A bust-up at the beauty pageant ... over winner of Miss Popularity!
a beauty pageant turned ugly after the judges’ secret score sheets fell into the hands of a losing finalist.
charlotte Olsson raised questions over the results of Miss Dorset 2016 after finding a tesco bag full of the papers in her clothes bag when she unpacked it three days after the event.
When Miss Olsson, 21, shared her con-cerns with the other eight finalists in an online group chat, contest organiser Kelly Levell demanded she remove her posts and accused her of slander.
the furore centres on the contest’s Miss Popularity category, won by 16-year-old Stephanie Wyatt. She received 130 fewer online public votes than another contestant, georgia Lewis, pre-viously a finalist in Miss great Britain.
Miss Wyatt, from Poole, went on to win the overall Miss Dorset crown at the event at afc Bournemouth on May 21 before an audience of 150. She will now compete in Miss england.
in Miss Popularity, Miss Lewis had 669 online votes and Miss Wyatt 539. the
‘I was expecting to get the sash’
winner was picked after also taking into account how many votes the contestants received in the room on the night, with audience members filling out cards with the name of the one they wanted to win.
the bag found by Miss Olsson con-tained some of these cards. Only about a dozen were votes for Miss Wyatt.
When Miss Olsson, a former Poole carnival queen, questioned how Miss Wyatt won Miss Popularity, Miss Levell wrote in the group chat: ‘Please remove your post or i will be forced to report you for slander. the judges’ score sheets are not your property.’
Hairdresser Miss Olsson replied: ‘i can’t help it if they were put into my bag ... from the scores on the sheets it is quite clear to me that georgia Lewis should have won Miss Popularity.’
Miss Levell, 28, then posted that she did not believe someone had put the score sheets in Miss Olsson’s bag. Miss Olsson categorically denies taking them.
Miss Levell insists the judging was fair. She said: ‘the girls all got a score out of ten for how many votes they got in the online vote and a score out of ten for how many votes they got from the audience on the night. the two were added together to find the winner.’
She said the contents of the carrier bag may have been incomplete or could have been tampered with.
Meanwhile Miss Lewis, 22, who won Miss Bournemouth last year, has vowed never to compete in a pageant again.
the beauty consultant added: ‘i didn’t expect to win overall but i was expect-ing to get the Miss Popularity sash. i’ve got nothing against Steph.
‘But when things like this happen it makes you question how fair and square it all is.’ Miss Wyatt did not respond to the Mail’s request for a comment.