(CMR) As the Miss Universe Cayman Committee prepares runner-up Chloe Powery-Doxey for competition, pageant officials made it clear that they had acted on advice from the Tourism Ministry in what has become an embarrassing situation for the local beauty contest.
There continues to be public outrage that Tiffany Conolly, who won the 2022 title, was allowed to compete despite having several pending charges against her. Conolly appeared in court earlier this week facing six charges.
The Committee said it did not make decisions in its sole discretion, in particular for critical matters, and that this situation was no different. They believed the decisions were in the best interest of all concerned.
Not knowing if Conolly's court case will end in time for her to take part on the world stage, the decision has been made to train the first first runner. “Our succession plan has always been that if a reigning queen is unable to complete her reign or perform her duties for any reason, there is a first runner-up who is ready to assume the role,” the Committee said in a statement.
“The Committee will continue to execute what it has always been commissioned to do by the Ministry of Tourism, and that is to produce a pageant, empower and mentor young ladies in the Cayman Islands and not deny them the opportunity to participate as long as they meet the requirements. The current requirements are under review by the ministry. Additionally, going forward, the due diligence tasks will be the primary responsibility of the Committee,” it continued.
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