La Toya: I was not invited to pageant

Former Miss T&T/Universe La Toya Woods says the reason she was not present to crown the new T&T representative for the pageant is because she was not invited by the local franchise holder Ian Lee for the competition. At the event last Saturday at the O2K Park in Chaguaramas, Lee said Woods had been invited but was unavailable to attend. The competition was won by former Miss World representative for T&T Gabrielle Walcott.

“Ian Lee claimed he had sent an invitation to me via e-mail,” Woods said yesterday, during a brief telephone interview. Woods denied receiving any e-mail from Lee, who is also the national director for the pageant. “I did not hear from him and if it was important for him to contact me, he would have found another means of communication,” she said. Woods described her exclusion from the event on Saturday night as discourteous.

Additionally, during a radio interview on I95.5FM yesterday, Woods accused Lee of not managing funds properly during the pageant. She claimed that money owed to her from the pageant organisers had not been paid. Woods said after the competition, her image had been used by a credit card company for a promotion. She said despite the fact that the credit card company had made payments for use of her image, she never received any compensation. Woods said she did not want to continue speaking about the matter as it might distract Walcott.

Walcott, who is a former Miss World representative for T&T, will represent the T&T at the Miss Universe pageant in Brazil on September 12. Lee said yesterday that he was not prepared to comment on the issue, but would release a statement today. In a brief interview, former national director for the pageant, Peter Elias, described the situation as a sad one. He said: “The process of Miss T&T is about nurturing our young women and at the same time promoting our country, and that this has happened is disappointing and sad.”