Stolen Production Limited, the pageant franchise which will be sending a Venezuelan national to represent this country at an international competition, came under heavy criticism during the Mister and Miss Grand International final on Sunday.
Not only was the franchise holder chastised for crowning a non-national, but it was also taken to task for what some described as a less than smooth show.
The final of the local leg of competition was held at the Banquet and Conference Centre at MovieTowne.
In the end, Venezuelan national Mileidy Materano was crowned Miss Grand T&T and will represent the country in Vietnam next month.
But several patrons left the final early following a comedy of errors in the staging of the show, adjudicated by Jack Warner and eight other judges.
The show began an hour and a half after the advertised 6 pm start time, with the young men parading in casual resort wear and self-expression.
The top five men were selected and moved forward from a field of 12 delegates with a question and answer segment. The show’s livestream, however, featured only female delegates and experienced a 15-minute delay, prompting another outcry from viewers online.
As the competition progressed, Materano, 25, parading as Miss Diego Martin, raised red flags among the audience when she requested a translator for the question and answer segment.
But Materano eventually answered the question in English without any help.
Moving into the top three, Materano was joined by Maria Ramnath (Miss Caroni Central) and Rebekah Hislop (Miss St Joseph).
A final question was given and Materano again requested a translator’s assistance.
At this stage, some members of the audience grew livid, jeering and openly shouting, “How can you be going to represent this country and cannot speak English?”
Born in Venezuela, Materano told pageant organisers she has lived in Trinidad for the past six years.
When asked the question, Materano’s translator translated from English to Spanish, but could not explain Materano’s response.
At this stage, Materano then attempted to rephrase her answer in English. Despite this hiccup, she was crowned minutes after. Some in the audience were less than happy with the decision and left.
Departures before
show day
Leading up to the show, however, several contentious encounters with delegates and management saw some delegates leaving the competition.
In a letter posted on social media, Samantha Neeranjan (Miss Caroni East) apologised to her sponsors for dropping off the cast due to a medical condition caused by “lack of sleep, training late hours at far distances.”
In the letter, she claimed she experienced chest pain and cold chills and collapsed on stage while the “coach” continued her training procedure.
Neeranjan, 24, claimed that despite the inhumane treatment meted out to her, she would still like to pursue a pageantry career under a different management team.
“I would give pageantry another try. This experience won’t stop me, but it was the worst experience ever,” she said.
At the end of the Miss Grand competition, Hislop and Ramnath emerged first and second runners-up, and Zerkiphe Francis and Prince Johnson were first and second runners-up in the Mister Grand contest.
Francis was named Mr Photogenic, Stephen Bravo, Mr Congeniality, and Nadeem Maharaj, Best Physique.
In the female category, Miss Congeniality was Hasanna Hosein, Hislop was Miss Photogenic, and Ramnath, Best Physique.
When Guardian Media contacted SPL’s head of administration, Solana Rives, she said Neeranjan’s case was looked into and they were informed she had health issues.
