Miss Universe chaos as Fiji pageant winner dethroned amid alleged ‘conspiracy’

Manshika Prasad (middle) has reportedly had her title restored after runner-up Nadine Roberts (left) was handed it instead. Photo / Asvin Singh via RNZ

A beauty pageant descended into chaos late last week after the winning contestant was dethroned amid an alleged “conspiracy”, according to a judge.

Manshika Prasad, a 24-year-old MBA student, was crowned Miss Universe Fiji at the Pacific Island’s Pearl Resort on Friday night - but her celebrations were short-lived.

Nadine Roberts, a Sydney-based property developer and model with a Fijian mother, sensationally snatched Prasad‘s crown after it was revealed the student had been “incorrectly awarded” the title, the Daily Mail reports.

After 43 years of not entering the global Miss Universe pageant, this year Fiji was finally able to compete due to Lux Projects Bali, a property development firm, stepping forward to fund the licence that is required to hold a national pageant, FBC News Fiji reports. As Miss Universe operates under a franchise system, each competing country needs to have a licence that allows them to use the organisation’s branding and sell tickets. As the licence is expensive, small countries often struggle to find a business that is willing to fund it - with Fiji unable to do so since 1981.

At the final night of the competition on Friday, Prasad had secured a majority four votes from a panel of seven judges, one of whom was a representative of Lux Projects.

However, Miss Universe Fiji (MUF) later said in a press release that eight votes should have been counted: seven from the panel of judges and one from Lux Projects, the licensee itself.

The organisation claimed Prasad had only won the pageant due to a “rigged vote” that favoured a “Fiji Indian” winner, a decision that would allegedly financially benefit the contracted event organiser, Grant Dwyer. MUF alleged Dwyer deliberately failed to count the licensee vote to “ensure only the Fiji Indian contestant would win by the judges”, Daily Mail reports.

In the statement, MUF said the organiser “wanted a Fiji Indian winner to leverage potential Global Business deals”.

“The contracted organiser failed to count the licensee vote, and failed to then consult in the event of a tie who has the determining vote to decide who is best to represent MUF at the finals in Mexico, in November later this year,” the statement said.

“Despite concerns raised on the night by the local licensee representative that was in attendance, that the Licensee vote must be counted, and then consulted in the event of a tie, to then decide on the winner.

“The contracted organiser rushed to announce their favourite candidate as the winner on the night, creating unnecessary confusion and controversy.”

As a result, Prasad’s win was temporarily annulled and Roberts was awarded the title, with the 30-year-old set to travel to Mexico in November to represent Fiji in the Miss Universe competition and compete for the coveted global crown.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Manshika Prasad (@_manshikaprasad)

Dwyer has since hit back at the “conspiracy” claims, saying Prasad was “judged fairly”. Meanwhile, judge Jennifer Chan, a US-based TV host and beauty expert, told the BBC she was “100% confident” Prasad was the best candidate for the job.

She argued it is “gross to even bring up race” in determining the winner and claimed the subject was “never, ever once uttered amongst any of the judges”.

“By [the final night], Manshika was the clear winner. Not only based on what she presented on stage but also how she interacted with the other girls, how she photographed, how she modelled,” Chan told the outlet.

Chan said there had been no official confirmation of Prasad’s win by Saturday, despite her taking a celebratory boat trip with the judges. Fellow judge Melissa White, who is from New Zealand, also told the BBC she thought it was “odd” that Riri Febriani, the judge who had represented Lux Projects, didn’t attend the outing.

In a press release after the decision, Lux Projects alleged Dwyer had “failed to count” its vote as licensee and said it would have voted for Roberts, a vote that would have resulted in a 4-4 tie. It also claimed that as licensee it had the “determining vote”, which would have made Roberts the winner.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Icqueens (@_icqueens)

Speaking to RNZ’s Midday Report on Monday, White said what should have been a historic event for Fiji has been “tainted”.

“Manshika Prasad had the four votes to the three and was given the crown as the clear winner,” White said. “Two days later we were told that the crown had been taken from her and that all of a sudden, there was an eighth judge who was the licensee of the holder for the Miss Universe Fiji.

“It was just a bit unheard of that there was an absentee judge all of a sudden, and now all of a sudden there was a tie, there was a tie-breaker, and this other girl wins and they take the crown away from the girl who won fairly that night.”

“Never at any point were we told about an eighth judge or any kind of absentee judge,” Chan said to the BBC. “It wasn’t on the website, it wasn’t anywhere. Besides, how can you vote on a contest if you’re not even there?”

White said on Monday morning that she understood the Miss Universe Organisation had stepped in and reinstated Prasad as the rightful winner after a “really confusing” few days. In its report, the BBC alleged the organisation is “extremely unhappy with the events in Fiji”.

Prasad has since said she will be taking a break from social media and alleged there was “so much the public did not know about”. Roberts, meanwhile, said on social media that “the world needs to see the FULL crowning footage from the MUF finals”.

At the time of writing, Lux Projects, Miss Universe Fiji, Roberts and Prasad have not responded to requests for comment from RNZ.