Immediately after the Miss Grand International 2024 final, the Miss Grand US Virgin Islands organization announced that it would strip the crown of reigning Miss Samantha Catherine Keaton.

This decision was made after a series of serious violations by the beauty queen since her coronation in March 2024.

National Director Brian Javier said that Samantha had many behaviors that went against the organization’s direction and values. She was accused of arbitrarily changing the sash, affecting the organization’s logo, refusing the plane ticket provided by the organizing committee, causing thousands of dollars in damage. In particular, Samantha did not use the sponsor’s costume, arbitrarily changed her national costume and did not wear the official evening gown as agreed.

When asked to discuss the costume, Samantha refused, saying that “there is no clause in the contract requiring the provision of costume images”. This is in complete contrast to the clause in the contract that states “if the beauty chooses to wear another costume, it must be in accordance with the standards and expectations of the organization”.

Samantha was also accused of collaborating with former beauty queen Heather Thompson, spreading false information to sponsors, causing many partners to withdraw in the past year. She also violated the contract by bringing many people with her to Miss Grand International 2024, even though she was only allowed to have one escort during working hours.

Regarding media activities, Samantha was assessed as not meeting the requirements of rarely posting content on social networks, only being active during the main competition period and not interacting with fans as promised. The beauty’s attitude also caused a lot of anger when she refused most of the instructions from the organizing committee.

Tensions came to a head when Samantha and her family had a heated argument that lasted more than an hour with the country director, then left midway through a photo shoot in Puerto Rico with two unfinished shoots.

Brian Javier said the organization had considered stripping the crown earlier. However, due to the urgent time before Miss Grand International 2024, the organization decided to maintain the title so as not to affect the image of the country as well as the sponsors who have invested time and resources.

The Miss Grand US Virgin Islands organization asked Samantha to return the crown and sash, and announced that they would look for a new representative who meets the criteria of the contest. They also sent a sincere apology to the relevant parties for Samantha’s inappropriate behavior since March 2024.

Currently, Samantha Catherine Keaton has not commented on the incident.