Controversy breaks out over the win.

COME next month, Guyana will be represented by 20-year-old Britany Singh at the Miss India Worldwide Pageant in New Jersey, after she was adjudged the winner of the local Miss India Guyana Pageant last Sunday.

The event was held at the Mariott Hotel, in a judgment that was not well received by those who witnessed the event.
In a surprising turn of events, the aspiring accountant from the East Bank of Demerara was announced as having prevailed over 24- year-old Tihirih Boodhoo and the only other contestant, Abigail Mohabir, even as many in the crowd agreed Boodhoo performed better throughout the pageant.
However, Singh ended 32 points ahead of Boodhoo, according to the Miss India Guyana Organisation, which released the score sheet on it’s Facebook Page in a bid to appease some of those who felt the pageant was unfairly judged.
Singh ended with 931 points, while Boodhoo had 899, and Mohabir finished with 714 points, after being judged in six categories. The categories were “Online voting”, “Preliminary”, “Talent Round”, “Evening Gown”, “Interview” and “Indian Segment”.
Many referenced Boodhoo’s superior performance in the talent segment, as well as the question and answer segment, where it was embarrassing that of the three contests only Tahirih could come close to giving an eloquent answer to the question, which read: “My heritage, my home, how would you show case this message on the international stage”.
Both Singh and Mohabir faltered so much they had to ask for the question to be repeated. Mohabir was unable to muster any much of a coherent answer and even had to be reminded by head judge Derek Moore that she is in a competition competing to represent Guyana on the international stage, and cannot answer a question of how to showcase her country.
In her extensive, statistical answer Boodhoo said: “Guyana is a multicultural, multi-diverse, multi-ethnic society. The first thing I would do is say to them that they could head right over to Bourda Market, Stabroek Market, enjoy Guyana’s delightful, diverse cuisine offering pepperpot, cook up rice, dhal puri, chicken curry. After that I would explain to my guests, if they are a lover of arts, they would enjoy visiting the Castellani House which houses Guyana’s national art collection, from African, East Indian and our Amerindian heritage. Also if they are fond of the outdoors I would inform them about Guyana’s 275 waterfalls, the tallest being the Kaieteur Falls, a beautiful and majestic waterfall to see. Also we offer 885 species of birds, if you’re interested in bird watching you can head over to the Safari, enjoy horseback riding, as well as rodeo. My country is a beautiful country, we have more than six races, each of us not focusing only on just ourselves, but the cooperation, and unity of all of us. I believe that, I would recommend my country to any person, in any part of the world. Thank you.”

In Singh’s almost two minutes she started out rocky, but managed to pick herself up, somewhat, after asking to have the question repeated, rebounding by speaking about the Indian culture, but also confusingly stated that it “is something not many persons know of, however it is known worldwide”.
In the talent segment Boodhoo’s performance had four different pieces of dances, and also included her singing and playing the guitar. Many were impressed how she incorporated aspects of Guyana into her talent piece. For her part Singh did a dance, while Mohabir’s talent performance involved playing the violin.
As the announcement of Singh’s win divided the audience who began to put forth there assessment of what went on. Media Personality, Joel Ghansham, was not to be pacified, and let everyone who would listen know just what he thought. And it was not pretty.
“I am in utter shock. I am shocked, shocked, shocked! I come from the international stage, I know what goes on at the out there, you will see what will happen, we will again fail. I listened to all the contestants and I have no bias but Tahirih Boodhoo she delivered. She was articulate, she was on point, she has presence, from her outfit, her talent was superb and I don’t understand how the winner, who messed up in her talent, messed up in her speech, they had to repeat the question again, and yet she could not answer it. I don’t understand how they came up with the winner, I just don’t.” Ghansham expressed.
The organizer, and judges, however remained unfazed, and maintain that the pageant was fairly judged and awarded. Franchise holder, Uma Bux, defended the decision, noting that the young ladies were not only being judged by what was seen on pageant day, but were being reviewed in every activity they participated in since they entered the pageant.
“The judges’ decision is final, it was a fair judging, I can tell you that for sure, because all of our judges stand for integrity and principle. The girls were not only judged on what they performed today, they were judged from previous segments as well, and they were being judged from the first day they entered the competition, so all of that factored in to having the final queen.” Bux said
She was backed by fellow judge, Jason Shurland, who noted that the pageant was focused on identifying the most all rounded candidate, not just the one who could perform well in a few segments of the competition.