Last week, Dominican Republic won the title Mr. Universe Model 2012 which was held in his hometown. One candidate claims the pageant was “unorganized and biased.”
Mr. Hawaii, Rhonee Rojas, a candidate of the Mister Universe Model 2012 that took place in Sto.Domingo, Dominican Republic last July 12, accuses the organizers for rigging the results of the pageant in favor of the host country’s representative, Erick Jimenez:
Mr. Dominican Republic placed 7th in the question and answer, 1st in swimsuit, 5th in formal wear, and 10th in organization. After all the scores were combined, Venezuela topped the leaderboard by getting the highest average score of 9.283 followed by Spain (2nd) and Argentina (3rd). Jimenez’s average score of 9.009 is only good for 4th position, however, he was declared the winner.
Rojas questioned the decision of the judges, who were mostly Dominicans, via his Facebook account. He also revealed that while locals celebrated the victory of their own Erick Jiménez, most other candidates walked away in protest and did not greet the winner.
Here’s a screenshot of Rojas’s Facebook comments:
This is just the fifth edition of the male pageant being hosted by the Dominican Republic and after this controversy, how can it attract more participants next year?
