Over 40 local participants took part in the annual Miss/Mrs/Mr Glamorous (MMG) Melbourne Beauty Pageant 2018.
This is the fifth year since its inception. This year, Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty was the chief judge for the event.
Contestants taking part in the pageant were charged $1000 for adults and $500 for kids as a participation fee.
According to the contestants, the fee would cover the costs of all outfits and give them the opportunity to meet and greet the Bollywood actress.
Facilities and food
Despite the great turnout, there are now claims of unfair treatment and mismanagement by the organisers.
Local participant Sidra Jutt, awarded Ms Attractive in the talent round, was the first person to post on social media alleging poor treatment of contestants.
In her Facebook post, she said that the event start time was delayed by three hours and they had been at the venue since morning without food or water, and no chairs or mirrors were provided in the changing rooms.
Sidra Jutt sharing her experience on social media Source: Facebook
While talking to SBS Urdu Ms Jutt told us "My two daughters were with me as well. 12 kid contestants along with their parents were in our small room as well. We were overcrowded."
“We were not given any sort of introduction to the audience before walking the ramp,” she added.
One of the event organisers Simran Sethi told SBS Urdu: “We told all the participants beforehand that no food would be provided on the main event day and asked them to bring fruits and water to stay hydrated.”
"Prior to the event last week at the talent run, brunch was provided to all contestants. They are my heroes I would never hesitate to provide them with food.
"If they contacted me from the venue I would have organised food delivery for them as I had for all previous training sessions. I did not receive a single phone call all day from the contestants,
"Every training session they were told the green room is small, as the venue had no more space. Contestants were also told to bring their own mirrors for makeup.
"The contestants were only asked to be in the green room from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm. They could use all the venue area beforehand." Mr Sethi said.
Past prizes
But the complaints about this year’s event reflect those of previous contestants, including 2015 MMG winner Ron Singh. He also claims he received none of the prizes promised in 2015.
“The venue was extremely small and there were no changing rooms for guys,” Mr Singh said on Facebook. “We were given nothing to eat the whole day.”
Ron Singh shares his experience on social media Source: Facebook
“This is not even the main point. I won the pageant but never got any of the prizes that were mentioned for the winners by the organisers.” he further mentioned.
The official MMG 2015 poster states that the winners will get to fly overseas to participate in an international pageant, opportunities to work in short telemovies, feature films, music videos and numerous other prizes and gift hampers.
Mrs Melbourne Glamorous 2015 winner Tripti Gupta also shared her experience about the 2015 event.
MMG Glamorous 2015 Source: Facebook
"The winners were promised a role in a short movie which was to be directed by Director Sandeep Raj,” Ms Gupta wrote on Facebook. “But promises were not kept at all. I tried to discuss it many times with the organisers who didn't pay a heed at all."
Harpreet A Singh, another contestant from the 2015 pageant took to social media and commented, "We were not provided with food, water or clothes. Had to purchase everything on our own. When I posted the issue on Facebook [one of the organisers] called and asked me to remove the post from Facebook and was telling me that my action is immature."
Xenia Anand, the winner of MMG Miss Australasia 2016, also took to social media and shared her experience.
"I didn’t care enough to make a post about [my experience] but seeing that other people are voicing their opinions and there are people that agree, I just thought I’d share my experience to potentially help someone not to fall for this in the future," Ms Anand wrote.
Tripti Gupta shares her experience on social media Source: Facebook
Harpreet A Singh shares his experience on social media Source: Facebook
Xenia Anand shares her experience on social media Source: Facebook
"I found that the organisers very rude and unprofessional. They would [...] make harsh comparisons, even jokes about contestants. We were promised professional photoshoots, and we ended up with photos taken by amateur photographers that looked far from glamorous."
"After I won I never received anything at all as advertised/promised, and when I tried to contact the organiser, he never responded. He deleted me from the group chat and ignored all my messages," she wrote.
In response to 2015 winners, Mr Sethi said “They were not promised the gifts they are claiming. We told the contestants before the event, that our affiliations did not mature in time and instead the winners were given cash prizes.”
‘I am not over the stress’
Software engineer Bharti Kundal recently migrated from India. She took part in MMG for the first time in 2018 to make new friends.
“I feel cheated and disgusted, being new in this country,” Ms Kundal told SBS Urdu. “I am still not over the stress and I feel like no one is trustworthy anymore.”
"When I initially called [organiser] Simran Sethi to participate in the event, I was told there are only two spots left. If I want to take part I needed to make the payment asap. Later on, I found out that new contestants were being added until the very last day."
"In my opinion, this event was a scheme to make money. When I tried calling the organisers to let them know about the unfair treatment, they hung up on me." Ms Kundal said.
Rachnna Mittal, one of the official makeup artists at this year's pageant, posted on Facebook: “As a makeup artist I worked from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm without any setup provided. No room, table, chair or lighting. I had to arrange it myself by requesting the venue.”
I was supposed to do the makeup of four models but ended up with extra work. The organisers also refused for us to get a photo with Shilpa Shetty,” she wrote
Rachnna Mittal shares her experience on social media Source: Facebook
Ms Mittal told SBS Urdu that "In the morning when I reached the venue, it was locked and no one was there. After waiting a while when I got access, found out there was no area organised for makeup."
"I did the show […] because I am a fan of Shilpa Shetty. The organiser promised that I would be able to get a photo with the Bollywood actress. When the time came I was not allowed to do so."
"There were no mirrors […] They would keep coming up to me asking who's going to do our makeup and eyelashes which were an added stress for me." she further added.
“I have been doing these events for the last five years very successfully,” organiser Mr Sethi told SBS Urdu. “The reason it happens every year is because of our hard work, efforts and dedication.”
Management and communication
More than five contestants travelled from interstate to take part in the pageant. Stephanie Bal came from Sydney to participate. She also expressed her views on the treatment by the organisers.
"I was never notified or communicated about any of the rounds prior to the main event,” Ms Bal told SBS Urdu, “There was a lot of miscommunication and mismanagement before the event. The organisers were never contactable, I had to find out from other contestants as to what was happening."
Stephanie Bal shares her experience on social media Source: Facebook
"We were told to be at the venue by 11:00 am. No one was there except for a few other contestants. Others did not arrive before 12:30 pm." she added.
In response to interstate contestants claiming lack of communication and mismanagement, organiser Mr Sethi advised “We have a Facebook group where all the updates were posted. If you’re not active in the group you’re bound to miss out on important announcements.”
Shirin Lakhani, a mentor, makeup artist and stylist of Ms Bal, travelled from Sydney with her. She believes the event was very mismanaged and unorganised.
"We arrived on Saturday one day before the event and were asked to go to the designers to try out outfits for the third round,” Ms Lakhani told SBS Urdu. “We were told to pay $50 upfront for dry cleaning, which had not been mentioned beforehand.”
"On event day, before the bridal round, when we opened the outfit bag passed to Stephanie the dress was unstitched. Another bridal gown was passed to her, in which the blouse was missing." she further added.
"It is not unprofessional that the outfits were not stitched or were missing items," organiser Mr Sethi told SBS Urdu. “The contestants were all sent to designers three weeks before the event to try out the outfits."
"If they do not act upon this how can we guarantee a perfect outcome."
When told that all contestants said that they went to the designers, Mr Sethi told SBS Urdu: "We also told the contestants if you do not want to wear designer outfits then bring your own. As the designers only provide what they have in stock."
