Beauty pageant contestants stage walkout in judges row

In a bizarre incident, a group of male beauty pageant contestants staged a walkout on Monday after claiming that the judges at the event were “of no great standards”. Sources said eight out of the nine contestants at the finals of the Bahrain leg of Manhunt International 2019 boycotted the event after complaining against the judges, who according to them had no proper background to judge their capabilities at the contest.

It is learnt that except Omar Al Mohammed, an international model and a judge at similar competitions, other members of the jury were from diverse backgrounds. Speaking to Tribune, Mr Omar said he was surprised to find that other judges had no previous background or prerequisites to judge the contestants. “This is ridiculous. One of the judges is a journalist here, while another works for an oil company.

The third one worked for a cosmetic brand and the remaining also had nothing to do with modelling or fashion industry.” Contestant Belal MoHammed, 22, said he staged the boycott after getting dispirited. “It is a grave injustice to us, who have been investing days or months of hard work into the competition. How are these judges going to evaluate our skills without having any knowledge on fashion or modelling?” Echoing a similar view, another contestant Waqas Saleem, 20, said his months long hard work ended in vain as he had to boycott the event.

“From costumes to fulfilling other elements of the competitions, we have been working day and night. We are here because of our passion and this was nothing but killing our passion.” On the flip side, Tribune contacted Mr Paulo, one of the organisers of the beauty pageant, who dismissed the allegations as baseless. “It is the prerogative of the organisers to choose the judges for any contest. I agree that the judges at the contest have diverse background, but this was done intentionally.

We believe that the judges should be from diverse backgrounds to evaluate the X-factor in a contestant. “Moreover, the name of the judges were informed to the contestants in advance. The finals have been postponed and we will hold it again after consulting with stakeholders.” Manhunt International is an international male beauty pageant which began in 1993.

The pageant was conceived by Metromedia Singapore and Procon Leisure International. Manhunt International is organised to promote new faces for the male modelling and fashion industry. The men that enter Manhunt International are also encouraged to become role models and good corporate citizens for younger people to look up to.