What is Nord-Pas-de-Calais’s secret to winning the Miss France titles?

It was two weeks ago at the Liévin Arena, near Lens. The one who will represent Nord-Pas-de-Calais in the Miss France 2025 competition, on December 14, is about to be chosen in front of nearly 5,500 jubilant people. It must be said that this is the biggest regional election in the country. And for good reason, over the last ten years, four of its queens have become Miss France: Camille Cerf, Miss France 2015, Iris Mittenaere, a year later, Maëva Coucke, Miss France 2018. And last year Eve Gilles, who came in no one supporting the 17 candidates.

“If you stumble, if you stutter, if your hair is a little out of place, it's all your imperfections that make you beautiful. You are all magnificent tonight”she tells them in the video for “Sept à Huit” to be found at the top of this article above. A report which attempts to understand why this region has become the factory of Miss France, by following three candidates and the competition organizers.

First there is Maëva, 22 years old, a master's student in health engineering, elected Miss Béthune last July. Since then, her schedule has resembled that of a notable person, a little star that everyone is chasing. “When you are elected Miss, the first events that arise are mainly the town hall events. Afterwards, there are a lot of commercial events”she said. In this town of 25,000 inhabitants, the slightest event in the presence of Miss Béthune attracts the public.

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But in ten years of existence, the city has never won the regional title. So this year, the local committee pulled out all the stops and entrusted Maëva to a chaperone, Maxime, a first-year medical student and volunteer. Depending on the needs, he acts as a bodyguard or photographer for the Miss's social networks. “I make sure to create as much content as possible to show what she does, because it’s true that she does beautiful things, and it’s also the way to show all that,” he says, not a little proud. “He sees the life of a Miss a little more closely, and then we both find our benefit in it,” added the young girl. Maëva has all the codes of a perfect candidate: mastery of speech, of image and she does not hesitate to campaign, wanting to encourage as many Béthunois as possible to go to the regional election. Because in the stands, one place equals one vote.

Facing Maëva, in the race for Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2024, there is also Valentine, 22 years old, elected Miss Lille, who is living her little girl's dream. “When we're little, we say to ourselves, Wow! There are women who are very beautiful on TV, who wear pretty dresses, who know how to walk in high heels, so obviously, it's a dream.” she says. However, the fairies did not look into Valentine's cradle. At the age of four, she developed a rare autoimmune disease following a simple case of chickenpox. Until adolescence, she lived under the constant threat of serious hemorrhages in the event of a fall. So, the little girl dreams of going on stage and breaking her loneliness.

At fifteen, when she manages to overcome the illness, she throws herself headlong into this world of glitter to implement a crazy project: to become Miss. “I couldn't play sports. At the very beginning of the illness, I couldn't even go to recess with my friends at school. So yes, my dream was to dance and therefore to see the beautiful girls at Miss France with beautiful dresses, dancing on stage (…) The fact of having been very restricted by the illness, I need to live at 200%. she explains. To accompany her, she does not yet have an official chaperone, but her brother Clément.

For Marie, “Miss, she’s not a potiche”

For Marie, no little girl's dream, but rather a whim. At 18, she launched into the world of Miss last May, encouraged by her friends in her dance class and was elected Miss Brebières, a town of less than 5,000 inhabitants. A second year law student, dancer and club basketball player, Marie is a jack of all trades who is also training to become a reservist in the army. “On her 18th birthday, she arrived at the dance wearing a scarf ‘Miss 18 ans’. And from there, we made jokes about it, but we never thought it would go this far.”testifies one of her friends.

As for whether being Miss is a somewhat retrograde vision of women, Marie responds straight away: “Miss, she's not a model, she's a strong woman. She's the representation of the world of a strong woman. She dares to go on stage, she dares to speak in front of thousands of people. No, it's not a vase”, she decides. “It’s not because I don’t really represent the image of the princess who loves glitter that I wear the crown well. I think that in fact, she’s a different princess”she specifies.

Princess or not. We still had to comply with certain unavoidable rules, such as perching on vertiginous heels. “There, there are eleven centimeters, with a platform of three centimeters”she shows. And to add: “I wasn't at all comfortable in high heels. Walking in heels is even worse. I'm more into sneakers.” Marie, who dreams of becoming a diplomat, therefore had to hastily learn what being Miss in the North entails.

A one-week preparation course

Eight days before the big evening, all the contenders for the title will follow a preparation course organized by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais committee. This initiative, specific to the region, is supposed to train them to face the room with more than 5,000 seats. Is this the famous secret weapon for winning the Miss France titles? To find out, the best thing is to ask Anne-Sophie, the organizer of the regional competition. Her track record: two Miss France and a first runner-up in four years. She is also preparing for the week-long course where she will bring the 400 costumes that her team has made. “We are trying to reproduce a mini Miss France (…) The young girls are adorable, they are committed, they want to and frankly, they deserve it”she blurted.

To become an accomplished miss, you first need moments of relaxation, with an immersive video game where the goal is to eliminate zombies. Or around a game of bowling. The objective: to make the girls more self-confident at the time of the competition and to instill the spirit of the famous big Miss family. “It’s really nice and we’re not necessarily competitors this week,” rejoices one of them. It is also about preparing them for the national final, with 60 general knowledge questions. Last exercise, and not least, the parade in high heels. All these free activities for candidates are financed by sponsors. In return, they will be highlighted on the Miss social networks.

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After eight months of work, the moment of truth finally arrives: the election of Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais. At past midnight, after the public vote to designate the nine finalists, it is the jury which has the last word and which chooses the winner. It is neither Maëva, nor Valentine, nor Marie. It is ultimately Sabbah, Miss Villeneuve d'Ascq, who will represent Nord-Pas-de-Calais in the Miss France competition on December 14.