Until now, the banner on the the Miss World pageant website says “Vietnam 6th November 2010″, which means that Vietnam is still the official location for the 2010 pageant. And fans of beauty contests have been exited that that both Miss World and Miss Earth pageants will be taking place at the same country on the same month. However, due to much troubles over the last few days, there has been rumor that the Miss World 2010 may be moved to Sanya, China, where the pageant were hosted for 4 years – from 2003 to 2005 and in 2007.

It has been said that “Miss World is not Miss World without controversies”. Since time in memorial, this London-based pageant has been plagued by scandals. The 2010 edition is not an exception. The pageant has not even started yet but it is already drawing the attention of pageant fans worldwide.

The first trouble was that the main sponsor of Miss World pulled out because of a dispute on the venue. Two provinces, Tien Giang and Khanh Hoa were caught in the middle of the dispute. RAAS, a pharmaceutical company, is providing USD 10 million for the pageant and they wanted it to be held in the Province of Tien Giang. However, the government of Vietnam through its Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved the pageant to be held in the province of Khanh Hoa, in Nha Trang City.
Since this is the decision of the government, Mr. Hoang Kieu, the president of RAAS company can’t do anything so he willingly gave up the right to organize the Miss World 2010 to Khanh Hoa Province.
The problem came when the Province of Khanh Hoa announced that it is not willing to spend USD 10 million just to sponsor the pageant. No one from Khanh Hoa can afford to shell out the amount needed to host Miss World 2010. In another development, Hoang Kieu and the RAAS company will instead seek the permission of the Vietnamese government to host Miss World 2011 or 2012.
And this week, the Performance Arts Agency has proposed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism not host the Miss World 2010 pageant in Vietnam.
According to the agency, Vietnam has many great anniversaries this year and it is not a favorable time to organize the Miss World pageant. Moreover, Khanh Hoa province withdrew from hosting the pageant while the Government didn’t permit Tien Giang province to host the event and RASS, which holds the right to organize the pageant in Vietnam, announced its withdrawal.
The Performance Art Agency said that the RASS group is responsible for annulling its contract signed with the Miss World Organization, which was signed in July 2008.
Below is the Timeline of the Miss World 2010 pageant in Vietnam:
9/7/2008: RASS group signed a contract to organize the Miss World 2010 pageant in Vietnam with witnesses Tran Thi Trung Chien – former Minister of Health, Truong My Hoa – former Vice President and Le Xuan Than – Vice-Chair of Khanh Hoa province, which was chosen to host the event.
30/9/2008: The Government Office announced that Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan agreed to hold Miss World 2010 pageant in Khanh Hoa.
21/9/2009: RASS sent a document to the Khanh Hoa People’s Committee, announcing the pageant’s move to Tien Giang.
10/2009: Tien Giang asked the PM’s permission to host the pageant while RASS asked the government’s permission for the move.
25/1/2010: The Government confirmed that the pageant would be held in Khanh Hoa.
28/1/2010: RASS announced its withdrawal from the Miss World 2010 and that it would not provide $10 million for the event.
3/2/2010: Khanh Hoa asked Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan for withdrawal from Miss World 2010.
Several days ago, the Performance Art Agency asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to withdraw from organizing the Miss World 2010 pageant.
Credit: VietnamNet, beautyinpageants.