Then Miss India Priyanka Chopra had been crowned Miss World 2000 in a rigged contest, a Barbados beauty queen has claimed.
Leilani McConney, who competed in the pageant as Miss Barbados, claimed in a YouTube video that a not so “nice” Priyanka was a little “pushy” given her “control” over the contest. She said the former Miss World was the only contestant permitted to don a sarong in the swimsuit round. The former Miss Barbados said Priyanka was “unlikable”.
Leilani also noted how Priyanka had been crowned Miss World in 2000, a year after Yukta Mookhey’s 1999 Miss World win. Yukta too, had represented India at the pageant. “The sponsor was Zee TV — an Indian cable station. The cable station sponsored the entire Miss World. Our sashes (featured) Zee TV and then our countries,” she said.
Leilani shared her experience at the “rigged” contest while citing allegations of Miss USA 2022 having been rigged. She has a little under 40,000 subscribers on the video-sharing platform.
India has an enviable track record at the popular pageant with contestants from the nation clinching the coveted crown six times over its history. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan broke the country’s decades-long dry spell by emerging victorious in 1994. Diana Hayden followed suit in 1997. Yukta won in 1999 and Priyanka followed in 2000. Reita Faria had first won the crown for India in 1966. Manushi Chhillar won most recently in 2017.
