Miss Universe Malta, Maxine Formosa Gruppetta, admits she was taken by surprise when awarded the Congeniality Award at the 71st Miss Universe Contest last weekend.

“I was over the moon and taken by surprise,” she told Times of Malta.

The Miss Universe Contest was held on Saturday night in New Orleans and saw approximately 6,000 people from around the world attend the event.

Out of the 84 contestants, the contest was won by R’Bonney Gabriel, of the US.

Hailing from St Julian’s, Formosa Gruppetta, 22, had hoped she would be the first Maltese representative to place in the top 16.

Though not reaching her high goal, she won the Congeniality Award, jointly with Miss Chile, a first since Malta has never won any title in the Miss Universe competition.

The award is given to the friendliest, kindest contestant and is decided by the contestants voting among themselves.

“For me, this is an even bigger win. Miss Universe Congeniality is an award that symbolises and represents who I am as a person more than winning Miss Universe would have been,” she said.

“I was sad not to make it to the top 16, after all the hard work and determination I have put in. However, I am over the moon to have won Miss Congeniality as it was a total surprise, which I wasn’t expecting at all.”

Formosa Gruppetta recalled the electric feeling she felt before stepping on stage to present herself for the first time in the contest.

“I remember the goosebumps I felt, the shock of excitement running down my body,” she said.

“I had tears in my eyes before I stepped on stage. Those tears represented passion and pride and, I’ll be honest, I was a little sad for a second. Sad because my nanna and dad were not here in person to watch my growth and success but I felt their presence in my heart the whole way.”

Inspiration to others

Formosa Gruppetta enrolled in Miss Universe Malta 2021 following encouragement from her grandmother, who she recalled pushed her to pursue performing arts and creativity.

“In 2021, my nanna was diagnosed with cancer and her last wish to me was that I represent myself in a Miss Universe competition,” she said.

“I did, however, she passed away before I competed.

“Even though she was not there in person on Saturday, I still felt her holding my hand heading down that stage.”

Over the past year, Formosa Gruppetta trained with Miss Academy, a beauty pageant school in Texas. The programme included training on catwalk, etiquette, hair and make-up and wardrobe sessions.

As an events and marketing strategist at Toly Products, she said that being part of Miss Universe Malta came with many responsibilities and finding the balance between work and preparing for the contest.

She said the competition has been a dream and that being surrounded by another 84 beautiful women from around the world is very inspiring.

“The amount of support that we show to each other, starting from fixing each other’s hair and make-up, to collecting opinions on an evening gown is the biggest breath of fresh air that I could take in a while.”

Formosa Gruppetta said she wants to lay a stepping-stone for her future Miss Universe Malta ‘sisters’.

“I want to be an inspiration to any child or young adult who has dreams, to teach and show them that, even though I do hail from a small competing country, from a ‘weak’ sash country, my dreams will be fulfilled… through determination and hard work… we will be heard,” she said.