Former SVG was too physically, mentally tired to enter pageant

The only reason Miss St Vincent and Grenadines and Miss Carival 2015 DeYonte Mayers did not represent this country at the 2015 Miss Jaycees Pageant in Antigua and Barbuda was because she was physically drained and mentally tired by months of preparations for the two local pageants.

Furthermore, the request to have Mayers take part in the Miss Jaycees Pageant was somewhat out of sync, {{more}}as in years gone by, the person who placed second in the Miss SVG pageanthad always been the one who represented SVG at the Miss Jaycees show.

Last Tuesday, during a Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) press conference, chair of the CDC Dennis Ambrose said that after winning the Miss Carival pageant last year, Mayers was approached by the Beauty Shows Committee (BSC) of the CDC to take part in the Miss Jaycees show, but she declined.

The remark, which was broadcast live on national radio, spurred remarks on social media that Mayers was unpatriotic, but in response, a member of the team that helped Mayers to her double victory in 2015 said that the refusal by the former queen not to take part in Miss Jaycees had nothing to do with being unpatriotic.

According to Mayers’ team member, after months of preparations for the Miss SVG pageant, then weeks of preparing for the Miss Carival show, Mayers was mentally and physically tired and thought that she would not have been able to represent to the best of her ability.

“When they contacted her and asked her, she was physically and mentally tired; she was just tired….”

Additionally, according to an email published on social media, head of the BSC Cheryl Rodriguez, in an email sent to Mayers and her chaperone Kimon Baptiste on July 6, 2015, said “… the CDC’s policy is that is a queen wins both crowns MISS SVG AND MISS CARIVAL, we do not send them to MISS JAYCEES INT’L QUEEN SHOW in Antigua and Barbuda. We send the 1st runner-up in MISS SVG. We endeavour to send the winner of both crowns to MISS UNIVERSE, FUNDS PERMITTING. The CDC has no funds to offer for this participation.”

Part of Mayers’ recorded speech, played during her final walk at the Miss Carival show on July 1, 2016, said, “As I leave, I wait patiently for promises made to be fulfilled and the opportunity to represent St Vincent and the Grenadines at international pageants.”

This statement was taken by some to mean that Mayers’ was disappointed with her reign and that there was a rift between her and the BSC.

But according to chairperson of the BSC Cheryl Rodriguez, Mayers’ speech was recorded and heard by the BSC before it was played on show night and the committee had no problems with the statement made.

Last week, Rodriguez told SEARCHLIGHT that the possibility exists that Mayers will represent this country at the next Miss Universe pageant, but she may have to find her own funds to do so, as the CDC may have problems funding such a venture.

Mayers will soon issue an official statement.(LC)