'It happened na': Ahtisa Manalo on Miss Universe 2025 result, Miss Universe Asia title offer

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December 4, 2025 | 1:01pm

MANILA, Philippines — Beauty queen Ahtisa Manalo is back in the Philippines after representing the country in the 74th Miss Universe pagaent held in Thailand where she placed third runner-up.

Ahtisa received a warm homecoming from suppporters in Metro Manila and appeared on the December 3 episode of "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda" to discuss her experience at the pageant.

Major talking points in the episode were the controversies hounding Miss Universe 2025, particularly regarding the newly-crowned winner Fatima Bosch from Mexico.

The Filipina stressed she was not disappointed with her performance as she was living her dream competing in Miss Universe. She trained herself to focus by blocking outside noise.

Boy praised Ahtisa for her performance in the preliminary rounds and the contributions of local fashion designers before pivoting the conversation to the viral pre-pageant incident involving Fatima and Miss Universe Thailand national director Nawat Itsaragrisil.

During the sashing ceremony held a couple of weeks before the coronation last November 21, Nawat claimed Fatima was one of the queens allegedly not complying with the host country's promotional efforts and even called security on her.

The heated encounter did not sit well with Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjae Theilvig, who walked out of the room, followed by Fatima and several other beauty queens.

WATCH: Ahtisa Manalo shares Miss Universe 2025 experience

The Miss Universe Organization, through president Raul Rocha (who also hails from Mexico), called out Nawat for his actions. Nawat eventually apologized for the incident and clarifed he meant nothing ill towards Fatima or other contestants.

Ahtisa assumed that there were already issues circling before the incident occurred, but noted her knowledge of everything is similiar to all who viewed the viral video.

"There were some strong emotions when [Fatima] was speaking and it's understandable, it's not nice to be called out in front of a lot of people," Ahtisa continued. "Whatever the issue was, it could have been resolved privately. That's my stand on it, they're both adults."

She also described Nawat as a kind person according to numerous encounters she had with him, not fussy or meddlesome as others claim Nawat is based on social media.

Boy then asked Ahtisa her take on the coronation results, which drew outcry from pageant fans that it was rigged or announced wrong.

"It happened na. There will always be things in life na hindi natin magugustuhan ang resulta," Ahtisa responded. "To me, tapos na siya, wala na tayong magagawa about it. Let's just move on with our lives."

The television host brought up the claims by resigned Miss Universe judge Omar Harfouch that a secret voting took place and back-up juror Natalie Glebova that no proper auditing was observed.

Athisa, who holds an accountancy degree, agreed that auditing is an important part of competitions.

Boy asked if Ahtisa still believes the results were rigged, pointing out many are claiming Fatima's father has a business relationship with Rocha.

The beauty queen said not all pageant news are factual as she cited her 18 years in the industry, "It's hard to know ano ang chismis at totoo, so for me I always make sure I don't judge based on what I hear, especially if there's no evidence. If I'm presented with facts, I may change my opinion. But with no facts? It is what it is."

Bosch has denied her father has any business connection to Rocha in her interview with ABC's Juju Chang.

Ahtisa also clarified talks that she turned down accepting the Miss Universe Asia title, explaining she was never offered it in the first place.

Should the continental title had been offered anyway, Ahtisa had informed Miss Universe Philippine executive Jonas Gaffud she would decline.

The first runner-up Praveenar Singh of Thailand also reportedly declined the title, so it was China's Na Zhao who succeed the Philippines' own Chelsea Manalo as Miss Universe Asia.

During the show's titular "Fast Talk" segment, Ahtisa said she would choose money over a crown and revealed that she was once courted by a public figure, whom she did not name. She also revealed that she was close to Panama's Mirna Caballini, while the friendliest was Pakistan's Roma Riaz. The Quezon beauty also said that if she were to go into acting, she would pick Jericho Rosales as her leading man.

The episode ended with Ahtisa stressing she would not enter politics despite an attempted councilor run in her hometown of Candelaria, Quezon, although she withdrew to compete in Miss Universe Philppines 2025 and eventually represent the country. — Video from GMA Network's YouTube channel

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