"It's just hurtful. All I want is an apology." Photo / Facebook
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MediaWorks has found itself in the middle of a fracas - including threats of potential legal action - over the disqualification of a competition contestant.
Scores of followers accused radio station The Edge of unfairly eliminating Dakota Hemmingson, 24, whose vote count, visible throughout the "Win JJ's Boobs" competition, showed her as the clear winner of a free boob job with 34,900 votes.
MediaWorks told the Herald the decision to disqualify Hemmingson was made after Apester, the platform used to log votes, contacted the station to alert them to fraudulent voting activity on her profile.
The revelation led to Hemmingson's elimination and the prize was instead awarded to Jordan Hill, who had a mastectomy after learning she had a high risk of developing breast cancer, and garnered 14,600 votes in the competition.
MediaWorks told Hemmingson it "reserves its rights to take further action" over the fraudulent voting. Hemmingson responded saying she will seek legal advice.
The company told the Herald it was "really disappointed that the competition has been tainted by this, for what should be a really positive result for the deserving winner.
"With all valid entries taken into account, Jordan was the clear winner of this competition."
Hemmingson, who identifies as a transgender woman, took to Facebook to express her frustration and says it wasn't until the competition closed that she was told she had been disqualified.
"On Friday after announcing the winner I was rung asking if I was okay I even asked about the votes and was told I would be contacted by text about them. Nothing was brought up about disqualification until it was put on their Facebook page then I received an email stating the same thing [sic]."
She went on to say: "Inform someone if they're disqualified please and give them a chance try remedy it. Don't take percentages and lie about them..."
Hemmingson contacted MediaWorks directly to query the decision, writing: "Like you can't disqualify someone and not tell them. I will seek a legal council [sic]."
A MediaWorks staff member responded stating: "You have requested further information in relation to the competition; in particular you queried the number of votes you received, compared to the winner.
"Following an investigation, our third party voting website provided us with a report that indicated that you were the recipient of a large number of fraudulent votes. These votes were accordingly discounted and you were disqualified from the competition.
"Please note that MediaWorks reserves its rights to take further action in relation to this voting activity and the evidence you have provided of obtaining unlawful access to the voting website results.
"The competition's terms and conditions state: "Only one vote per person during the voting period."
Hemmingson told the Herald she had altered her computer settings to allow her to vote more than once a day: "If you turn off your cookies, you can vote more than once a day, but I don't think that was enough to make that much of a difference," she said.
"It's just hurtful. All I want is an apology."
Hemmingson has since contacted the Herald to dispute these statements.
Hemmingson has since set up a Givealittle page to fundraise for a boob job and says even though she is disappointed in the outcome, "I am so happy that so many people have been in support of trans in this process. We have started a conversation."
Apester has been contacted for comment.