The Global Story: The international drama of Miss Universe
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.2 • 7.8K Ratings
🗓️ 30 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Miss Universe 2025 has been rocked by controversies and chaos, from stage falls and contestants storming out, to judges quitting and allegations of vote rigging – which the organisers deny.
The pageant – styled as a celebration of women of all backgrounds and nationalities – has suffered waning international attention in recent years, with many questioning the ideals of femininity it seems to espouse.
Could the drama of this year’s competition get people watching again?
BBC journalist and Miss Universe expert, William Lee Adams, joins us to discuss.
The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.
Producers: Xandra Ellin and Hannah Moore
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch is crowned as Miss Universe 2025. Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.6 | American politics can sometimes feel like a different language. |
| 0:11.1 | But our podcast can help you translate. |
| 0:13.3 | Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. |
| 0:18.1 | AmeriCast, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:21.3 | Hey there, I'm Asma Khalid. |
| 0:23.0 | And I'm Tristan Redmond, and we're here with a bonus episode for you from the Global Story podcast. |
| 0:28.3 | The world order is shifting. |
| 0:30.2 | Old alliances are fraying and new ones are emerging. |
| 0:34.3 | Some of this turbulence can be traced to decisions made in the United States. But the U.S. |
| 0:39.3 | isn't just a cause of the upheaval. Its politics are also a symptom of it. |
| 0:45.0 | Every day we focus on one story, looking at how America and the world shape each other. |
| 0:50.4 | So we hope you enjoy this episode. And to find more of our show, just search for the global story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 1:00.0 | Beauty pageants are back, or at least they're trying to be. If eyeballs on social media are the metric, then pageants are a hit again. There's been all sorts of action in recent weeks. |
| 1:16.9 | It started off with a woman called Ignacio Fernandez, who won Miss World Chili, after she sang |
| 1:24.0 | death metal at the pageant while wearing a ball gown. |
| 1:30.2 | Then it Miss Universe last week in Thailand, things got unpoco loco. |
| 1:37.1 | A scandal in pageant drama, what's happened? |
| 1:39.7 | Now the pageant world has gone into absolute meltdown in recent days. |
| 1:43.2 | The pageant drama became full circle for the new Miss Universe. |
| 1:46.9 | Okay, hold on to your hats, folks. |
| 1:48.9 | I'm going to run you through this really quickly. |
... |
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