestants to looking forward to enjoying Thai food. And she was also anticipating the travels she would get to have. “Even though the competition is Bangkok, we’re also traveling to Phuket and Pattaya [City].”
