AN INSIDE JOB

Miss Universe Judge Quits Claiming Contest Has Been Rigged

The Miss Universe judge made the bombshell claims as he resigned, saying he refused “to be part of this charade.”

A judge for this year’s Miss Universe pageant has dramatically resigned just three days before the contest begins in Thailand, alleging the results are corrupt. On Tuesday, Lebanese composer Omar Harfouch took to his Instagram Story to share that he was “profoundly confused and concerned” after learning from social media that an “impromptu jury” had already decided the pageant’s top 30 finalists despite the contest not starting until Nov. 21. The former judge claimed that the selection of the finalists from the 136 represented countries were made without the “real” eight judges. “The results of this selection are currently being kept secret,” as the jury is made of officials with “potential conflict of interest due to some [personal] relationship.” The alleged group includes people “responsible for counting the votes and managing the results.” Harfouch claimed that when he made the officials at the organization aware of the “preliminary selections,” they rushed to post “a list of names associated with the selection” on Instagram; but failed to include “the [roles] played by these [individuals].” Following a conversation with the organization’s CEO, Raul Rocha, Harfouch resigned and refused “to be part of this charade.” The Miss Universe Organization denies these claims and tells fans, “evaluations continue to follow the established... protocol.”