60-year-old beauty queen wins Best Face award, crashes out of Miss Universe contest

The 60-year-old beauty queen, Alejandra Rodriguez, saw her journey end in the Miss Universe pageant on Saturday, May 25 as she could not win the Miss Argentina contest.

Rodríguez is a lawyer and journalist from La Plata, Argentina. She was crowned Miss Universe Buenos Aires a month ago.

Her groundbreaking pageant career has paved the way for others. "As a result of what happened to me, I believe a new door has opened for many people who perhaps did not have it easy,” she told the Associated Press.

Alejandra Rodriguez won the "best face" award at the pageant. However, she could not win the big prize. But her message of change reached many people. "This is the first step of a change that is coming," she said.

Just a month ago, Rodriguez made headlines by winning the Miss Buenos Aires contest and became the first 60-year-old to do so. She beat 34 other people aged between 18 and 73. She was happy to show a new side to beauty contests, one that values more than just looks.

The Miss Universe Organisation decided in September 2023 to remove age limits for contestants. Now, any woman over 18 can take part, breaking the old age limit of 18-28. This starts a new chapter in the history of beauty contests.

She viewed her participation as an adventure, saying, "I had no expectations of this other than taking on a new challenge."

"I am thrilled to be representing this new paradigm in beauty pageants because we are inaugurating a new stage in which women are not only physical beauty but another set of values," Rodriguez said after winning the contest in Buenos Aires.

"I am the first of this generation to start with this," she said then.