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New Miss Universe queen Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark waves to the crowd. Image from Miss Universe / Instagram
The much-anticipated Question and Answer segment of Miss Universe 2024 brought the competition to its most intense and thought-provoking phase, as the Top 5 finalists faced their biggest challenge that spelled their fate.
The first part of the Q&A saw the finalists — Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark; 1st runner-up Chidimma Adetshina of Nigeria; 2nd runner-up Maria Fernanda Beltran of Mexico; 3rd runner-up Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand; and, 4th runner-up Ileana Marquez Pedroza of Venezuela — deliver their thoughts on topics about cyberbullying, empowerment, and qualities of a true leader.
The second part showed the delegates take on the question, “Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?”
Theilvig’s answer to this last question cinched her the crown — a historic first for her country.
Here are the summary of their answers:
Miss Universe 2024 Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig
QUESTION: How would you live your life differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
ANSWER: I would never change how I live my life. We learn from our mistakes. We learn every day. We learn something new, and we gotta take that [and] bring it to the future, and that’s why I live each day by each day and I just gotta stay positive. So no, I will not change nothing.
FINAL QUESTION: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?
ANSWER: My message to all the world that is watching out there is: no matter where you come from, no matter your past, you can always choose to turn it into your strengths. It will never define who you are. You just gotta keep fighting. I stand here today because I want to change. I want to make history. And that’s what I’m doing tonight. So never give up. Always believe in yourself and your dreams. And that is exactly what you’re going to do.
1st runner-up Chidimma Adetshina of Nigeria
Miss Universe 2024 1st runner up – Nigeria’s Chidimma Adetshina
QUESTION: What is more important: being liked or being respected, and why?
ANSWER: I feel like it’s being respected. We live in a society where we often don’t feel respected because of who we are. And I feel like when you respect yourself, you respect others around you. And respect is really important.
FINAL QUESTION: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?
ANSWER: As a woman who has faced adversity, I feel like I have a powerful story. I don’t stand here as Chidimma Adetshina. I stand here as a symbol of hope, a beacon of faith. As someone who has persevered with grace, I believe I have fought for not only myself but for Africa.
2nd runner-up Maria Fernanda Beltran of Mexico
Miss Universe 2024 2nd runner up – Mexico’s Maria Fernanda Beltran
QUESTION: When something bad is happening in your life, what gives you power to keep going?
ANSWER: [Giving me power] to keep going in my life is my mom through her fight of cancer. Right now I’m feeling very happy to be here, to represent her resilience, her perseverance, and her discipline about all these illnesses. I want to invite you to always build your dreams, and as a powerful woman says, Diana de Gales, I want to be the queen of the people’s hearts.
FINAL QUESTION: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?
ANSWER: As my social project says, say no [to] cyberbullying and cyber harassment. Right now we are in a huge problem that is [caused by] social media, and the message that I want to give to the world is to fight, control, and adapt to this new situation with the emotional intelligence that we need to have. We need to have this emotional intelligence so we can control that emotions [we’re feeling] and with that emotions [in check], we can give that message with no fears.
3rd runner-up Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand
Miss Universe 2024 3rd runner-up Opal Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand on her final question.
QUESTION: What qualities must someone have to be a truly successful leader?
ANSWER: A quality that a leader should have for me is empathy. Because no matter how good you are, no matter what kind of education you [have], in the end, you need empathy to care about your people, to care about their well-being. And not only leaders, I believe that everyone in this world needs to have empathy among each other. That’s how we can unite.
FINAL QUESTION: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?
ANSWER: One message I would like to give them is to always believe and to always have hope. Working on my project Opal for Her, I work a lot with cancer patients and doctors. We all know that it is a hard thing to overcome this disease, but what I can feel is everyone has hope and everyone believes that tomorrow will be a better day. As long as you believe your power is infinite and as long as you have hope, your spirits and your power will shine.
4th runner-up Ileana Marquez Pedroza of Venezuela
4th runner-up Ileana Marquez Pedroza of Venezuela on her final question.
QUESTION: Describe the ideal woman of today and what you have in common with her.
ANSWER: My ideal moment today has been sharing with these amazing 127 women from all across the world, leaving behind our differences and sending the world a message of respect, love, and union because that’s the way the world is built.
FINAL QUESTION: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What do you want to say to the ones watching you now?
ANSWER: The crown tonight does not only go to the representative of Miss Universe tonight, but the crown goes to every single woman that has earned the respect, love, and visibility for us to be here tonight.