Nicole Harding from Christchurch was $7,000 out of pocket following the botched pageant. Photo / Facebook
An international beauty pageant from which a Kiwi contestant withdrew amid safety concerns is being labelled a scam by Filipino officials.
Kiwi beauty queen Nicole Harding, 22, pulled out of the Miss Pancontinental pageant last month along with other international delegates.
It was meant to be the Christchurch nursing student's first international pageant. Instead she made international headlines over her decision to leave the "Mickey Mouse" event, for which she and fellow contestants stayed in a "prison cell-like" motel that had armed guards and dogs camped outside.
She took to Facebook to announce the New Zealand embassy had advised her to leave.
According to the Manila Bulletin, Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano called for a "a no-nonsense" police investigation into the pageant and its organiser who has distanced herself from the issue.
Pageant vice-president and organiser Mylene Miranda reportedly blamed host organisers in Cagayan de Oro, and filed a police complaint for an alleged "breach of contract".
On December 1, she disqualified the pageant but local hosts reportedly continued with the finale.
Mindanao's Gold Star Daily News quoted Cagayan de Oro's tourism committee chairwoman, Lourdes Darimbang, as saying the pageant was a scam that left the city's image and tourism industry in "a disastrous situation".
Harding told Stuff she believed the organisers planned to run the event on a shoestring to bank the US$1000 ($1480) each contestant paid.
"For all of the effort, money, sponsors and overall hype that this experience brought, to be sent home with nothing was disappointing and embarrassing," she said.
After being left $7000 out of pocket, Harding said she hoped the event would never be run again.
And although she is grateful legal action has been taken, she said she's trying to forget the ordeal and "move forward with the other important things in my life".
- nzherald.co.nz
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