In recent days, the beauty fan community has been stirred up by the news that the national director of Miss Grand India - Mr. Nikhil Anand - has spoken out to denounce the Miss Grand International organization and its president, Nawat Itsaragrisil.
After that, Miss Grand India announced the termination of cooperation with Miss Grand International (MGI) due to differences in vision and operational goals.
Thus, after Miss Grand International, Mr. Nawat revoked the copyright licenses of two countries, India and Myanmar.
This is not the first time Nawat has been involved in controversy related to MGI and has made controversial statements.
Vietnamese audiences have also been dissatisfied with Mr. Nawat. In 2022, 2 million viewers unfollowed the contest's homepage after Mr. Nawat commented on the appearance of Vietnamese representative Doan Thien An.
Miss Grand International is an international beauty pageant organized by Mr. Nawat since 2013. This is also the turning point that made Mr. Nawat's name famous in the beauty industry.
Thanks to MGI, Mr. Nawat earned a huge amount of money. The amount of money Mr. Nawat earned this year just from the Miss Popular Vote award (voted by the audience) was about 90 billion VND.
Miss Popular Vote is a voting award for beauty queen representatives where the winner will win the title of 5th Runner-up. Most of the money raised comes from Southeast Asian countries that are strong in voting and calling for votes.
Countries that want to host and own the copyright of this competition also have to pay a large fee.
The amount was so large that the national director of Miss Grand Myanmar once asked representative Ni Ni Lin Eain to contribute money to pay the copyright fee after she received prize money from another beauty pageant.
In addition, beauty queens and runners-up are also required to... livestream to sell products for Nawat and Miss Grand International's partners after being crowned.
The images of beauties livestreaming to sell products have been controversial for a long time. They will sell the products that Mr. Nawat's group is doing business with.
The singing, acting, and game show participation activities that Mr. Nawat directs for the beauties also contribute significantly to increasing profits for the organization.
MGI is also the first beauty pageant to be listed on the stock exchange. According to Share2Trade, Nawat is ranked 6th in the list of the richest people in the Thai entertainment industry with a total asset of 1,504 million baht.
In Vietnam, Mr. Nawat became famous with the audience after Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien was crowned Miss Grand International 2021.
In 2022, Mr. Nawat - President of Miss Grand International revealed that Thuy Tien earned at least 2-3 million USD (equivalent to 48-72 billion VND). In just 3 months after being crowned, Thuy Tien earned 100 million Baht (about 61 billion VND) thanks to coverage in TV shows and advertisements.
Mr. Nawat Itsaragrisil was born in 1965 and entered the entertainment industry as a presenter, including two major TV channels, On Air Channel 3 and On Air Channel 9.
With his eloquent speaking talent, he received many awards such as: Outstanding MC in 2011, Person of the Year, Outstanding Individual in the field of radio and television at the Golden Bell Award 2012...
