Miss Universe Vietnam remains after laughing gas allegations

Miss Universe Vietnam 2023 Bui Quynh Hoa. Photo from Hoa's Facebook

Contest organizers said Wednesday that the 2015 incident in which the beauty pageant winner inhaled the nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, was "almost a decade ago."

They confirmed that Hoa had tried the balloons out of curiosity as a high school student – when she had "no knowledge of them" – and that she had never touched them again.

The announcement came after a video surfaced, allegedly of Hoa and a group of friends inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons.

"Hoa has learnt a lot from the incident and now regrets letting what she did in the past affect her current life," the organizers said. "We hope young people can learn from Hoa’s case."

Miss Universe Vietnam revealed in the same statement that its franchisor, the Miss Universe organization, had verified that Hoa is indeed still the winner of the event.

The organization had announced last month that it would look into its Vietnam franchise’s contest results, following cheating concerns raised by the public, as many viewers spotted similarities between Hoa’s answer to the interview question during the contest’s final night and a search of Google suggestions.

Hoa is now set to represent Vietnam at this year’s Miss Universe contest in El Salvador Nov. 3-18. The beauty queen is scheduled to depart from Vietnam for the event on Thursday.

Hoa, 25, is a model and businesswoman. She won the title of the 2022 Supermodel International contest and had competed in various beauty pageants before being crowned 2023 Miss Universe Vietnam on Sep. 29 this year.