Miss Europe competition in Kyiv marred by scandal and walkout (09/14/97)

Miss Europe competition in Kyiv marred by scandal and walkout

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Miss Europe 1997 was crowned in Kyiv on September 6, the first time such a competition was held in a former Soviet republic, but not before the pageant was marred by scandal and a walkout by almost one-quarter of the contestants.

The incidents have led to more bad publicity for this young country attempting to push itself closer to Europe.

Ten beauties from the northern European countries of England, Wales, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark and Iceland complained to foreign diplomats of threats to their safety, and of poor food and accommodations after quitting the competition on September 3.

The Kyiv Post quoted a Swedish journalist on September 4 as saying that "several of the contestants were forcibly taken from their rooms and forced to dance with their abductors." The incident allegedly occurred the evening of September 2 when the girls were roused from their beds and told they should prepare themselves for an evening at a Kyiv casino and night club, the Red and Black. There they were forced to dance with strangers, which some have alluded to as gangster types. The next day the women failed to show up for a luncheon at the Provence restaurant.

Viktor Pensky, press attaché for both the Miss Ukraine and the Miss Europe organizations, told The Weekly that the norm was for the contestants to attend functions as a group and that it was highly unusual for only 10 to appear at an event, unless they went on their own. Mr. Pensky said he was at the Red and Black Casino on September 3 and did not notice any worry or fear on the faces of the girls there. "I don't know what actually happened, but I was there and the girls showed no signs of having a bad time. They seemed to be having fun," he said.

But, according to Omar Harfouch, president of Supernova Radio of Ukraine who helped organize the event, the women did not go willingly. "Two men broke into the room of Miss England and dragged her out of a shower naked," Mr. Harfouch told the Kyiv Post.

The Beirut-born businessman added that, "A judge from the competition and his friend from the Red and Black Casino went to the hotel at about 10 in the evening to get the women to go to the disco. When some of the women did not wish to attend, they got hotel security to open the hotel room doors, and in some cases they used force to get the women to go."

One of the French hostesses who chaperoned the girls and who did not want to be identified, said there were problems. "We made a small mistake in that we allowed some people to try to contact some of the girls late in the evening to invite them to participate in non-obligatory events. [The women] were tired and probably did not understand that the invitation was optional and not obligatory, so they may have become upset and misinterpreted the knocks at their doors," said the 40-year-old woman.

Mr. Pensky, the press attaché, said the female chaperones assigned to the contestants, who were for the most part from France and supplied by the Miss Europe pageant organizer, Mondial Events Organization, were ultimately responsible for the pageant participants. "The hostesses had control over the women," he explained. "They were French women who were divided among the girls by the language they spoke. Each was responsible for five girls."

Diplomats at the embassies where the girls sought shelter said the contestants who quit complained also of attempted break-ins into their rooms. Other contestants confirmed that there were knocks on their doors at odd hours of the night. Another problem of which the girls complained was low-quality food and quarters. "There were bugs in the food," said one Western diplomat.

But the girls who remained said that all the perceived problems were being overblown. Leonie Boom (Miss Holland) explained, "Everything is fine and there are no problems." She said that she thought the women left because they were feeling over-stressed and because they were having difficulty dealing with a Ukrainian cuisine to which they were unaccustomed.

The European press, and especially the British tabloids, blasted the handling of the beauty pageant in Kyiv. Britain's Daily Telegraph headline on its web page screamed, "Beauties flee the beasts of Kiev in Miss Europe row." "Ugly row in beauty contest," wrote The Star. The Examiner added, "Miss Ireland treated like a prostitute."

After the 10 girls quit the contest and sought shelter in their respective embassies awaiting flights home, Isabelle Darras of Greece was chosen Miss Europe from the group of 33 girls that remained. The 19-year-old is the 42nd Miss Europe. Alain Delon, the legendary French film star who is particularly popular in Ukraine, made the announcement at the Ukraina Palace of Culture to a nearly filled auditorium and millions of television viewers across Europe. Miss Ukraine, Natalya Nadtochey, 21, of Kharkiv, made the top 12 as a semi-finalist.

With all the controversy leading up to the pageant the odds suggested that the show itself would go off without a hitch. It was not to be. With all of Europe watching the live broadcast, production snafus occurred and there were awkward moments as the emcees awaited judges' results, particularly before the winner was announced, and when both hosts, not knowing what to do, walked off stage, leaving five finalists feeling visibly uncomfortable.

There was also the matter of an emcee who attempted to host the show using his very limited knowledge of English. In the interview portion of the contest, he attempted to ask Miss Italy if she could have anything she wanted what would that be? Instead, he asked, "If you could fly high, what would you do?" which confused her, momentarily.

Mr. Pensky said he was satisfied with how the show went off, - although not thrilled. "It went smoothly, even though there was disorganization at the end, he explained. "It should have been building to a crescendo when Alain Delon came on stage, but then we had the confusion."

Of the beauty contest as a whole he said, "I am not satisfied, No. I have been to the Miss Universe pageant in Miami, to Miss World in India. There was a high level of expectation. Here the problem was basically lack of experience."

Ukraine's botched attempt to show that it knows how to put on an international event already has some wondering how the country will fare next year when it plays host to the international convention of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with 4,000 delegates from all the countries of Europe scheduled to participate.

Roman Shpek, director of Ukraine's National Agency for Reconstruction and Development, which is organizing the convention with Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, attempted to distance their efforts from the Miss Europe fiasco. "I do not concern myself with such entertainment. The Verkhovna Rada has appropriated money for such a convention. Today, I remain optimistic that the convention will go off without any problems," said Mr. Shpek.

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