Franki Russell ‘devastated’ following Miss Universe New Zealand dethronement

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 issue within Miss Universe New Zealand.

“Apparently, due to my previous work and films with Viva, my title’s at jeopardy. And that came as quite a shock, but at that point, I didn’t think… In my mind, I’m quite an optimist. I always think like, ‘Oh, but maybe they just need to see what it really was. And it’s art, like they know, they’re in the industry,’” Franki said.

She explained that accepting her previous roles with Viva, including “Tag-init,” “Pabuya,” and “Laruan,” was a “no-brainer” because she believes in the art and the craft of it all. She added that she didn’t do frontal nudity and had her own reservations.

“But when it came to the attention of the [higher ups of] the Miss Universe organization, there was someone that basically said ‘She cannot participate from very early on,’” she said.

“It’s the intimate scene aspect of it. I think they were sent something out of context. It was just a screenshot, no context," she added.

Franki said that she was “shocked” when it happened and that Josh tried to fight for her and her title.

When asked what she would have said if she was given the chance to clarify, Franki said that she would say, “I’m an actress. I was portraying a role. I have my limitations because it was something in the back of my mind that I thought maybe pageantry one day wouldn’t be OK [with it].”

“I really hope that they were able to research properly,” Franki said. “I think there’s a stigma to certain platforms that put out these movies."

Franki also said that she did not receive any formal letter or explanation for her dethronement, and that only the House of Yugen team informed her.

“To me, it sounds a little bit maybe counter-progressive, if that’s the right term,” she said. “Beauty is subjective, I guess, so is art is subjective. I think it just took someone’s opinion to sort of say no to a whole dream, which I’m still kind of trying to understand.”

“To put it bluntly, I was, I feel like depressed can be a harsh word, but I was devastated. I really thought, 'Hey this is my last chance.' For it to be taken away overnight, it felt like a knife in the stomach,” she said.

Franki added that she felt so embarrassed and didn’t know what to tell those who were asking about her preparations.

“It made me have so many questions. It made me think ‘Am I less of a woman because I have done this? Masama ba akong tao?' ‘Di ba? Because I’ve portrayed a role in a movie. I’m never going to say names, but there are past contestants who I love that have mas malala compared to me,” she said.

Despite this, Franki still feels optimistic about what’s next for her, but she admitted she has already closed her Miss Universe chapter after trying for three times now.

“To know that you’re really not wanted to participate in something, OK, say I was given a chance, they saw this interview and thought, ‘Hey, let’s let her walk at Mexico,’ it wouldn’t feel right to me. Or I just feel like maybe I would be extra scrutinized or not given a fair chance,” she said.

Asked about her message for the Miss Universe Organization, Franki thanked the organization for giving women a chance to share their advocacies, but hopes the organization would “think about what you mean when you say inclusivity.”

Early this month, Franki unpinned her Miss Universe New Zealand appointment photos after House of Yugen canceled their franchise this year.

"As a result of our team's non-compliance with a specific order from the Miss Universe Organization, we have decided to cancel the franchise held by Yugen PR for Miss Universe New Zealand for 2024," managing director Ian Borromeo announced.

Franki was born to a New Zealander-European father and a Filipina mother. She grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand.

She moved to Sydney, Australia, when she was 18 years old with her older brother and then moved to the Philippines in 2019 to work as a model and eventually became an actress.

— Carby Basina/CDC, GMA Integrated News