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Manshika Prasad, the winner of Miss Fiji 2024 (R) and runner up Nadine Roberts.
Credit: Instagram/@_manshikaprasad
Beauty pageants are often riddled with controversy. From conspiracies and sabotages to rigging and high drama, you get to witness many such things at these events. This year's Miss Fiji pageant was no different.
According to a report by BBC, the event started, ran smoothly and finished on a high at the Fiji’s Pearl Resort & Spa. At the finale, 24-year-old MBA student Manshika Prasad had been voted Miss Fiji 2024, ahead of Nadine Roberts, a 30-year-old model and property developer from Sydney, whose mother is Fijian.
The Fiji Indian contestant Prasad was extremely delighted to have been chosen to compete for the Miss Universe title, which is to be held in Mexico in November.
Two days later, everything came crashing down for her. Miss Universe Fiji (MUF) issued a press release saying a “serious breach of principles” had occurred, and “revised results” would be made public shortly.
Prasad's victory had been invalidated and Roberts, the runner-up had been declared the new winner in a strange turn of events.
The reasoning provided in a press release by Miss Universe Fiji stated that the voting had been rigged by the event manager, Grant Dwyer, who pressured the panel to vote in favour of Prasad as they allegedly stood to gain financially by having a Fiji Indian participate in the Miss Universe contest.
Those involved in the pageant believed things didn't add up to this reasoning.
Jennifer Chan, one of seven judges on the panel, stated that by the end of the pageant, Prasad seemed to be the clear winner due to her presentation, confidence, the way she interacted with others, etc.
Chan then claimed that when Prasad was crowned, Roberts - wearing her runners-up sash - was "seething".
"I remember going to bed thinking, how could someone feel so entitled to win? You win some, you lose some. She’s a seasoned beauty pageant contestant - surely she knew that?" Chan told BBC.
To run a pageant of this size and elect a contest to send to the Miss Universe competition, a lot of money is spent. Small countries like Fiji are unable to bare those expenses unless they have a sponsor, which they didn't since 1982, until this year when property development firm Lux Projects step-forward.
It was the real estate firm that eventually ended-up causing the controversy.
Grant Dwyer, the former manager of Miss Universe Australia Jennifer Hawkins, who was contracted as the organiser for the 2024 Fiji Miss Universe event, was responsible for counting the votes. Initially, Prasad had won the contest with 4 of the seven judges voting for her.
At the pageant, Riri Febriani represented the Lux Projects as a judge, who on the day after the finale, wasn't seen on the boat to celebrate with Prasad, but instead seen communicating with someone called 'Jamie' on her phone.
The following day, Miss Universe Fiji released their press statement, and later alleged that Dwyer "failed to follow protocol, and caused unnecessary confusion and controversy on the night by awarding the wrong contestant as the winner."
According to them, the licensee, i.e. Lux Projects, should have had a vote which Dwyer didn't count. Lux would have voted for Roberts taking the tally to 4-4 between the finaly two contestants.
Further, since it was a tie, Lux also had the “determining vote” - making Roberts the winner.
"Never at any point were we told about an eighth judge or any kind of absentee judge," Chan told BBC, adding, "Besides, how can you vote on a contest if you’re not even there?”
Melissa White, another judge, said, "I did some digging and it turns out that Lux Projects was closely associated with an Australian businessman called Jamie McIntyre. And Jamie McIntyre,” she told the BBC, “is married to Nadine Roberts."
BBC also said that a "Jamie" was on the line during phone calls between Roberts and Dwyer. Further, they said that allegation that Dwyer had pressured the panel to choose Prasad because of her race is undermined by the fact that Dwyer is understood to have voted for Roberts.
It was the Miss Universe Organisation that eventually restored Manshika Prasad's title. They were reportedly extremely unhappy with the events that unfolded, and worked hard to re-instate the island's queen.