Miss Pacific Pageant Scrutineer Sets Record Straight

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa -11 February 2025 – The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute of the Solomon Islands Accountant (ISIA) Pamela Naesol who was one of the Miss Pacific Pageant 2025 Crowning night Scrutineers has set the record straight following vicious accusations against the pageants head judge Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt.

The allegations, widely spread on social media pointed out that Leiataualesa tore up the piece of paper with the final results of the pageant night then handed the two MC’s a different piece of paper.

Naesol told In-depth Solomons, that there was no rigging or tampering of last Saturday’s results saying if anyone should do the rigging of paper, it would be her and her colleague scrutineer.

“I want to clarify that if the results were to be rigged, we would be the one rigging the scores because no-one has access to the results apart from me and my colleague,” said Naesol.

One of the two scrutineers Pamela Naesol, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of the Solomon Accountants.

She also corrected and clarified another false accusation that the scrutineers wrote the scores on a piece of paper.

“That is not true, we used a spreadsheet that automatically calculates and tallies the scores when we enter them,” she said.

She said that the process that led to the crowning of Miss Samoa as the new Miss Pacific Islands followed proper process throughout.

She said all went well and smoothly until the interview category where there was a tie between Samoa and Tonga,

Head judges voting right
Naesol told the In-depth Solomon that when there is a tie, the rule of the pageant states that when such an event surface, the head judge must be informed and he/she is the only one that can cast the final vote.

She said Leiataualesa voted for Miss Samoa giving her three points over Tonga’s 2 and the scrutineers then compiled the results into two different envelopes according to the categories.

One envelope contains the special award results and the other is the main awards result and it was Naesol that handed the envelopes with the results to the MC’s.

The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant Head Judge, Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt.

The Pageant aftermath
Naesol told the In-depth Solomon that she was approached by a female Tongan judge demanding to know why Samoa won instead of Tonga claiming three judges voted for Tonga and two for Samoa.

Naesol advised the Tongan lady to take up her issue with the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP) committee.

She said someone filmed the exchanged between her and the Tongan judge and she believes that video is being misinterpreted on social media and is the root of the allegations against the head judge.

Head Judge Deny Allegations
Leiataualesa through an interview with the In-depth Solomon denied the allegations directed at him that he tampered with the results of the pageant night.

A lawyer by profession he has been involved with pageants both locally and international and hold high regards for such an event.

“I hold the integrity of the entire Pacific Islands pageant show in high regard and I feel saddened by these false accusations,” he said.

Leiataualesa was detained for a few hours at the airport with a pageant judge from Vanuatu and were not charged for anything.

A tie in the pageant now new
A tie in the Miss Pacific Pageant is not new as evident in the Miss Pacific Islands 2006 hosted in Samoa.

The final result was a tie between Samoa and Cook Islands and the head judge was informed and the winning vote went to Miss Cook Island then.