Miss Charm organizers under criticism for unusual announcement of results

During the announcement of the top 20 contestants in the final of the 2023 Miss Charm pageant on Thursday night, Master of Ceremonies (MC) Phuong Mai only read the names of 19 contestants. A few minutes later, Mai said that contestant Thanh Thanh Huyen of Vietnam was added to the top 20 after an exchange with the judges.

Meanwhile, another master of ceremonies, Quynh Nga, repeatedly said “the top 21 contestants would enter the swimsuit competition”, even though only there were 20 women on the stage. The announcement was by many viewers as confusing and unprofessional.

“Why did they keep messing up the numbers? This is confusing,” commented user Duc Linh.

For the announcement of the top three contestants, the organizers invited artist Pham Hong Minh to draw portraits of them on stage instead of calling their names. This was also by some viewers as lengthy and unnecessary.

Nam Anh, another user, commented: “All we needed are the names but they just had to make it complicated. No one needs to see that in a beauty contest.”

Vietnamese contestant Thanh Thanh Huyen at Miss Charm. Photo courtesy of Huyen

After the final, Nguyen Thi Thuy Nga, chairwoman of Miss Charm, said it was intentional that the master of ceremonies only read out the names of 19 contestants in the top 20. This is the script of the organizers to create a bit of drama for the show. She own that way each beauty contest has its own way to attract viewers and no should make any comparisons.

“This announcement was not an error or an accident,” she said.

Nga added that her team worked hard to organize the Miss Charm pageant after several postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic and after many investors asked to withdraw their sponsorship.

“Mistakes are inevitable during the process, but we have tried our best,” she explained. “After getting feedback from the viewers, the team sat down to discuss the shortcomings, learned from experience and found solutions.”

Meanwhile, the host of the finale, Phuong Mai, said that she and the other two hosts followed the script of the organizers. They left the last name off the list of the top 20, Thanh Huyen, for Mai to announce at the exchange activity with the audience to surprise the Vietnamese fans.

“As an experienced bilingual master of ceremonies, I have never made any serious mistakes in my career because every event has a script,” said Phuong Mai. “I just followed the assigned task. “

The 2023 Miss Charm, which took place Feb. 4-16, is the first international beauty contest organized by Vietnam. The winner was Luma Russo, 24, from Brazil, who got a cash prize of $100,000. Annabelle Mae McDonnell of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Olivia Tan were the first and second runners-up.