In a tucked-away nook of paradise, overlooking the clear waters of the South Pacific, a cyclone of controversy was about to descend on Fiji’s Pearl Resort & Spa.
Standing on stage clutching a bouquet of flowers, 24-year-old MBA scholar Manshika Prasad had simply been topped Miss Fiji.
However quickly after, in keeping with one of many judges, issues on the magnificence pageant “turned actually ugly”.
Ugly is doubtlessly an understatement: what unfolded over the following few days would see magnificence queens topped and unseated, wild allegations thrown round and ultimately the emergence of a shadowy determine with a really private connection to one of many contestants.
Ms Prasad first discovered one thing was incorrect two days after her win, when Miss Universe Fiji (MUF) issued a press launch. It stated a “critical breach of ideas” had occurred, and “revised outcomes” could be made public shortly.
A few hours later, Ms Prasad was advised she wouldn’t be travelling to Mexico to compete for the Miss Universe title in November.
As an alternative, runner-up Nadine Roberts, a 30-year-old mannequin and property developer from Sydney, whose mom is Fijian, would take her place.
The press launch alleged the “appropriate procedures” had not been adopted, and that Ms Prasad had been chosen in a rigged vote which favoured a “Fiji Indian” contestant to win as a result of it could carry monetary advantages to the occasion’s supervisor.
A distraught Ms Prasad issued a press release saying she could be taking a break from social media, however warned that there was “a lot the general public didn’t learn about”.
The brand new queen, in the meantime, provided a message of help. “We’re all impacted by this,” Ms Roberts wrote on Instagram, earlier than thanking Miss Universe Fiji for its “swift motion”.
However those that took half within the contest weren’t glad: there have been too many issues that didn’t add up.