Andrea Victoria Aguilera Paredes, 20, of Ventanas, Los Rios, Ecuador almost won Miss Grand International 2021. She was the first runner-up of the ninth edition of the Thailand-based international beauty pageant founded by Nawat Itsaragrisil, 67.

Aguilera is a medical student at the University of Guayaquil in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She was crowned Reina de Ventanas 2018 on November 1, 2018, Miss Earth Ecuador-Fire 2019 on August 10, 2019, Reina de los Rios 2019 on September 27, 2019 and Miss Grand Los Rios 2021 on May 7, 2021.

On June 26, 2021, Aguilera won the Miss Grand Ecuador 2021 title at TC Televisión in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She competed against five other candidates.

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Hosted by Matthew Deane, 43, the Miss Grand International 2021 coronation night was held at the SHOW DC Retail and Entertainment Mega Complex in Bangkok, Thailand on December 4, 2021. Including Aguilera, 60 women competed for the title.

Five former Miss Grand International queens served as the judges. They were Janelee Chaparro, 30, of Puerto Rico, Lees Garcia, 34, of Cuba, Ariska Putri Pertiwi, 26, of Indonesia, Maria Jose Lara, 31, of Peru and Clara Sosa, 28, of Paraguay, who were crowned in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.

It was Nguyen Thúc Thuy Tiên, 23, of Vietnam who won the Miss Grand International 2021 title. Lorena Goncalves Rodrigues, 26, of Brazil, Vivianie Diaz Arroyo, 23, of Puerto Rico and Jeanè Van Dam, 20, of South Africa were the respective second, third and fourth runners-up.

Arroyo was Best in Swimsuit while Indy Johnson, 23, of Thailand was Best in Evening Gown. The Best National Costume winners were Lishalliny Kanaran, 24, of Malaysia, Samantha Elizabeth Batallanos Cortegana, 26, of Peru and Marcia Marilia Menezes, 27, of Angola.