Miss Universe is under fire amid claims the beauty pageant was "rigged" and "fixed" for the new glamourous competition winner Miss USA.
This year's winner was Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriell, however some have claimed she was 'set up to win from the start' - something organisers strongly deny.
Twitter is flooded with complaints that this year's pageant was "rigged" as fans pointed out that Miss Universe's new owner Anne Jakrajutatip also owns Miss USA.
"Coincidence? I don’t think so," said one fan on Twitter. While another wrote: "Not gone lie….Miss USA was not my Miss Universe winner!! bro that s**t rigged."
The CEO of Miss Universe Organization has since slammed the "false" claims in a new statement issued to The Mirror amid the controversy.
Amy Emmerich told The Mirror: "The allegations re: rigging of Miss Universe are false.
"People saying that its 'suspect' that JKN Global Group owns both Miss Universe and Miss USA aren’t familiar with the history of the organizations.
"One of the top four accounting firms in the United States handled the results and verified the process."
It's not the first time R'Bonney has faced controversy, when she was named Miss USA last year, the then Miss Texas USA faced claims she benefitted from "favouritism".
Responding to rigged allegations at the time, she said she would "never enter any pageant, or any competition, that I know I would win".
Speaking of those claims, the group's CEO told us: "An independent third party law firm was hired to look into them. Their results showed that the rigging allegations were unfounded.
"R’Bonney has been a strong and dedicated contestant. She is the rightful Miss Universe. I look forward to this much attention being focused on her non-profit work as well."
They described the latest claims as 'absurd', highlighting that the ceremony is 'the first time a trans woman addressed fans as the owner of Miss Universe', as well as being 'the first time a Filipina American took the crown'.
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