Organizers of Miss Bikini Babes pageant offer apology

“We are women too and our intention is to motivate young ladies, build up their self-confidence and have them feel good, and not to bring them down in any way sexual or pornographic.”

This statement comes from the organizers of the 2014 Miss Bikini Babes pageant, following a call by the SVG Human Rights Association for organizers to make a public apology to the women of St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

In a press release dated August 7, 2014 and signed by president of the SVG Human Rights Association, Nicole Sylvester, the association declared that the Miss Bikini Babes show “brought the dignity of women into disrepute.”

“It is our earnest hope that photographs and recordings of this show will not be reproduced, because any further reproduction will only serve to pervert our society, which is based on Christian principles,” the release from the SVG Human Rights Association said.

In an exclusive interview with SEARCHLIGHT yesterday, organizer, Tika Robertson apologized to the entire nation, on behalf of the contestants, the trainer Joanna Christopher, and on her own behalf.

“We [are] apologizing for all the girls, we’re apologizing for ourselves. Even the people that saw the show and took it the wrong way, we’re apologizing to the whole of St Vincent,” Robertson said.

“We are really truly sorry if the show offended them, but it wasn’t our intention and we are so sorry and we will only learn from our mistakes.”

This year was the second year of the Miss Bikini Babes pageant, which features a judged introduction section, two sections of swimwear and a lingerie section.

In the lingerie section this year, contestants gave performances that were deemed too raunchy for audiences. However, the organizers insist that what was displayed on stage is not what the girls were trained to do.

“If you came to the show last year, [you would see] the show was never like this. It was very nice and it went smoothly and everything was good. This year it went out of hand, which we told the girls and we even showed them the tape of last year and they actually took it the wrong way. They tried to outdo one another, which we didn’t even know. It was a surprise to us also,” Robertson told SEARCHLIGHT.

Christopher, who says her role was only to train the girls to walk and to speak on the night of the show, also stressed that what was displayed at the event was not influenced by the organizers.

She also indicated that the lingerie section was to add difference to the show and not to exploit the contestants sexually.

“We’re not the only people who do the lingerie section. There are persons who did it; all in Barrouallie a couple years ago they had a show and they did a lingerie section. The purpose of the section was just to change up the show,” she said.

“I think even the night, which I even went up at the end of the show. You could have seen that I too was surprised. The statement that I made, it was shocking. When I train a young lady, I prefer to see class. You can take little things and make it classy rather than just going out there the way they did it and I felt bad.

“We can’t take back that night. We cannot take it back, but if we can fix it; we will definitely do that.”

Organizers once again expressed their apologies for what occurred on the night of the show and have vowed to ensure that nothing of that sort happens again.(BK)