Pageant Saga

The Miss Fiji World pageant has taken another twist since Wansolwara, broke the story about irregularities in how the eventual winner Torika Watters was chosen. The Fiji Times today reported that Torika has stepped down, paving the way for runner-up Koila Vakaloloma to represent Fiji in the Miss World competition in Mongolia next month. The Miss Fiji pageant has been rigged with bad publicity since Torika was crowned and it does not look like things will be changing anytime soon. In her press statement Torika says that

she "was becoming very uncomfortable with the situation" citing "lies, deception, the lack of transparency and the lack of professionalism" as reasons for leaving Suva and the "entire pageant fiasco" on May 7.

This is quite unfortunate as it seems like an Innocent girl has been caught in all this pageant drama. In her statement, Torika explains how she was approached by Andhy Blake via Facebook, which in itself is very irregular, because as the Director of the pageant one would think that he would remain neutral when it came to contestant recruiting.

Then there is the issue with Torika being 16 years old. Torika says that she was assured by Andhy that her age would not be an issue. When she was crowned Miss World Fiji, New Zealand media raised the issue that she was not eligible because Miss World criteria states that the contestants have to be above 17 years of age. Andhy replied to this by stating that Torika was a special case and that he had gotten special permission from the Miss World International to allow her to contest. Well today we still have to see prove of that, but the fact that the governing body had indicated that she is too young to participate is all the proof we need to tell that Andhy lied about that issue.
The pageant debacle is stirring up all sorts of stories in the overseas media, but The NZ Herald has been one of the few that have focused on the real reason Torika has had to step down. There has been widespread coverage that race is a factor here, but there really have been no signs of this Fiji. Yes there have been Facebook comments here and there, but

sparked outrage in Fiji

Really???


On the Miss World Fiji Facebook page, Andhy is denying  claims of predetermined winners and that there were no proper judging criteria to  guide how the eventual winner would be chosen. Andhy has hit back to say that the girls' stories were more important having a set of criteria. Again this logic does not make sense seeing that the winner will be subjected to a more strict and rigorous judging criteria when she participates in the international pageant. I don't think that the girls' 'stories'  alone will count for much there.

Now there are questions been raised about the financial side of the pageant, with questions been raised as to why some of the contestants have not been given their prizes yet. Also money that was raised for Mental Health awareness still have to be accounted for also.
Perhaps its time for the relevant authorities to step in and thoroughly scrutinise the Fiji pageant.