The Miss Teen British Virgin Islands organization has addressed public backlash following Saturday night’s pageant at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium, where tensions flared after the crowning of Maya Marcellin.
On October 5, Rupert Vanterpool Jr., director of Miss Teen BVI, issued a statement on the official Miss Teen BVI Facebook page in response to a circulating audio recording. The clip — played outside the venue by family members of first runner-up J’Seanna Barnes — features a voice they claim is Mr. Vanterpool saying, “In their mind she should be winning, but she can’t win the show.”
Mr. Vanterpool said the remarks were misrepresented and based only on pre-show scores, stressing that the judges alone determined the final outcome.
I would like to take this opportunity to address and clarify the recent misrepresentation of a private conversation that was recorded and subsequently misinterpreted. The conversation in question was solely intended to provide guidance in preparation for the final night of the pageant. Any remarks I made were based on my prior knowledge of the Pre-Show scores.”
He continued:
“At no point were my words meant to predict the outcome or reflect any bias. I want to make it clear that the final results of the pageant were determined exclusively by the judges, based on their scoring.”
The incident unfolded after Ms. Marcellin was crowned and the court gathered for photos. Members of Ms. Barnes’s family escorted her offstage while her mother, Seanelle Jones, addressed the audience about the recording. Ms. Jones told attendees that the audio was captured after Mr. Vanterpool allegedly failed to disconnect a phone call, asking from the stage: “How can you determine that before the show?”
Mr. Vanterpool declined a full interview at the event but briefly told JTV he had been threatened with blackmail prior to the pageant.
