MANILA, Philippines — It seems like Catriona Gray would have to live rent-free for the weeks to come in many Filipino pageant fans’ minds after Friday’s Miss Universe 2025 result.
Ahtisa Manalo’s near-perfect performance in the preliminaries last Wednesday and earlier today ended in her third-place finish by noon. Mexico’s Fatima Bosch was crowned Miss Universe 2025 at the Impact Challenger Hall in Bangkok, Thailand.
The other ladies who made the Top 5 are Thailand’s Praveenar Singh (first runner-up), Venezuela’s Stephany Abasali (second runner-up) and Cote d’Ivoire’s Olivia Yace (fourth runner-up).
Immediately after, pageant fans shared their reactions to the winner and placements of Miss Universe 2025. Many were surprised and disappointed with the placements of the Philippines, Cote d’Ivoire and Venezuela, arguing that the three ladies’ final performances deserved higher rankings.
Catriona’s name also came up as her 2018 winning performance always trends right after a Philippine delegate fails to take home a pageant crown.
Catriona, who competed in 2018 in the same venue, is the batchmate of Ahtisa in the Binibining Pilipinas edition.
She won the Philippines’ fourth Miss Universe crown in a noteworthy performance, which many pageant pundits believe is still the benchmark or the “gold standard” in pageant history.
Right after the Miss Universe 2025 result, Catriona posted a question that drew reactions on her Instagram broadcast channel.
"But also...? Wala na bang bearing ng Q&A sa MU?" she wrote with a sad face and broken heart emojis.
A day before the Miss Universe finals, Catriona was captured quipping about her “retirement.”
“Pero feeling ko, baka magpahinga ako this year,” Catriona said, referring to her 2018 viral performance clips.
The Miss Universe 2018 was among the hosts of the Miss Sultan Kudarat 2025 beauty pageant held at the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Gymnasium on Thursday, November 20.
“Best of luck to our bunso! She’s doing an incredible job,” she added, wishing Ahtisa well in her Miss Universe 2025 stint.