Miss South Africa 2017 pageant was held on 25th March 2017, and at the conclusion of the gala coronation, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned as the winner. While the world is rooting for this newly crowned Miss South Africa beauty, there is a new controversy that is cropping in.
According to the recent reports, a group of participants pitted allegations that Nel-Peters was favoured throughout the pageant. As per the sources, the contestants accused that Nel-Peters was groomed to win by being allocated a “Sun International-affiliated” trainer known as Werner Wessels. Werner is also said to be responsible for training former Miss South Africa winners, Ntandoyenkosi Kunene, Liesl Laurie, Melinda Bam and Rolene Strauss.
“Sun International claims that Mr Wessels has no influence regarding the winner of the pageant and that he serves purely as an external stylist to any girl who wishes to employ his services. However, Werner does more than just styling. Part of his package includes providing the girls ‘inside information’ throughout the journey to the crown,” the report read.
If reports are to be believed, Wessels admitted to working closely with Nel-Peters, but denied of having any contact with Sun International. Wessels reportedly said, “I worked only with Demi-Leigh this year, but this has been changing for the past five [years] or so that I have been working on the pageant. I am in no way contracted to Sun International and none of the things they are saying are true. I’m an independent pageant coach and professional stylist. I am passionate about working with beauty queens. I started working with Demi-Leigh when she was 16 years old.”
A voice note has been released, wherein the first runner-up Ade van Heerden alleged that she was offered to compete at the Miss World pageant, when she raised her voice against the foul play. In the voice note she is being heard telling another finalist: “We were not really smiling and stuff . . . I watched the video and I am like sh*t Ade, you have already rolled your eyes once when she got crowned.”
She further continued in the voice note: “People don’t know the whole story behind it, so they do think that I am bitter? My disappointment is not necessarily in the loss and I am not the only one that is disappointed, we are 11 girls that are disappointed that the wrong person won.”
Speaking for both Sun International and the Miss SA pageant, Claudia Henkel said, “The calibre of contestants in this year’s competition was exceptionally high and the contestants undoubtedly felt the pressure. As with many competitions, there can only be one winner and inevitably someone will end up disappointed, which is understandable.”