Miss Asia 2008

As you may or may not know, there is a recent controversy about the Miss Asia 2008 pageant (it was even mentioned on the front page of some local newspapers). First off, some background.

Apparently, the Miss Asia 2008 pageant was different from other beauty pageants in that the winners were not decided by a panel of judges. Instead, viewers from around Asia were allowed to call in and vote for the winner. The beauticious and multi-talented lady with the most votes would be crowned Miss Asia.

This is, of course, a good change. Instead of the winner being someone who can bang the most lecherous old men judges, you now have the much harder task of trying to bang the most members of the public instead. Only j/k!!! :)

What happened next is obvious - 1.3 billion votes later, Ms Eunis Yao of HK wins.

Wait, what? Someone from HK won? Wasn't anyone from mainland China watching (or voting)?

Well, actually, it turns out they were. Apparently, the voters mere "mainland dominated" (surprise!!) and the fact that a HK girl won "raised eyebrows" (I guess they were expecting a winner from mainland China). The end result is that an independent body has been setup to review the voting tally and investigate the discrepancy.

What I can't believe is that this is actually news. I mean, come on!! Is anyone taking this pageant seriously?

This is a "beauty" pageant for which the participants are representing different countries in Asia. The winner of said "beauty" pageant is determined by votes from viewers in those different countries in Asia. Considering that China has 1.3 billion people, the obvious conflict of interest is so glaring that I can't believe this judging format was actually approved. Does anyone actually believe that the majority of mainland Chinese won't vote for someone from China or at the very least, for someone who looks Chinese? The very fact that a non mainland Chinese girl was the winner was what initially raised eyebrows should tell you all you need to know about the integrity of this "beauty" pageant.

If this is how pageants are run these days, you might as well just give the crown to a girl from mainland China and save yourself the time and money in running the bloody thing...