Key Takeaways
- The CW dropped the 2026 Miss Teen USA and Miss USA broadcasts days before airtime after the network and pageant organization failed to reach mutually agreeable production terms.
- Both competitions will stream from 8 to 10 p.m. ET on Queen Beauty Network, despite The CW announcing a multi-year broadcast deal just two months earlier.
- The reversal extends a turbulent run for Miss USA following its 2025 absence from traditional TV, two reigning winners’ 2024 resignations, and the recent removal of Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse over resurfaced racist posts.
Miss Teen USA is back off network television.
Just days before the 2026 competition was scheduled to air live, The CW pulled both Miss Teen USA and Miss USA from its lineup. The sudden change comes only two months after the network announced a multi-year deal to bring the pageants back to television — and amid another turbulent stretch for the Miss USA organization.
According to USA Today, Miss Teen USA had been scheduled for August 26, with the 75th Miss USA competition following on August 27. Miss Teen USA instead streamed on Queen Beauty Network Wednesday night, while Miss USA will stream on the platform Thursday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET.
“After careful consideration and conversations with the Miss USA Organization, The CW Network has decided to forego next week’s broadcasts of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants,” the network said in a statement. “We wish the organization and all of this year’s contestants well in the competition.”
The CW did not publicly provide a specific reason for walking away. Miss USA, however, said a problem involving its production agreement led to the last-minute change.
“Since then, our team has worked diligently to explore options that would allow us to continue with a live broadcast on The CW,” the organization said. “Unfortunately, we were unable to reach mutually agreeable terms for this year’s event.”
The reversal is particularly notable because The CW announced its new deal with BDE Miss USA, which licenses the pageants, in June. At the time, network executive Heather Olander said The CW was “thrilled to welcome Miss USA and Miss Teen USA back” and praised the competitions for delivering “spectacle, heart, and aspiration.”
Instead, Miss Teen USA is returning to the same streaming platform that carried the 2025 competition.
That move followed a historic crisis for the pageant organization. In May 2024, Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava resigned within days of each other, becoming the first reigning winners of both competitions to step down during the same year.
Their mothers subsequently accused pageant officials of bullying and mistreating their daughters. The organization disputed allegations made against its leadership.
The pageants went without a traditional television broadcast in 2025 for the first time since 1965.
This year's return has brought another round of controversy. Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse was stripped of her title earlier this month after social media posts from 2017 and 2019 resurfaced showing her using the N-word.
