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Miss Universe Fiji contestants Nadine Roberts (left) and Manshika Prasad (right).
photo: Miss Universe Fiji
Fiji will make its grand return to the Miss Universe pageant later this year, but organisers of Miss Universe Fiji have revealed they have chosen the “wrong winner” due to a “controversial decision by the judges”.
Manshika Prasad, 24, was declared Miss Universe Fiji at a ceremony in Pacific Harbour on Friday, marking Fiji’s return to the world stage after four decades.
However, Miss Universe Fiji said in a statement on Monday that judges “mistakenly awarded the wrong winner” during the grand Top 10 finals held at the Pearl Resort.
They said the “real winner” was the night’s runner-up, Nadine Roberts.
Miss Universe Fiji said a “hasty announcement and mistakes” led to Roberts being named second “twice”.
“This is not the first time something like this has happened at a pageant, but it could have easily been avoided if the contractor organisers had followed the correct procedures at the event,” the Miss Universe Fiji pageant website said in a statement.
“The tie at eight votes means the licensees have to decide the winner and not the contracted organisers who want the winner to be a Fijian Indian in order to secure potential global business deals.”
“The judges did not count the license holders’ votes to ensure that only Fijian Indian contestants won, while local Fijian non-Indian contestants won.
“An internal review showed that out of seven judges plus one licensee vote, the two girls received four votes each, and after concerns were raised by local licensee representatives that night, the review panel was sent in to ensure transparency in the vote calculations.”
According to the statement, the contracted organisers failed to count the votes of the licensees and negotiate who would have the deciding vote in the event of a tie to decide who would be best suited to represent Miss Universe Fiji at the finals in Mexico in November.
“Despite concerns expressed by local franchise representatives present that night that franchise votes must be counted and negotiated in the event of a tie to determine the winner, the contracted organizers rushed to declare their favorite candidate the winner that night, creating unnecessary confusion and controversy.
However, in a separate media statement on Monday, Grant Dwyer, the event’s contract organiser, stressed that Prasad was the “official winner”.
Dwyer said Prasad was “fairly judged among the nine finalists during a live tweet-out event on Friday.”
“The 7 official winners voted for Manshika Prasad as the winner. One of the 7 judges was a representative of Lux Property Bali (the licensee of Miss Universe Fiji) while the other 6 judges were independent judges, which were initially confirmed and announced on the official website.”
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