Teen beauty queen left disappointed at prizes

Jana Hurst. Photo / Supplied

Relations between the organiser of a teen beauty pageant and the winner have turned ugly after a row about prizes.

Fifteen-year-old Jana Hurst of Rodney, north of Auckland, expected a designer bag and necklace after taking the Miss Teen Christchurch crown in April. She was invited to compete by organiser Barbara Osborne, who approached her through online talent directory Star Now.

Jana's family paid the $250 entry fee and say they spent thousands of dollars on flights, accommodation and other expenses during their five-day stay in Christchurch.

She won, but instead of the Louis Vuitton bag and black pearl necklace she was expecting, she was presented with a Farmer's makeup kit still bearing the $39.95 price tag.

Jana said all the contestants competing the Miss Teen Christchurch and Miss Christchurch titles bestowed at the pageant, were taken to a jewellery store by Osborne and a judge, shown the necklace and told both winners would get one. Two other contestants confirmed the store visit and said they also expected the Miss Teen Christchurch winner to receive the bag and necklace.

"I'm so disappointed with how it all turned out," Jana said.

Osborne said she'd been organising pageants around New Zealand for three years and denied Jana missed out on prizes. The necklace was a sponsored gift for Miss Christchurch.

Osborne said the girls were told there was a possibility of a Louis Vuitton bag, but it was never confirmed. "There was nothing to say it was going to happen, I was just giving an update."

She said all the contestants received goody bags donated by local businesses. "These girls are just so ungrateful if they said they didn't receive anything."

Jana was also unimpressed with the way the contest was run. She flew south with her mother Glenys and family friend Tania Bennett, winner of Miss Universe New Zealand in 1984.

Glenys said they paid $50 for tickets to the final and were disappointed to find it was a low-budget affair in a hotel conference room. "When I got down there I thought, 'Oh my God, what have I got my daughter into?'," Glenys said. "I was devastated."

Bennett said the contestants were earlier interviewed at a backpackers where the judges were staying, in a common area while tourists wandered past. "If pageants have gone down to this level, then I can see why they get a bad name."

Osborne supplied an email she received from Jana the day after the event. In it, Jana says she is looking forward to working with Osborne again and that she had a "fantastic time".

Osborne also supplied comments written by Jana on Star Now which says the competition was "amazing".

Jana confirmed she had written both messages but says she was asked to write the email by Osborne. "I didn't want to be all moany and stuff and say I expected more because she had just given me this opportunity."

Osborne did not respond to requests to discuss this. Earlier, she said she had had only positive feedback about the pageant but would book a better venue next year.

She had struggled to attract contestants from Christchurch and said there was nothing unusual about approaching girls through the internet. She understood Jana had registered her interest through social networking site Bebo before being contacted through Star Now.

Molly Spiteri, choreographer for Osborne's Wanganui shows, said the teenagers didn't understand how pageants work. "Barbara is a very well-respected lady, and she puts in 100 per cent. This generation has got pretty high expectations, and it wasn't about the gifts, it was about the experience."

Aucklander Chelcie Cookson, 17, was also invited to compete by Osborne through Star Now. "We left thinking 'what did we get out of it?"' she said. "It was an experience, but not a very good one."

Osborne's daughter Chandra, who helped judge the pageant, said her mother lost about $5000 on the show.

"We do it to get girls opportunities and to get them out there," she said. "At the end of the day we've got nothing to hide, the competition was run properly and run fairly."