Former Miss Barbados alleges Miss World 2000 was rigged in favour of 'unlikable' Priyanka Chopra

Leliani McConney claims that Chopra's win was favoured by organisers

Last month a controversy rocked the beauty pageant world. It was alleged by several contestants of Miss USA that this year's competition and the consequent result was rigged to crown Miss Texas, R'Bonney Gabriel. When Gabriel was crowned, instead of her fellow participants rushing to congratulate her as they usually would, walked off the stage instead. 

"A lot of the girls felt like it was the organization's plan from the beginning for R'Bonney to win, no matter who else was competing," Miss Missouri, Mikala McGhee, told Insider. An investigation has been set up since to get to the bottom of the matter. 

However, much to our surprise, another similar allegation has come to light - this time surrounding the 2000 Miss World, India's Priyanka Chopra. 

“I literally went through the same thing at Miss World. I was Miss Barbados," former Miss Barbados, Leliani McConney shared in a detailed YouTube video that has now gone viral. "The year I went, Miss India won. Mind you, Miss India had won the previous year (Yukta Mookhey), and the sponsor was also ZeeTV, an Indian cable station. Our sashes had ZeeTV on top and then the names of our countries. This is very familiar to me," she said in the video.

The former beauty queen went on to allege favouritism for Chopra during the pageant. "Priyanka got food in her own room, and she got large pictures in newspapers while the other girls were bunched together on a beach," McConney added. She also explained how Priyanka was allowed to wear a sarong during a swimsuit competition while others were not.

“Apparently Priyanka Chopra was using some skin tone cream, to even out her skin tone and it was splotchy. I did not say it was a bleaching cream, it was a skin-tone cream. It didn't work, her skin was blotchy so she did not want to remove her sarong. So during the actual judgment, she is actually in a dress,” McConney said.

She also mentioned that while a contestant cannot be blamed for getting special treatment, she also personally found Chopra ‘unlikeable’. “My only problem with Priyanka is that getting to know her in the pageant, she was just unlikeable. And she is Meghan Markle's best friend so go figure," she said.

Citing other examples, McConney said, “Priyanka Chopra didn’t even go to rehearsals, and she didn’t go to morning meals. It was brought to her in her bed. Priyanka Chopra had absolute press calls by herself, that nobody else went to. Nobody else in the Asian region, nobody else was ever called for these press calls."

She asserted, "During the contest before she won, she had these pictures of her walking on the beach. Meanwhile, we’re all grouped together in this sandpit. The designer who designed her gown also designed all of our gowns. Our gowns were basically mini bride gowns of her gown. And the gowns fit like crap, by the way. Her gown was immaculate.”

McConney said that when Chopra was eventually crowned the winner, the other contestants walked off the stage because of the unfairness. “It was so amazing that they had that solidarity… At Miss World, everyone knew that Priyanka Chopra was going to win and that it was rigged.”

The video was also shared on Reddit and Indians defended Priyanka for the win. “She is two decades, too late. There was a controversy back then over Priyanka taking Mother Teresa’s name as a living person in the year 2000. The Indian channels extensively discussed it. Except for that one error, she did great in all the other rounds. It was said she made up for that one wrong answer with the total points. It comes across like a sour grapes situation crying foul now, Miss Barbados,” read a comment.

“And then, Priyanka went on to become one of the biggest stars/actors in India and now shooting her shot in Hollywood and this lady is doing youtube. Guess the one who was actually talented won,” read another.

In 2017, Chopra spoke about her 2000 win in an interview with Elle. "I do think pageants are subject to a lot of stereotyping, and some of them deserve it too, but my experience with Miss World wasn't like that," she told the outlet. "It was focused on being a woman of substance - how well you'd be able to solve world issues, what kind of orator you are etc."

"It wasn't just about being pretty but being well-spoken and having compassion," she added. "At 18 all of those values being drilled into me taught me so much about the world. It gave me confidence and made me feel great about myself."

On the work front, Chopra will be seen in Citadel, which involves Avenger: Endgame directors. Chopra excited Marvel fans when she revealed she will be teaming up with The Eternals’ Richard Madden for a brand new series, reported Variety.

Citadel is set to be the second most expensive show ever produced, after The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Produced by the Russo Brothers and Patrick Moran, the Amazon series has reportedly overrun its already massive budget and may finally cost much above $200 million.

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