December 24, 2021
The Miss World 2021 pageant was cancelled hours before starting on December 16 after more than 20 contestants tested positive for COVID-19.
The last-minute cancellation not only dealt a blow to the contestants but to the production team, that reportedly lost millions in production costs.
“They lost millions in set cost to produce the pageant,” source close to the pageant told Page Six, with the production cost estimated to be around $5 million.
The annual mega event, which judges contestants on the basis of their philanthropic work instead of looks, was scheduled to be held on December 16 in Puerto Rico but was shelved hours before starting.
According to reports, 23 out of 97 contestants had tested positive in addition to 15 members of the staff.