So what is the reason why the beauty was once expected by fans but stopped early in the final?
The journey attracted attention but lacked breakthroughs
Miss Universe 2025 brings together more than 120 contestants, creating a fiercely competitive season. As the first transgender Asian woman to appear in this beauty pageant, Huong Giang quickly became the focus of international media. She has the largest number of followers on Instagram among the contestants with 4.3 million views and always shows proactive interaction in front of the camera.
Thanks to her meticulous image and positive energy, Huong Giang entered the top 3 in the "Beyond the Crown" category, receiving more than 233,000 votes, behind representatives of Paraguay and the Philippines. In sideline activities, the Vietnamese beauty maintains a stable performance, controls her image well, and creates sympathy with the audience.
However, the positive effects from social networks and the media are not enough to compensate for the professional criteria that Miss Universe has set for this year's season, especially in performance and stage performance skills. Huong Giang's performances are only at a safe level, even many are controversial and not too outstanding.
Clear weakness in the semi-finals
The semi-final on November 19 was the decisive moment for the judges to evaluate the performance skills, stage control and charisma of the contestants. This is also a round that narrowed Huong Giang's chances.
In the swimsuit competition, Huong Giang showed confidence but still kept the catwalk quite safe. The lack of decisiveness in walking and the lack of flexibility in hip- shoulder processing caused the overall performance to not make a strong impression. In the evening gown competition, the needle-white outfit helped her stand out, but the way she handled the problem and the last pose was not explosive enough compared to many opponents with outstanding performance skills.
This year's Miss Universe focuses on assessing her physical condition, stage fitness and energy-rich performance ability - factors that are not Huong Giang's strengths. When standing next to contestants with a healthy figure, strong walking and diverse performance techniques, her performance became less than average.
Competitive pressure from strong candidates
The 2025 season witnessed the dominance of many representatives from Latin America, Europe and South America. These contestants all have international competition experience, excellent catwalk ability, impressive physique and clear image strategy. In particular, not only physically, they also have meaningful projects, good interview skills, not inferior to Huong Giang.
The fact that Missosology and Sash Factor only predict Huong Giang in the top 30 before the final part also partly reflects the great level of competition she has to face. After that, after the semi-final night, Sash Factor also eliminated Huong Giang from the top 30 finalists.
In addition, Miss Universe is prioritizing the "warrior contestant" model - a beauty who is capable of mastering the stage in all segments, while conveying personal identity through charisma and technique. Although Huong Giang's stage personality is good, she still lacks the necessary "explosive points" to make a difference.
Performing experience is not enough to convert into a strength
Huong Giang has a solid stage foundation from singing, performing and reality TV. However, these experiences have not been fully converted into the performance language of a beauty pageant. High-tech catwalk, the ability to control whole body movements and create a sharp demeanor at corners of the stage is a skill that requires in-depth practice.
Compared to opponents who have competed for many years or possess height and body standards for Miss Universe, Huong Giang has a clear disadvantage.
Since announcing Huong Giang to compete in Miss Universe 2025, Vietnamese fans have exploded on social networks. Many people predicted that she would go far in the final because of her good strength and was crowned Miss Transformer International in Thailand. However, the result disappointed many audiences. Perhaps, Huong Giang fans are somewhat confident in the ability of the beauty queen, so her number of votes is not enough to make the beauty voted the most favorite contestant to advance straight to the top 30 finalists.
