Before the finale, contestants had said that the glamorous week-long pageant – which featured a sarong parade instead of swimsuits, and traditional clothing instead of evening gowns – was not dominated by “rivalry or hate”. But those ideals were undermined after Litara Ieremia-Allan, the Samoan entrant, was crowned the winner ahead of Tonga’s Rachael Guttenbeil on a tiebreak vote at a packed event.
Trouble began after an initial tie between the Samoan and Tongan contestants, according to Pamela Naesol, an accountant from the Solomon Islands, who was appointed as a “scrutineer” of results.
After the results were fed into a spreadsheet, Miss Tonga and Miss Samoa were level – meaning the head judge Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt, a lawyer and hotelier from Samoa, had a casting vote. He picked Ieremia-Allan, “ultimately crowning Miss Samoa as the winner”.
Shortly after the results were announced, one Tongan critic accused the head judge of rigging the scores, in allegations stoked online by grainy footage that purportedly documented foul play. It quickly became a national crisis when the Solomon Islands responded with a temporary “stop notice”, preventing all judges from leaving the archipelago as the police investigated vote tampering.
Accusations were levelled at Brunt, who was among those stopped from boarding a plane at Honiara airport. He has insisted that he did nothing wrong.
“I hold the integrity of the entire Pacific Islands pageant show in high regard, and I feel saddened by these false accusations. It’s impossible for me to rig any scoresheets in front of thousands of eyes,” he told the outlet In-depth Solomons.
“Again, I really don’t know where the conspiracy and allegations are coming from. God is my witness.”
Naesol also told In-depth Solomons: “I am 100% confident that the process that led to the choosing of the winner of the 2025 Miss Pacific Islands was followed throughout the event.”
She added that once the results had been counted in a spreadsheet, they were placed in two envelopes and handed to the event’s host – one included the overall winner, the second a range of smaller prizes, from “best interview” to “best talent”.
However, after the verdict was announced, Ma’ata Mo’ungaloa Tupou, a Tongan judge, claimed that three other judges had actually voted for her nation’s candidate. Naesol told her to take the issue up with the organisers but stressed that she personally had seen no evidence of vote-rigging.
“I was the one who handed over the results to the MCs,” she said. “I want to clarify that if the results were to be rigged, we would be the ones rigging the scores because no one has access to the results.”
As the accusations heated up, the Solomon Islands Government stepped in to launch an investigation – and, in a move that provoked diplomatic scorn from their counterparts in Samoa, banned all judges from leaving the country. That “stop order” was lifted on Wednesday afternoon, but a police investigation continues.
On Thursday, the event organisers finally responded to the chaos that had ensued since Saturday night, stressing that the board “recognises and deeply regrets the distress caused by recent disputes concerning the results”.
Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt was one of five judges for the 2025 Miss Pacific Islands Pageant. Photo / Junior S Ami/Samoa Observer
Adding that the drama was against the “noble aims” of the event to promote unity, they said: “Unfortunately, these allegations have escalated to the extent of subjecting contestants to degrading treatment and issuing threats against the lives of certain judges, thereby detrimentally impacting the camaraderie and ethos of the pageant.”
Hoping to put the issue to bed, Guttenbeil said: “My sister Miss Samoa did so well ... as well as my other Pacific sisters.
“On the last day, the girls, we were sharing our thoughts … no matter what happens around us, we stand united, our bond is beautiful and should not be tarnished.”
She said that Miss Samoa was the rightful winner, adding: “Let her take her crown.”
Ieremia-Allan said she was “humbled, honoured and thankful”.
This is not the first time that a pageant in the region has descended into vitriol. Last year, the Miss Universe Fiji pageant made headlines worldwide when it was beset by accusations of racism, vote-rigging, conflicts of interest and “conspiracy theories”.
In Thailand, the Miss Grand International gala in Bangkok saw a row that reignited old rivalries, when the Myanmar team insisted their contestant deserved to be ranked higher than third. She was later banned from the pageant for life.
