MISS WORLD MASTER CLASS

The Mysteries of the World Revealed

Part Two

Presented by Donald West,
Chair of the Department of Miss Word Studies

MAJORITY VOTE SYSTEM

To illustrate how the majority vote system works, let's take the example in the previous table in Part One, which showed how the points vote system works, and replace positions for points - i.e. 1 means first place and 7 means seventh place - Contestant #1 would have been declared the winner because six out of nine judges - a majority - had given her first-place votes. Contestant #3, who is placed second or better by 7 of the 9 judges, is second. The two dishonest judges’ choice, Contestant #2, is given third place ranking, which is reasonable, as only three judges considered her better than third place.

This system backfired at the Miss United Kingdom contest in Blackpool in 1963, after Diane Westbury won (pictured here on the left). There were to have been five judges, but one failed to appear, resulting in an even number on the panel. After the contest, an exhausted Eric Morley flew home to London while the other judges gathered for a drink. They happened to discuss among themselves who they had voted for, and discovered that none of them had given first place to Diane Westbury. Two of the judges had voted for a girl named Maureen Gay, while the third had selected a completely different girl.

One of the judges summoned the press and screamed, “How could Diane Westbury possibly have won?” Eric Morley had to fly back immediately to Blackpool, to defend his case in a public inquiry held in the Town Hall, presided over by the Mayor. It was revealed that Eric had been the fourth judge and had given first place to Westbury.

Morley produced the voting slips from all four judges. There were seven finalists and although Maureen had been placed first by two judges she needed an overall majority - 3 of the 4 judges - to win. Maureen’s other votes were a fifth and a seventh. Diane had a first and three seconds. Under the Majority Vote System if a girl did not obtain a majority of first places, Morley had to search for a girl with a majority of seconds. With a total of four Top-2 votes, Diane Westbury was the clear winner. The inquiry was satisfied that the contest had not been rigged. Eric Morley declared to the press: “It is my job to ensure that the Miss World contest is run honestly and without scruple and that is the way I intend it to be.” The Majority Vote System is still in use at Miss World contests.

After this experience, and especially after the Miss World contest in 1970 when Miss Grenada won with only two first-place votes despite Miss Sweden’s four first-place votes, Morley instituted a procedure in cases where no girl has a majority of firsts. Should someone has a majority after second- and sometimes even third-place votes are counted, and it is then discovered that another competitor has as many first placings or perhaps even more, the judges are then asked for a straight vote for first place between those two girls involved. Thus, a majority will have chosen the winner, even if it is on a second vote.

To understand this better, let’s take a look at the following table of imaginary vote placement results. Two of the five finalists each received three first-place votes, a third girl got two first-place votes and a fourth girl received one more. Five first-place votes are needed to win, but none of them got that total.

The first- and second-place votes of each girl are now added, and still none of them has a majority; the best showing were by Contestants #2, #3 and #4, each of whom has only four Top-2 votes. After the third-place votes are added, the results are suddenly interesting. Contestants #1 and #4 both now have the highest totals, seven Top-3 votes; #4 has more higher placings - one first- and three second-places in addition to 3 third-place votes, while #1 has three first-place votes in addition to 4 third-place votes. However, since #1 has more first-place votes, the judges will be asked to vote on which of these two girls should win. Therefore, the eventual winner will have done so by a majority. A potential scandal over #4 winning the contest with just one first-place vote will have been avoided.

Contestant #3 is placed third by virtue of having six Top-3 votes - two first-, two second- and two third-place votes. Contestants #2 and #5 have yet to have a majority of votes, so fourth-place votes are now added. Contestant #5 is placed fourth because she has 8 Top-4 votes, even if none of these were first-place. Contestant #2 had 3 first-place votes, but placed fifth because she had only six Top-4 votes, two less than the fourth-placed girl did.

SELECTION OF SEMI-FINALISTS - A CASE STUDY FROM 1984

To understand how semi-finalists were chosen in Miss World contests, let’s take a look at the 1984 pageant. During the period 1981 to 1987, the first five selections of the 15 semi-finalists were the highest point scorers from each of the five Continents, and then the next 10 highest points scorers from anywhere. On the morning of the finals, the nine judges met with each contestant twice. In the swimwear section, each judge selected 15 competitors whom they felt had the best face and figure and awarded them two points. The rest were given one point each. After interviews in the evening dress section, each judge again selected the 15 they considered possessed the most grace, charm, personality and behaviour. This 15 also received two points, and the remainder got one point each. If a judge selected the same contestant for both sections, that girl would show a total score of four points from that judge.

