Mr. Nawat faced criticism.
controversy with Mr. Nawat. At the conference, Sokunthea Im – Miss Grand Cambodia’s national director – said that the president of Miss Grand International (MGI) must take responsibility for the boat party that caused a stir in public opinion.
According to Miss Grand Cambodia, Nawat demanded to rent a yacht despite repeated warnings that the weather conditions were unfavorable, fearing that it would affect the safety of the contestants. However, Nawat reportedly still wanted to continue with the plan, so Miss Grand Cambodia was forced to agree because they were worried that the president would return to Thailand.
The Miss Grand Cambodia team then arranged the yacht with food and accommodation, but due to heavy rain, they had to remove the food and chairs to avoid getting wet. When Nawat arrived and saw the boat, the food was not prepared, so he arranged another boat himself, which was a tourist boat with only plastic chairs.
This leads to unsightly images, causing the contest to be criticized as cheap and like a fair.
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| Miss Grand Cambodia National Director and Cambodia’s representative at MGI this year – Sotheary Bee. Photo: @sokunthea_im_hk7. |
A day ago, Thaipost reported that Nawat responded to Thai media, accusing the Miss Grand Cambodia organization of being unprofessional as the host since the contest took place. Nawat assured that he had not eaten a single cake or drunk a single bottle of water from the Cambodian team and had to pay for it himself.
The chairman of the competition said that on the day of the sash awarding, although there was a plan to organize a red carpet and use luxury cars, things did not go as planned, he even had to urge to have a backdrop for the contestants to take pictures. During the welcoming ceremony on October 5, the Cambodian side was said to have announced that there would be an important guest and 400 fans attending. However, when the program started, there were only about 40 people. When Nawat asked about the guest’s absence, the Cambodian side said that this person could not arrive on time.
Criticizing the Cambodian team for being inexperienced, Nawat also listed many details showing that the team had problems. The climax of the conflict occurred after the incident on the boat. At that time, Nawat could not accept it so he revoked Cambodia’s hosting qualifications. Before that, the two sides were said to have talked and sought a solution but could not reach an agreement. Nawat also accused the national director of Miss Grand Cambodia of speaking loudly and the bodyguards of being aggressive.
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| Nawat speaks to Thai media on October 8. Photo: Thaipost. |
The contest currently has 72 contestants after the Cambodian beauty withdrew and the Costa Rican representative withdrew due to health issues. The candidates are in Bangkok (Thailand) to participate in activities. Sub-rounds such as closed interviews, swimsuit, national costume, fashion shows… will be held in the next few days. The final round of the contest is scheduled to take place on October 25.
