Agathe Cauet, Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2022, became the first runner-up to Miss France 2023. Who is she?
[Mis à jour le 18 décembre 2022, à 01h00] We believed in it so much that we almost thought we heard Sylvie Tellier pronounce her name in “off”, a few seconds before the verdict. Agathe Cauet, Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2022, finally arrived in second place in the Miss France election, this Saturday, December 17, 2022. The 24-year-old young woman therefore becomes the first runner-up to Indira Ampiot, the new national beauty queen of this year 2023.
A nurse by profession, Agathe Cauet was one of the great favorites of the Miss France contest this year, a beauty contest for which she seemed cut out. When she had just been selected in the top 5 during the ceremony, the 24-year-old young woman also defended the Miss France house, when she was asked as an oral to find the words to convince a young girl who wouldn’t dare to participate. “Go for it because this experience changes a woman, it changes a life,” replied Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais. “We discover ourselves, we realize who we are”, she continued, believing that the competition brought “happiness around us”.
“At the age of 17, I won my fight, that of having overcome a tumor”
During the first selection in the middle of the evening, Agathe Cauet had bet this time on her fight for her presentation speech. “If I had to describe myself in a few words, I would say that I am a combative and ambitious young woman. And if this evening I feel like a real princess, I do not forget my warrior mentality”, had started the future first runner-up.
“I am not a black belt in judo, but at the age of 17, I won my fight, that of overcoming a tumour. This ordeal pushed me to support those who still their fight to lead. I draw my strength from my best life lessons and tonight, I dare to believe in my wildest dreams, like that of becoming your Miss France, that of each of you. ‘Only one person believes in it as much as I do, and that person is you,’ she concluded.
A 9-kilo tumor and a tattoo
The young 24-year-old woman suffered a few years ago from a 9-kilo tumor, half-cancerous, half-benign, which had to be operated on when she was in her final year. The doctors had prepared her for the worst, with the possibility of chemotherapy, but in the end the young woman got away with lighter treatment and surgery. Agathe Cauet kept a 7 cm scar on her stomach. If this one has long complexed her, she has managed to overcome her lack of self-confidence since.
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“I had a tumor at the age of 17, a borderline of 9 kilos. Today I have one less ovary”, was content to tell very factually Miss Nord Pas de Calais at TVMag before the contest, which nevertheless specified having made a tattoo in the right groin, “in the shape of a flower arch”, for this part of itself lost. “I can still have children as long as I have an ovary that works normally”, also reassured the young woman who has also kept oocytes “as a precaution”.
If this tumor is an old story and if the complexes dissipate, Agathe Cauet was one of the only regional misses not to have worn the traditional bikini during the photo shoot of the misses in swimsuits before the ceremony. Instead: a pale pink one-piece swimsuit, keeping her belly covered, all in elegance.
A welcome change in the rules of Miss France
Agathe Cauet was also one of the only candidates to benefit from the change introduced this year in the selection criteria for Miss France. Based on the rules of Miss Universe, Alexia Laroche-Joubert, the new president of the Miss France society, notably opened the competition to women with a tattoo, as long as it does not display “criminally reprehensible representation”. “We can also hide them on stage for those who wish,” she told TV Magazine a few weeks ago. What Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais decided to do.
Another radical change: the contest is open to married women and even mothers. It is also now accessible to any female candidate “in civil status”, which makes it possible, in fact, to include transgender people. The actress Andréa Furet will also have been the first transgender woman to participate in the competition, arriving second Dauphine of the Miss Paris election this year.
“It is the fight against cancer that is particularly close to my heart”
Today, Agathe Cauet is a nurse and graduated two years ago from the CHR in Lille. A “beautiful profession”, even a vocation to hear it, born of his painful experience and his hospitalization. “I discovered a profession where we took care of people and that made me want to take care of others”, she said to TV Mag before the competition, ensuring that she wanted to “feel useful”. “By my profession and my experience, it is the fight against cancer that is particularly close to my heart”, also confided the young Miss who started working in 2020, in the midst of the Covid period. An episode “trainer” but “complicated to live” she told Lille Actu. She is also passionate about drawing.
It is undoubtedly this complete profile and which does not lack roughness which will have seduced the jury and the viewers this Saturday. Agathe Cauet is not related to host Sébastien Cauet, whom she knows “no more than you” she needed to clarify.
Elected Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais among twelve candidates
As a reminder, the election of Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais took place on October 15, 2022 was held for the Miss France 2023 competition, in Liévein. Twelve candidates were present on stage with the hope of recovering the title of Donatella Meden and thus being able to carry high the colors of the multi-titled region during the national competition. The jury and the public gathered that evening voted in the majority for the young Agathe Cauet, who therefore became Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2022!
In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, many young women are selected, particularly in Artois, Tourcoing, Arras, Dunkirk and Valenciennes. In the past, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has had three winners in the Miss France competition: Camille Cerf in 2015, Iris Mittenaere in 2016 and Maëva Coucke in 2018. Iris Mittenaere was also elected Miss Universe in 2016.