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Miss USA, Miss Teen USA in turmoil: Beauty queens ‘have nothing’ in the dark about pageants

This summer’s Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants are in turmoil, multiple insiders claimed to The Post.

The 73rd Miss USA pageant is slated to air live on the CW on August 4, three days after Miss Teen USA is set to air on the same network — but pageant directors have yet to receive official venue confirmation, insiders said.

Previously, the CW Network told The Post it was evaluating its “relationship with both pageants.”

After Miss USA Noelia Voigt stepped down in May, the Miss USA Organization appears in disarray, multiple sources told The Post. Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock for Miss USA
Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, stepped down earlier this month amid what sources described to The Post as “harmful workplace conditions” including harassment and bullying. Instagram

“We were told we’d get an announcement of the venue on Monday or Tuesday of this week and we haven’t gotten it,” an insider at the organization told The Post on May 24. 

“People are saying, ‘Have you heard anything? When do we need to have pictures of the girls?’ We need to buy airline tickets for them. By now the girls would [typically] have schedules, what they need to bring, who their roommate is. They have nothing,” the insider added.

The Post has reached out to the CW Network and the Miss USA Organization, including CEO Laylah Rose, for comment.

This all comes after Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, and Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, stepped down earlier this month amid what sources described to The Post as “harmful workplace conditions” including harassment and bullying.

Miss USA social media manager Claudia Michelle resigned as well.

Sources also claimed the organization’s CEO Laylah Rose was secretly posting on social media using Voigt and Srivastava’s identities.

Noelia Voigt (left), pictured next to pageant coach Gina Mellish, resigned as Miss USA on May 6. Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava (right) quit two days later. Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock for Miss USA
Insiders also told The Post that pageant boss Laylah Rose has yet to address the title holder resignations with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA’s state directors. Instagram

Now, insiders say pageant boss Laylah Rose seemingly has no plans to step down and has yet to address the “elephant in the room” — the national title-holder resignations — with state pageant directors.

“In the meeting she had with state directors she said everything is absolutely fine. ‘There are no problems, we’re going on as usual, all of our partners and sponsors are fantastic. We’re going to announce them soon,'” a skeptical pageant source told The Post.

“She said, ‘We can’t address this publicly because we can’t talk about the mental health issues,'” a source close to Voigt, 24, and Srivastava, 17, told The Post, citing Voigt’s statement citing mental health challenges.

Concerned fans on Instagram had flagged that the first letter in each sentence of Voigt’s resignation spelled out a message: “I AM SILENCED.”

Sources previously told The Post that this was on purpose. 

Miss Hawaii, Savannah Gankiewicz, was crowned Miss USA on May 10. But the Miss Teen USA runner-up declined to accept the crown abandoned by Srivastava. Savannah Gankiewicz / Instagram
The Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants are licensed to Rose by the Miss Universe organization. Voigt competed in the Miss Universe pageant in November (above). AP

But, the Voigt and Srivastava source added of the former Miss Teen USA, “UmaSofia didn’t step down because of mental health issues — UmaSofia stepped down because of the harassment, bullying and toxic work environment.'”

Srivastava, in her resignation letter, said that her personal values “no longer fully align with the direction of the [Miss USA] organization.” 

Miss Hawaii, Savannah Gankiewicz, was crowned Miss USA on May 10, Rose shared in a statement posted to Instagram.

But multiple insiders told The Post that Rose seems to have given up on filling the role of Miss Teen USA after the runner-up — Miss New York, Stephanie Skinner — declined the crown.

“We haven’t heard a word [about the next Miss Teen USA],” another Miss USA organization insider said. 

Insiders now say pageant boss Laylah Rose (right) seemingly has no plans to step down and has yet to address the “elephant in the room” — the national title-holder resignations — with state pageant directors. Getty Images for hiTechMODA

Sources told The Post that operations at both pageants have been running on shoestring budgets since Rose took over in August 2023.

Michelle, the former social media manager, previously told The Post that Srivastava had a broken Miss Teen USA crown for months because Rose didn’t have the money to fix it.

“They used to have people pick the girls up at the airport,” the insider at the organization said of the Miss Teen USA pageant. Teenagers last year had to get to the hotel by themselves. Nothing was set up in place.”