After these preliminaries, the first task was to select the high points scorers from each of the five Continents. They were:

It was obvious that eight of the nine judges had placed Miss United Kingdom among their Top 15 in both the swimwear and evening dress sections. The ninth thought that she was good enough in just one section, giving her a total of three points by that judge (including one point by not being on the other list). The judges were also nearly unanimous regarding Miss Brazil, eight of them having her in both sections, while the ninth judge had not included her at all. Miss Australia received perfect 4 points from six judges, 3 points from another, and was ignored by two other judges. Three judges liked Miss Israel enough to place her in both sections, another liked her in just one section, and five did not consider her at all. Miss Kenya caught the eye of a judge who placed her in both sections. Her four points by that particular judge were enough to make her the high scorer from the African continent.

The ten next highest points scorers rounded out the list of semi-finalists:

During the semi-final portion of the final judging, the judges concentrated on the all-around appeal of each of the 15 contestants and then each selected the seven they considered to be the most outstanding. In this case, the seven finalists were Australia, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela. Coincidentally, these contestants had been the seven highest point scorers in the preliminaries.

After the final interviews, the judges each marked the seven finalists in order of placements from first down to seventh, and the Majority Vote System then determined the final placements. We do not have the placements from each judge, but Miss Venezuela was impressive enough in the interview to bump off Miss Brazil as Queen of Americas and ultimately win the Miss World title. Miss Canada moved up from fifth place in the preliminaries to second place, and blonde Miss Australia (on the left, with Miss Holland) showed the best improvement, going up from seventh place to third place. To maintain the suspense, Eric Morley announced only the top three of the seven placings, continuing a tradition that began around 1960. His reasoning is that had he announced placements from seventh-place on up, once the first runner-up is announced, the focus would be on the winner and the runner-up would not get her proper consideration for having just missed the title. The remaining four finalists were given a special fanfare at the Coronation Ball immediately after the contest, where the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh places were announced and presentations made before a distinguished audience including all the other competitors.

A change in recent years is that a whole day is set aside for each judge to sit and interview each contestant individually. These judges make notes and select their best ten in one section for beauty, grace and charm, in a second section for intelligence, poise and personality and in a third section for figure and deportment. With nine judges in 1999 and their lists in three sections, there were a total of 27 Top 10 lists that determined the semi-finalists that year. The judges did not look for the most beautiful girl with the greatest figure, but the most beautiful of those with intelligence and personality. Reports are that for this year's 50th anniversary edition, all five Continental Queens will be automatically placed in the semi-finals, for the first time since 1987.

MISS WORLD - COMMONWEALTH FAVOURITISM?

Let us compare the numbers of delegates and semi-finalists in Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth groups for the last twenty years of Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss World pageants. Why just the past twenty years? Two reasons: 1) our data on semifinalists at Miss International is incomplete; and 2) twenty years of statistics are sufficient to represent contemporary trends.

In Miss Universe contests, it is nearly twice more difficult - 1.7 times - for Commonwealth representatives to get into the semi-finals than it is for the rest of the contestants.

The split in the semi-finals between the two groups at Miss International pageants is a little better. However it is still 1.4 times more difficult for Commonwealth contestants to get into the semi-finals than it is for the others.

At Miss World pageants, the split is nearly even between the two groups, indicating equal opportunity for all. One group is not favoured over the other. In fact, the non-Commonwealth representatives have slightly better chances of getting into the semi-finals than those do from the Commonwealth countries.

Majority rules at the 1962 Miss World Pageant - the judges listen to Miss Belgium's interview being interpreted. Bob Hope is fourth from the right.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• “Britain and Ireland, History of”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1982
• “Life”, August 13, 1951
• “Miss World - The Naked Truth”, Don Short, 1976
• “The Miss World Story”, Eric Morley, 1967
• “Vancouver Province”, July 30, 1951
• “Vancouver Sun”, August 6, 1951
• “Weekend” British magazine, June 21-25, 1961
• Various Miss World program books

All photos courtesy of Donald West.