A stylist for the Miss Lebanon Australia beauty pageant won by Salim Mehajer’s sister has revealed what really goes on behind the scenes of the controversial event.
Zooka Alameddine, 36, said she has witnessed bullying, ‘catfights’ and fraudulent entry attempts.
Ms Alameddine defended Mary Mehajer’s 2016 win, saying it has nothing to do with event being sponsored by her brother, the disgraced former Auburn deputy mayor.
A stylist on the Miss Lebanon Australia beauty pageant won by Salim Mehajer’s sister Mary (pictured) has revealed the inside story of the controversial event
Ms Alameddine defended Mary Mehajer’s (pictured, left, right, with brother Salim) 2016 win, saying it has nothing to do with event being sponsored by her brother, the disgraced former Auburn deputy mayor
Ms Mehajer won because she did not use Botox or face-fillers, Ms Alameddine said, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The stylist said she questions participants to thwart entry attempts by non-Lebanese women.
‘The first thing I ask is what village are you from?’ said Ms Alameddine, and revealed fake entrants are often given away when their accents don’t match their backstory.
Describing the pageant as ‘very, very gruesome’, Ms Alameddine said overweight women have little chance of winning.
Zooka Alameddine (pictured, centre, next to Mary Mehajer), 36, said she has witnessed bullying, ‘catfights’ and fraudulent entry attempts.
The stylist (pictured) said she questions participants to thwart entry attempts by non-Lebanese women
‘If she’s really overweight we don’t take her,’ the stylist said.
One 2017 contestant lost 9kg in the lead-up to the pageant, and participants are put through a gruelling bootcamp to get them in shape for the swimsuit segment.
There is one advantage to being a larger contestant, however, with ‘bigger girls’ spared the worst of the bullying, Ms Alameddine said.
‘The skinny girls don’t find the bigger girls the threat so they’re more than willing to help those girls. However they won’t help the other girls,’ she said.
Ms Alameddine made the revelations ahead of the Wednesday night premiere of SBS documentary Lebanese Beauty Queens (pictured is Mary Mehajer)
Controversy erupted after Ms Mehajer (pictured left, right) won the 2016 event when it was revealed her brother Salim was a sponsor
Ms Alameddine made the revelations ahead of the Wednesday night premiere of SBS documentary Lebanese Beauty Queens.
Controversy erupted after Ms Mehajer won the 2016 event when it was revealed her brother Salim was a sponsor.
The then-18-year-old’s sister Aiisha was also involved, sitting on the event’s organising committee.
The Mehajer siblings vehemently denied Mary’s win had anything to do with their involvement, but angry contestants slammed the pageant as ‘rigged’.
Ms Alameddine said rumours about rigging has become the norm, and there would always be someone claiming the winner bought their crown, she told SBS.
Ms Alameddine said rumours about rigging has become the norm, and there would always be someone claiming the winner bought their crown (pictured is the Mehajer family celebrating Mary’s win)
‘Just like in sports, when parents yell out at the TV that it’s rigged, or when a person achieves success and people want to undermine their achievement,’ she said.
‘The best way we can make the rumours go away is by highlighting the reasons someone won – that it was on their own merit and not because of their family.’
The stylist said some contestants are their own worst enemy, and doom their chances by using fillers or Botox the night before the pageant.
‘We like our pageant contestants to have natural beauty,’ she said.
Pageant founder Joe Khoury told Daily Mail Australia the judges are impartial and selected to have no links to the contestants.
‘All entrants must be Lebanese-Australian, and I’ve been running it for 18 years, I have never seen any fights between the contestants or anything like that,’ he said.
There is no suggestion from Daily Mail Australia that Mary Mehajer or any of the contestants pictured were involved in any alleged bullying, catfights and/or fraudulent entries.
The best way we can make the rumours go away is by highlighting the reasons someone won – that it was on their own merit and not because of their family,’ said Ms Alameddine (pictured are nervous competitors lined up before the 2016 event, Ms Mehajer in the centre)