Herlene Budol recently jetted off to Kampala, Uganda to compete in the Miss Planet International 2022 pageant that was set to take place on November 19. Days after the beauty queen arrived, however, she and her team decided to withdraw from the competition due to “pageant debacles.”
Instagram/bbpilipinasofficialThe delegates were allegedly not provided with food or accommodation during their stay, and their respective teams needed to book their own hotels in Uganda. In a vlog uploaded by Herlene’s talent manager, the Binibining Pilipinas 2022 first runner-up was seen in tears as she begged the pageant’s organizers to let her go home.
“I want to go home, I want to go out. I have a driver,” says Herlene, who was backed by another candidate saying: “Let them go, let the girls leave […] It’s her right to leave.”
In the same vlog, it was also revealed that several Miss Planet International 2022 candidates also aired their frustrations on social media.
"I have to apologize, but unfortunately we were robbed. We haven’t had even 10% of activity, nothing was paid, our accommodation nor our food. We’re stuck in Uganda,” Czech Republic’s Tamila Sparrow posted on her Instagram stories. “We have been trying to solve it, even those who were not involved in the pageant paid their own money to keep [us] fed and safe.”
The Miss Planet International 2022 issued a statement confirming that the competition is postponed and will be held next year in Cambodia instead. “We regret to inform [you] that the finals and preliminary competitions won't be held due to the host organizers [failure] to comply and meet the requirements for [the events]. […] We would like to express our sincere apologies for all the inconvenience caused.”