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The Miss USA pageant has been in spotlight ever since October 2022, when R'Bonney Gabriel was declared the winner of the event. At the time, some of this year’s contestants took to social media to accuse the organization of giving preferential treatment to Gabriel.
After facing rigging accusations, Miss Universe R'Bonney Gabriel recently crowned Miss North Carolina, Morgan Romano, the new Miss USA this weekend. The successional crowning took place at Auburn University.
The pageant was scheduled after Gabriel was recently crowned Miss Universe. Sharing the news and a bunch of pictures on social media, Romano wrote:
“Heart full of gratitude. I’m all yours, USA.”
Morgan Romano is a chemical engineer from Concord. She entered the world of pageantry when she was only 20 years old. She previously competed in Miss South Carolina USA 2019, where she placed in the top 10.
Miss USA Morgan Romano is an advocate of STEM education
After Morgan Romano was crowned Miss USA, the world wanted to know more about the chemical engineer who became the queen of pageantry this year. After the 25-year-old competed for the title of Miss South Carolina, she also entered the Miss North Carolina 2021 pageant. At the time, she was named the 2nd runner-up.
It was in January last year that she was named Miss North Carolina 2022, which was her stepping stone to entering the national pageant in October 2022.
Romano has an active Instagram account with over 23,000 followers. She previously mentioned that she completed her education at the University of South Carolina. She is also an advocate of STEM education and encourages young women to be more inclined towards science.
After passing out of college and completing her education in 2020, Morgan Romano started working as an Application Engineer at R.E. Mason in Charlotte, NC. She is passionate about many programs like Project Scientist, which provide students, especially girls, an after-school opportunity to understand science and the STEM curriculum.
R’Bonney Gabriel opens up about "very frustrating" rigging scandal
R’Bonney Gabriel and the Miss USA organization received a lot of comments and complaints about the title being rigged in 2022. However, after Gabriel made the USA proud and won the Miss Universe title, she passed on the crown to Morgan Romano. R’Bonney also posted about it and said:
“Time to pass on the USA crown”
Furthermore, after winning the Miss Universe title on January 14, 2023, Gabriel came forward and spoke about how the allegations were "very frustrating," stating:
"The hardest part was I felt like I didn't have a voice at times as Miss USA. I wanted to stand up for myself and say, 'Hey, this is false. This is very frustrating.’ But I wanted to compose myself and carry this with grace because I was in the public eye. I wanted to show people how you can push back from adversity and be resilient."
Several contestants walked off stage as soon as Gabriel was announced the Miss USA 2022 winner, claiming that the pageant was either rigged or heavily favored.
