After a turbulent year for the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants, which saw both 2023 titleholders resign for the first time ever, both events are returning this week to Los Angeles to crown two new winners. Related video above: Sharing more than a crown: What Miss Alabama USA and Miss Alabama Teen have in common To vie for the titles, the 51 contestants from each competition will showcase themselves through multiple rounds: swimsuit (Miss USA) or athletic wear (Miss Teen USA), evening gown, an onstage interview, and a preliminary interview with the judges. The reigning Miss USA, Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii, is last year’s first runner-up who stepped into the role two weeks after Noelia Voigt resigned in May.
She will crown her successor, but she may also crown the new Miss Teen USA since that role remains vacant — another first in the pageant’s history. Former Miss Teen USA 2023, UmaSofia Srivastava, gave up her title just days after Voigt, and the competition’s first runner-up, Stephanie Skinner, declined to take the title in the aftermath of the astonishing week that rocked the pageant world. In early May, Voigt and Srivastava separately announced on social media that they were relinquishing their crowns — Voigt citing mental health reasons and Srivastava citing a clash in personal values with the Miss USA organization — and have yet to speak publicly on the specifics.
(Internet commenters quickly pointed out that Voigt’s cryptic post appeared to contain .