hey guys so a scandal broke out at the finals of Miss global 2019 pageant that
took place in Oaxaca, Mexico on January 18 the woman representing Colombia
Jesenia Orozco caused a scene on stage claiming that the pageant was rigged and
confronted a man named Ramiro Gutierrez who was introduced as a "licenciado" or
lawyer and the producer of entire pageant. Just to give you a little
background about Miss Global, the pageant was founded in 2011 by
Vietnamese-American Van Pham who is based in California and the title itself
is registered in the United States. Its slogan is "Empowering women, embracing
cultures and embodying the beauty within." It allows a wider age range and a more
diverse selection of qualified female participants between the ages of 18 to
35. "More diverse" means that a participant can be a single mother or divorced with
children and she does not have to reside in the country that she is representing.
Contestants may also compete more than once as long as the delegate has never
been an actual Miss Global winner. Jesenia Orozco herself was born in the
United States. The pageant also accepts delegates representing an ethnic
community such as Aboriginal Australia or Assyria. I base my summary of the
scandal on a raw video that was posted on YouTube by a fan who had attended
the event. On this video whose link is in the description box beginning at 46 seconds
you can see the male host introducing Ramiro Gutierrez and Van Pham. the owner
of Miss Global, to come to the stage. At one minute he tells the audience in
Spanish that they had just witnessed the announcement of 11 finalists which was
increased to 18 and then changed back to 11. He continued by saying that "We really
cannot allow this type of situation to happen and definitely not in our home.
Therefore, we are ending this event and we thank you for coming. Good night." Then
he tells the audience that the owner of the Miss Global organization, Van Pham, who is
also on stage, is fraudulent. This is when an angry Miss Colombia Jesenia Orozco
rushed towards the front of the stage starting
at 2 minutes and 42 seconds and interrupted Gutierrez and yelled that he
is the fraud, that the contest is a fraud, unjust, that he shows a lack of respect
for all the women who competed, that corruption is unacceptable. Then some of
the contestants started applauding her and embracing her. At 5:44 Van Pham comes
up on stage with a Spanish-speaking interpreter.
Apparently, the tabulators screwed up big time by not adding the scores from the
last two weeks including interview scores and the tabulators only based the
top ten on the final night's judging score. The computation error caused the
confusion and thus Van Pham decided to cancel the show. He allowed the outgoing
queen to do her final walk because her family was present, although we don't
actually see her do her final walk. He also said that he did not want to
compromise and thus he had to cancel the show. And even though he canceled the show,
he says again that he still loves Oaxaca. Then at 7 minutes and 44 seconds the US
representative who speaks fluent Spanish apologizes to the audience for what had
happened. At 8:18 Pham announces that because of the situation there wouldn't
be a final question round and that he would announce the top five right on the
stage. At 8:47 he says that the finalists "have to have their moment. They deserve
it. They've been here for two weeks.We
cannot walk out on them." At 9 minutes and seven seconds Australia is announced as
fourth runner-up followed by third runner-up Philippines, second runner-up Brazil,
first runner-up Peru and winner Czech Republic. This has got to be the tackiest
coronation that I have ever seen. Wouldn't you agree?
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As soon as she left the stage, Orozco posted these stories on her Instagram
account. One story is in Spanish where she describes her experience as a disaster
but that the local people are not to be blamed for the injustice, the corruption,
the lack of respect, and the lack of ethics. She also says that the sponsor
forced the Miss Global Organization to crown the Mexican delegate Palmira Ruiz
and that the winner from the Czech Republic, Karolína Kokešová is rumored
to have had an intimate encounter with someone working for the organization
although it's not clear if she was referring to a staff for Miss Global
organization or to a member of the Mexican hosting committee. Also one of
the coordinators left during a competition because she was disgusted by
the organization. "It was such a waste of time, money, and energy"
Orozco wrote. The other story is in English where she expresses her anger
for being shut down during her tirade and her disappointment with how the
contest was deceitful and corrupt She writes, "We have lost essence the
value of true things that matter. We've lost respect for each other. We have a
lot of humans and no humanity. Maybe I had too much hope in the world and still
live in a fairy tale that this world can become a beautiful, welcoming place."
Meanwhile social media is littered with postings from several Miss Global 2019
contestants venting out their frustration, anger, and disappointment.
I did a little investigation about the scandal and I got hold of three
directors whose names I will not mention who know Van Pham or who have worked with
him. Two of these directors said that Pham has a tendency to scam sponsors.
He made promises to them that he rarely fulfilled. When he took his pageant to
Cambodia in 2017 he failed to pay the staff of the Cambodian organizing
committee so to prevent having scandals, the hosts themselves paid the staff. He
might have scammed the organizers and the Philippines as well when the country
hosted the pageant in 2016. Thee situation in Mexico is ultimately the worst. I
don't know if you guys saw a video of Miss Global 2018
Sophia Ng that was posted on October 1st, 2019 on Miss Global's
Facebook page where she's given a VIP private tour of TV Azteca, the Mexican
network that broadcasts Miss Universe. The video gave the impression that Miss
Global 2019 pageant would be broadcasted by TV Azteca when the truth of the
matter is that it wasn't televised at all; instead it was live streamed via
YouTube but then YouTube blocked it due to copyright issue. The third director
whom I will call "Maria" told me that she had communicated with Miss Global 2016
Angela Bonilla and the outgoing queen Sophia Ng. Angela told Maria that she was
physically and verbally harassed by Mexican individuals who are associated
with the hosting committee. Angela was so scared that she left Mexico before the
finals Sophia on the other hand told Maria that the Mexicans tried to bribe
Pham to let Miss Mexico win but Pham refused, that the tabulators who I
presume were all working for Ramiro screwed up big-time by not adding the
scores from the last two weeks or interview score and that she and her
family had to move to a different hotel. Finally, she said that it was a
humiliating experience and as she felt robbed with the opportunity to crown her
successor. I also found out that the Mexican sponsors showed up with guns to
intimidate people because they felt that because they had paid for everything
Mexico had to win and they tried to manipulate the results. Pham refused to
crown Miss Mexico as she's "average looking" and when she did not make the
top 11 that was when all hell broke loose. Pham took the earliest flight out of
Mexico the following day, leaving the girls stranded in Oaxaca. He also told
Maria that he's now working desperately to clean up the mess and that the
Mexican host threatened him that if Miss Mexico did not win that "bad things would
happen". And a reliable source told me that Ramiro Gutierrez is
actually the lover of Miss Mexico and he bought the pageant to crown his
girlfriend. Pham knew this from the very beginning but for some reason he ignored
the sponsor. Woah, could this the reason be that Pham did not find the Mexican
delegate pretty enough or that the sponsor did not pay
all the fees to host a pageant? God only knows. Meanwhile, the Mexican
candidate is already contacting the American media to speak about the
scandal. And there you have it - the summary of the Miss Global 2019 scandal
that happened on January 18 in Oaxaca, Mexico. I am sure that there will be more
stories that will surface in the next few days, so stay tuned for part 2 of the
Trouble with Miss Global episode! See you then!