Miss Universe had alleged drug scandals and vote rigging. It's why we can't stop watching

In many ways, Miss Universe and other pageants were our original reality TV.

In a span of three hours, we watched women from all over the world compete in gowns and swimsuits, national costumes and interviews.

But over the years, Miss Universe began to feel rote, routine, outdated, boring even. Reality TV caught up, bringing today’s versions of gowns (“Selling Sunset”) and swimsuits (“Love Island”), national costumes (“The Masked Singer”) and interviews (“Love is Blind”).

Now Miss Universe is bringing the drama.

Suddenly the competition is interesting again - and we can’t stop watching.