Miss World Bangladesh result manipulated during announcement, judge alleges

A judge in the Miss World Bangladesh 2017 competition has alleged the result of the contest was manipulated during the announcement and the girl declared the winner was not the judges' choice.

Jewel Aich Jewel Aich

Shampa Reza Shampa Reza

Actress-singer Shampa Reza, one of the six members of the judges' panel for the contest in Bangladesh, told bdnews24.com on Saturday night that the winner, Jannatul Nayeem Avril, was not among the two nominees on her list.

"My list had no similarity with the results announced. There were two nominees on my list, but the winner was not among them," Shampa Reza said.

"All the judges were of the same opinion.”

The other five members of the judges' panel were magician Jewel Aich, fashion designer Bibi Russell, photographer Chanchal Mahmood, corporate personality Rubaba Dowla and IT personality Sonia Bashir Kabir.  

The winner of the competition will represent Bangladesh for the first time in the Miss World contest in November.

A newspaper reported, citing two of the judges without revealing their names, that the first runner-up of the contest, Jessia Islam, was the judges' choice as the winner, but Avril's name was announced instead.

Jewel Aich told bdnews24.com that he would comment on the issue on Sunday as the organisers sought more time from him.

Jewel Aich

Antar Showbiz and Omicon Entertainment organised the contest to pick Bangladesh's representative for the Miss World 2017 pageant at Bashundhara Convention Centre in Dhaka on Friday. The final round is scheduled to be held in China in November.

Shampa Reza said she was introduced to the organisers just before the final on Friday.

"They are people of our country. I don't want anything bad to happen to them. But I also want no wrongdoing. As the winner is going to an international contest, shouldn't she be picked carefully?" she asked.

When contacted for his comments regarding the allegation brought by the judges, Antar Showbiz Chairman Shapan Chowdhury told bdnews24.com: "There is no scope for confusion here. As the organiser, I will deliver the judgement. It is I who have spent the money to appoint the judges."

Shampa Reza

"And I have appointed internationally renowned judges. There is no scope for me to influence them. Jannatul Nayeem has won in their judgement," he added.

He also said it was "unfortunate to create confusion about a programme of international standards”.   

He argued that the result of the contest depended on the total marks given by all the judges, not by some of them.

He also said Indian presenter Sheena Chowhan made a mistake while announcing the name of the winner because of the similarities in the names of two contestants.

"Such mistakes also occurred during Oscar and Miss Universe contests. We are sorry for this. But this is the final result. There is no scope for confusion.”