'Miss Asia San Diego' Loses Crown In Pageant Winner Mix-Up
SAN DIEGO (CBS) — A Southland beauty pageant has named a new winner after a mix-up that led to the wrong contestant being awarded the crown.
Questions about the results of the Miss Asia San Diego pageant first surfaced in late August when it was revealed that the recently-crowned Martina Lo may not have even been in the judges' top three list of contestants.
The Little Saigon Foundation subsequently overturned the result and awarded first-place runner-up Kristin Paruginog the crown.
A video uncovered by local ABC news affiliate reveals a woman yelling, "Wait, wait, no, no, it's the other way around" when the first-place runner-up was initially announced.
The mistake was then committed to paper after Lo was left off the judges' list of the final three contestants. Contest protocol dictates that whoever is not named in the list is the actual pageant winner.
Organizers claimed responsibility for the error and awarded the $3,000 scholarship and prize package to Paruginog.
