The Miss Côte d'Ivoire Committee (COMICI), which holds the Miss Universe license for Côte d'Ivoire, announced today the withdrawal of its representative, Olivia Yacé, elected Miss Côte d'Ivoire 2021, from all her responsibilities with the Miss Universe organization. The decision comes shortly after a series of cheating allegations that rocked the 74th edition of the competition, held on November 21st.
In a statement released from Bangkok, COMICI declared:
“COMICI (Comité Miss Côte d’Ivoire) holder of the Miss Universe license regrets to announce the withdrawal of its representative Olivia YACE Miss Côte d’Ivoire 2021 for personal reasons from her elective mandates with Miss Universe obtained at the end of the 74th edition of the International Miss UNIVERSE competition which is held on November 21, 2025 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
Consequently, COMICI officially informs the Miss Universe organization of the withdrawal of the Ivory Coast candidate from any title and mandate emanating from this organization.
Olivia YACE therefore relinquishes her title of Miss Universe Africa & Oceania as of the date hereof.
Miss Olivia YACE, Miss UNIVERSE AFRICA & OCEANIA 2025 will formally hand over her Africa & Oceania sash to the organization so that no one is unaware of it and to attest to this joint decision.
Done in Bangkok on Monday, November 24th, for all legal purposes.
Cheating allegations: a juror resigns and denounces a "rigged" competition
Olivia Yacé's withdrawal comes after the controversy surrounding the 2025 edition of Miss Universe, shaken by accusations of corruption and lack of transparency. Omar Harfouch, a former member of the jury, had resigned just a few days before the final on November 21.
According to Omar Harfouch, an "improvised jury" was formed behind the scenes to select the 30 finalists, excluding the official judges from the decision-making process.
As a reminder, 24 hours before the grand finale, he had already announced on HBO that Miss Mexico, Fátima Bosch, would win the title, mentioning business ties between the candidate's father and the owner of Miss Universe, Raúl Rocha.
“Miss Mexico is a fake winner. I, Omar Harfouch, declared … 24 hours before the Miss Universe final … that Miss Mexico would win — because Miss Universe owner Raúl Rocha is in business with Fátima Bosch's father »he wrote.
He denounces a conflict of interest, also accusing a member of this parallel committee of having "personal relationships" with a female candidate.
Furthermore, he asserts that his presence as an official juror was mostly symbolic: according to him, the organization informed him that he would not actually participate in the decisive votes.
The competition has been completely discredited.
Faced with the accusations and despite the irrefutable evidence presented by Omar Harfouch, the Miss Universe organization unconvincingly denied the existence of an informal jury. In its official response, it maintains that all judgments followed the established procedures. "Established, transparent, and supervised protocols" by the organization.
For his part, Omar Harfouch stated that he was considering legal action against the organization, which is more discredited than ever…
