Lying on marriage, beauty eliminated hours before finale
Monday, August 27, 2012, 12:49 GMT+7
Though it ended on August 25 with the triumph of Dang Thu Thao, the Miss Vietnam 2012 contest has continued drawing public attention for its decision to eliminate a contestant only five hours before the grand finale.
21-year-old contestant Vuong Thu Phuong was eliminated from the pageant right before the grand finale for her lying about her marriage condition. Before the final night, Phuong was considered a potential favorite for the crown. However, a few days before the finale, she raised eyebrows over her marriage status after photos showing her wedding were leaked on the Internet.
According to the contest’s organizing board, the pageant’s regulations require contestants to be unmarried and Phuong was eliminated since she violated the rules and lied about her marital status.
The organizers said after the photos were leaked, they had worked with Thu Phuong and she denied that she was married, claiming that the photos were fake and photoshopped.
When she applied for the contest, Phuong also submitted a document confirmed by the People’s Committee of Dong Da District’s Van Chuong Ward in Hanoi, where she resides, that she had not registered for marriage. Still, on August 23, after investigating, the contest’s organizers found that Phuong had held a wedding ceremony with her husband, photographer Bui Huy Phuong, in 2010 without a marriage registration.
Two day later, the organizing board decided to eliminate her from the pageant.
“We organize the beauty pageant to honor Vietnamese women’s outer and inner beauty. Miss Vietnam 2012’s organizing board sees that the dishonesty of contestant Vuong Thu Phuong was inappropriate with the contest’s criteria,” the organizers stated in a press release.
“Besides, allowing a contestant who didn’t register for her marriage, but had a wedding and has lived with her partner, to participate could be considered support for men and women to live together without legal marriage registration. That’s a lifestyle which the content’s organizing board and the public don’t advocate,” they added.
