Would-be beauty queens expose what they say are the secrets and lies of the Mrs Vietnam Pageant.

No sooner had Hoang Thi Yen been crowned Mrs Vietnam 2009 than Tran Bao Ngoc began complaining and Doan Thi Phuong launched an aggressive campaign against the organizers.

With government authorities saying they will investigate the claims, and the contestants, Phuong has not backed down.

Attack letter

Doan Thi Phuong aired her grievances against the contest in a 5-point letter to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Mrs Vietnam Organizing Board and other parties involved in the event.

In the letter, Phuong demanded an explanation for a secret meeting of six contestants called by Mrs Vietnam organizers at midnight the night before the final event.

The meeting included incumbent Mrs Vietnam Hoang Thi Yen, second runner-up Dam Thi Ly, Tran Bao Ngoc, Duong Hoang Dieu Thu, and Hoang Le Minh Nguyet.

Phuong said she didn’t know why the meeting had been called. Both her and Ngoc said they didn’t understand the purpose but that it seemed like an English test for the participants.

Duong Xuan Nam, the former editor-in-chief of Tien Phong newspaper and organizer of 20 years of Tien Phong beauty contests, said that such meetings during beauty contests were not uncommon, and that contestants often misunderstood their meaning.

Phuong’s letter also claimed that Pham Hong Tham, a top-6 finalist and winner of “Mrs Congeniality,” was under the event’s height limit. Phuong insisted that Tham was only 1.58 meters tall while the contest required all participants to be over 1.60 meters high.

Phuong complained that she had asked many of the contestants whether or not they had voted for Tham and that only her roommate had said yes.

The letter also said that contestant Tuyet Nga had undergone cosmetic surgery, another disqualifier, according to the pageant’s rules. Phuong then asked why Mac Thi Thuy Nga had won the “Mrs Sport” title after failing to win a single game in the sports round.

But the last of Phuong’s assertions could possibly be the most damning.

She said she suspected that the money collected from contestants by the pageant’s organizers had not in fact been given to charity as pledged. She said its use had not been made transparent and that she was concerned it had been used “illogically.”

Counterpunch

Dr. Doan Thi Kim Hong, representative of the Mrs Vietnam Pageant Organizing Board said she was deeply disappointed by Phuong’s letter.

“I am hurt by Phuong’s criticism of the contest,” VnExpress quoted Hong as saying. “This affected not only the honor of the organizers, the jury and contestants, but the prestige of including the winners and myself as well… Lies like Phuong’s will hurt both herself and the country.”

She said Phuong’s complaints about Tham’s measurements were totally unfounded as Tham had been measured by anthropometry expert Tham Hoang Diep, whom she said had years of experience in the field.

She also said that the money collected from contestants had indeed been spent on charity activities in Vung Tau Town and that there was nothing unclear about this.

Hong added that Phuong had sent her threatening text messages after the finale but Phuong denied the accusations and said she had proof that she had not sent such messages.

He said, she said

The controversy surrounding Ngoc began on September 25, the night before the event’s final round, when her assistant told a reporter from Dat Viet newspaper that Ngoc had been enticed to participate in the contest by organizers who “promised” her a prize.

After she walked away from the event empty-handed, the Hanoi model told Dat Viet that she had demanded an official explanation from the contest’s organizing board.

“I’m waiting for the official answer… if it is satisfactory, I will accept their story. Otherwise, I will raise my voice,” the paper quoted Ngoc as saying.

Ngoc also said that ever since the final results were announced, she had been receiving flurries of text messages from Hong of the organizer board. She said that in the messages Hong tried to apologize and explain the problem. But Ngoc has yet to elaborate on the content of those messages.

Investigation

An official statement from Vo Thanh Ky, vice chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province People’s Committee, head of the Mrs Vietnam Pageant Organizing Board, said Phuong and Ngoc should be investigated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Public Security.

He said the problem must be solved to ensure that Vietnam’s international image remained unstained.

Responding to Ky, Phuong told reporters that she had not done anything to tarnish Vietnam’s international image, she had simply told the truth.

“I just want to make everything clear so that the contest can be better next year. I have no intention of making scandals to be famous,” Phuong told Ngoisao.net.

Asked about the investigation, Ngoc said she had no comment. But she said her frustration was reasonable.

Reported by Kim