The Miss Hong Kong 2022 pageant (香港小姐競選) came to a close on 25th September. And as with any competition, some, like Miss Hong Kong champion Denise Lam (林卓錡), delighted in the results, while others were left disappointed. However, as it turns out, the competition wasn’t all smooth sailing.
This year, some participants apparently struggled with the Cantonese language and accents. As they were getting dragged by the media, former Miss Hong Kong 2021 participant Wynn Kong (江婉穎) decided to step in. She recently released a video chiding people for being too harsh on the girls!
Apparently, most of the participants this year came from Mainland China. As such, several of them struggled to communicate in Cantonese and had to ask the emcee for help during the competition. For instance, one of the top five contenders, Astrid Xu (徐麟) had to ask the emcee to repeat themselves as she couldn’t understand the question.
Needless to say, netizens were quick to judge and criticise the girls. However, a former participant from Miss Hong Kong 2021 was equally quick to defend them. Wynn explained in her video that while entering the competition was easy, staying in it wasn’t. According to Wynn, you simply needed someone to nominate you into the competition. However, afterwards, it was all you.
The girls would allegedly be evaluated from the beginning of the competition till the end. Wynn shared that TVB executives and Eric Tsang would judge their appearance before moving on to testing their manners and pronunciation of Cantonese. Additionally, the media too would add in their two cents during the press conference. Wynn shared that during the previous pageant, one participant was asked if she came from the “countryside” (referring to Mainland China in Cantonese). However, that was not explained to her.
Wynn herself hadn’t stayed in the competition for long. In fact, she had withdrawn shortly after the competition started. Wynn explained that some body shapes were not what the judges wanted. They had apparently criticised a participant for being “too fat” and told her to lose weight.
The competition also required the girls to not have individual arrangements with other companies. However, as many of the girls were influencers and the like, they were required to terminate their contracts to join the pageant. But, Wynn pointed out that TVB’s contract period was long with a low starting salary. As such, it wasn’t ideal for her.
The former beauty queen later added to her words on her Instagram Story. “When I woke up, I saw that (people) had sent me links to (warn) me about what the media was saying. But, my entire video stated my real opinion,” she said. “The competition and players should have been a two-way choice.” Wynn suggested letting participants withdraw voluntarily if the competition didn’t suit them. She also urged people to be kinder about the language issue. “Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to be harmonious and help each other?” she asked.
However, netizens seemingly do not agree with Wynn. Several pointed out that knowing how to speak Cantonese was expected. “(Isn’t) the point (of Miss Hong Kong) to represent Hong Kong?” one asked.
Well, there’s no denying that beauty pageants have always had high demands for their participants. However, this isn’t the first time the venerated competition has been criticised. Miss Hong Kong was also recently scrutinised for its bikini section.
Sources: Yahoo!News, 小红书
