María Guadalupe "Lupita" Jones Garay (; born 6 September 1967) is a Mexican producer, actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Universe 1991.

Education

Before becoming Miss Universe 1991, Jones received a degree in business administration and did postgraduate studies in industrial administration at the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior in Mexicali, Baja California.

Pageantry

Señorita Mexico

In September 1990, Jones won the title of Señorita México representing the state of Baja California.

Miss Universe

On 17 May 1991, Jones competed against 72 contestants for the title of Miss Universe 1991 at Las Vegas, Nevada representing Mexico. She advanced to the semifinals of the event as first place.

Jones was the only contestant with an average score above 9. During the final stage, Jones won every single round of competition: swimsuit, interview, and evening gown. She dominated the next two rounds of competition (the Top 6 judges' questions and the Top 3 final questions) and won the crown, the prizes, and the Miss Universe title for her country.

Television producer

After ending her reign in 1992, she started the company Promocertamen in 1994 with Televisa to produce Nuestra Belleza México, Mexico's official pageant responsible for choosing Mexico's delegates for Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International. This new pageant was created when Señorita México was moved to another TV network, TV Azteca.

In 1997, she attempted to launch the first male-only beauty contest, El Modelo México, but the show got little attention from the public.

In 2015, in response to negative comments on Mexicans by Donald Trump, part-owner of the Miss Universe organization, as head of Nuestra Belleza México, Jones endorsed withdrawal of the 2015 contestant from Mexico and urged a boycott of products associated with the 2015 pageant.

Humanitarian causes

In 1999, Lupita Jones decided that the contest would support an important program for ill-treated girls in the country through the Integral Family Development project.

In 2000, Jones accepted an appointment as UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and Face to Face Campaign Spokesperson for Mexico. coming in third place with 13% behind Jorge Hank Rhon of the Encuentro Solidario Party, with 28%, and the winner Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, of the Juntos Hacemos Historia coalition, who won 45% of the votes. Regarding the results, Jones said that she was typecast as a beauty queen and that she was not allowed to prove that she could work in another area.

Controversial Actions at Miss Grand All Stars 2026

The MGI All Stars 2026 competition concluded on the evening of May 30th, with Vanessa Pulgarin from Colombia crowned.

The first runner-up title went to Maria Porter (Ghana), while Vietnam's representative, Huong Giang, won the second runner-up title.

After the organizers announced the detailed scores, beauty pageant fans noticed the score that judge Lupita Jones gave to Huong Giang in the Q&A segment.

Lupita Jones only gave the Vietnamese representative 5 points, the lowest score among the top 3. This led to much criticism from fans, as many viewers believed that this score affected the final result.

On beauty pageant forums, many comments expressed outrage: "I don't understand why they gave her 5 points"; "It's a shame she gave Huong Giang a 5. If she had given her 7, 8, or 9 points, even if the ranking didn't change, it would have been less regrettable"; "It turns out Lupita Jones is Huong Giang's real rival"; "A good answer, but she only gave her 5 points"; "Afraid Huong Giang will win, that's why she gave her that score?"; "She made it to the top 3 and only got 5 points"; "This is the ultimate boss, Omar is just a background character"...

According to some public opinions, the reason she gave Huong Giang a low score is because she opposes contestants from the LGBTQ+ community participating in the competition. At the end of 2022, Lupita Jones shocked everyone by declaring that the competition she runs would not accept transgender contestants.

Although the Miss Universe organizers have now relaxed the rules, allowing married women, mothers, and transgender women to participate, this powerful woman has not changed her decision.

Lupita Jones frankly shared with El American that transgender people already have their own competitions, so she would not accept transgender participants in her competition.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Pulgarin's answers were criticized by some viewers as unconvincing, with some even saying the Colombian beauty didn't answer completely in English. Despite this, Lupita Jones still gave her an 8 out of 10.

This discrepancy in scores led many fans to question Lupita Jones's judging criteria. On Lupita Jones's personal page, many posts received a large number of angry emojis and comments from beauty pageant fans after the final night.

Filmography

Telenovelas

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year !! Project !! Role !! Notes

|-

|2019

|El señor de los cielos

|Amaranta Reyes

|

|-

| 2017 || Enamorándome de Ramón || Katy Fernández de Medina || Special participation

|-

| 2015 || Como dice el dicho || Rocío / Ana Regina || 2 Episodes

|-

| 2014 || La malquerida (telenovela) || Carmen Gallardo de Torres ||Recurring role

|-

|2013

|Por siempre mi amor

|

|

|-

|2013

|Rosario

|Fabiana Silva

|

|}

Reality TV

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year !! Project !! Role !! Notes

|-

|2008-2014

|Nuestra Belleza Latina

|Jury member

|

|-

| 2012 || Se vale || Dancer ||

|-

| 2008 || Me quiero enamorar || Adviser ||

|-

| || 100 mexicanos dijeron || ||

|-

|

|La Hora Pico

|Guest Star

|

|}

Books

References

  • Miss Universe Official Website