Confessions of a judge in the Mary Mehajer Miss Lebanon beauty contest
- Salim Mehajer’s sister Mary wins Miss Lebanon Australia
- Probe launched into how his sister became Miss Lebanon Australia
- Mary Mehajer has ‘nothing to fear’ from probe
I have a confession. It’s Sunday night and I am sitting at a long table with four other people in evening wear. From time to time young women walk past on a catwalk. They pause to turn slightly and flash us dazzling smiles before moving on.
I am a judge at a Lebanese beauty pageant.
The Lebanese community likes beauty pageants. The nine contestants are excited. Six hundred friends and family have paid money and turned up to support them. Five judges, the MC and crew also pay attention.
The winner is Mary Mehajer, sister of Auburn councillor Salim Mehajer. The Mehajer family is jubilant. They crowd the stage for photos.
Then someone in the crowd approaches the judges’ table. “We knew it was a fix!”
The next day unhappy contestants are in the news. One judge says he didn’t vote for Mary. Fair Trading is investigating. The judges must have been paid off.
So was it fixed?
You become a judge at this pageant by invitation. To avoid perceptions of favouritism the organisers only invite non-Lebanese.
The judges are a dentist, podiatrist, bank manager, author and manager. None of us is a professional beauty contest judge.
The pageant has three rounds: casual wear, swimwear and formal wear. Contestants are awarded a mark out of 20 for each.
In each round they answer a question pulled from a hat. For me, contestants score highly if they speak well and excel in business or study. And of course if they look good, especially in a swimsuit. It’s a beauty contest after all.
I don’t care if contestants are thin or plump. And I don’t care who they are related to.
I score Mary well on her answers and achievements. She is poised and presents well. For an 18-year-old, she is very assured.
Judges pass final marks to the scorer. Then the MC announces the winner.
Did Mary Mehajer deserve to win? Yes.
Three judges have gone public. One said he gave Mary low marks. The other two had Mary in the top three.
As long as the remaining two judges also had Mary towards the top, she would win. The competition was very close. In each round, only four points out of 20 usually separated my top scorer from the lowest scorer.
Were the judges corrupt? No. No-one offered me money and it wouldn’t have made any difference if they did.
I found out the names of the contestants when I arrived at the venue. I never met the contestants and still haven’t. The name Mehajer was familiar of course, but I didn’t know of the relationship with Salim until the next day.
And it wouldn’t have made any difference to my voting anyway. All contestants were judged fairly against the criteria I set.
The contestants all worked hard and looked good. It’s never nice to try so hard and not win. But there can only be one winner.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/confessions-of-a-judge-in-the-mary-mehajer-miss-lebanon-beauty-contest/news-story/242466bcf299ea52b0b40953634caf28
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