Franki Russell has revealed the reason why she was dethroned as Miss Universe New Zealand. In an interview recently uploaded on The Boy Abunda Talk Channel on YouTube, Franki recalled that she first auditioned for the title when she was 19 years old. However, she was told that she couldn’t participate in the Miss Universe New Zealand pageant because she had been living in Australia for six months for work during that time.
“Which is crazy to me because I was born and raised in New Zealand. I had just gone to Australia for six months for work experience, but things were a lot more strict back then,” Franki said. In 2021, she tried to join pageantry again through Miss Universe UAE, which opened to residents.
Franki even reached the Top 30 of the pageant, but due to political reasons, the pageant got canceled a week before coronation night. “The nice thing was about living in the UAE was I met a lot of kababayans,” Franki said. Among those she met was Josh Yugen, a fellow Filipino who holds multiple Miss Universe franchises, including Miss Universe Bahrain, Miss Universe Pakistan, and Miss Universe Egypt.
In March 2024, Josh appointed Franki as New Zealand’s representative for Miss Universe 2024 . “It was a dream come true, and it felt like it was for my father, who passed away when I was 12. He [was] the Kiwi in my family,” Franki said.
However, after a few days following the announcement of her appointment, Franki said that she already knew that there was an is.