Debate rages over the perfect body

AN overweight problem was one of many reasons for which Miss Universe franchise holder, Peter Elias and Associates, sought to dismiss Cheryl Ankrah and select a new delegate to replace her at the pageant. This was one of the submissions made by the company’s attorney Andre des Vignes before Madame Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy at the Port-of-Spain Assizes yesterday. The beauty queen and the company are locked in a legal battle over Ankrah’s eligibility to represent this country at the Miss Universe pageant in Thailand on May 31. The company has an April 1 deadline to submit the name of the delegate.

On February 19, Ankrah was granted an ex-parte injunction preventing the company from replacing her. Elias and Associates is seeking to have that injunction discharged and to prevent her from obtaining a mandatory injunction which would order that she be sent to the pageant as this country’s delegate. According to des Vignes, Ankrah had misled the court into thinking that the major issue had been her failure to attain “the perfect body.” He said Elias had brought to Ankrah’s attention that she had no projection on stage, had bad posture, a weak walk, spoke in a low, muffled voice, had no facial expression, was unable to apply make-up, was not warm and outgoing, was overweight, and her body was not toned and firm.

Des Vignes said Ankrah had been told it was imperative for her to work with her facilitators on these areas, yet she had only attended the necessary classes a few times. In addition, the attorney said, the beauty queen knew she was supposed to report to Elias once every week so he could monitor her progress. Instead, she avoided his calls and other attempts to contact her. Des Vignes referred to several e-mails which had been exchanged between Elias and Ankrah for several months, in which Ankrah accepted the blame for not taking her preparation for the pageant seriously.

Des Vignes said although the unprecedented situation was unfortunate, it would be unfair for the court to grant Ankrah a mandatory injunction because she could not prove that she would win a trial after the pageant. Also, he said a trial after the pageant would be worthless because there would be nothing to fight for and Ankrah would have had her way. While he admitted that Ankrah was a beautiful woman, he pointed out that there were other criteria to be met as outlined in the judges’ rules. “If it was just a matter of visual, I would say send (Ankrah’s attorney) Miss (Denyse) Gouveia,” the attorney teased. Des Vignes also submitted that if the existing injunction was discharged, Ankrah should be ordered to pay costs. When hearing resumes today, Gouveia will respond to des Vignes’ submissions.