Pageant queen’s crown still in question
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan congratulated Tiffany Conolly (24), the newly crowned Miss Cayman Islands Universe, on Friday but said he recognised public concerns about the criminal charges she faces, adding that his ministry, which sponsors the pageant, has only recently discussed the situation with the committee. Bryan remained tight-lipped about the controversy over the pageant queen’s upcoming trial but said more information would be released next week.
Conolly, from West Bay, is due to face trial in October for assault. She has denied six counts of assault and damage to property relating to an incident at an ex-boyfriend’s home last year. Although she was charged in January and pleaded not guilty in March, well before the pageant took place, the committee allowed her to enter and she went on to win the title just over two weeks ago.
Part of the role of Miss Cayman Universe is to act as an ambassador for the Cayman Islands and promote the tourism product. But as Conolly faces pending charges, her crown is in question. According to the court filing, she is accused of assaulting her former boyfriend and his father after going to their home uninvited, smashing up two cars and punching and kicking at least one police officer
At a press briefing on Friday, when CNS asked Bryan about the situation, he said that he was doing an assessment through his ministry. “I want the public to know that I recognise the various number of concerns that have been highlighted. It is a delicate situation but we will have more information hopefully sometime next week for the public,” he stated.
The charges have raised a catalogue of issues about how she was allowed to enter the competition, given the criteria for entry. There are also questions about when the committee knew she had been charged and how they had squared the idea of the contestant winner being in the dock just two months after being crowned, as well as the impact of this on the pageant itself.
The committee has said very little publicly about the situation but during a radio appearance on Star FM they said she had “met the entry requirements” because she has not been convicted and has denied the allegations.
The Miss Cayman Islands Universe application form, which outlines the entry qualifications, does not ask prospective contestants about any criminal charges they may be facing, but they must provide a police record and proof of “good character with no criminal record” aside from traffic matters. Applicants must be unmarried and must not have given birth.
The committee has stated that they became aware of the charges sometime after Conolly became an official contestant and that she had not disclosed them before that since there was no requirement under the rules for her to do so. However, it is not clear when or why the decision was taken to allow her to continue to participate once they became aware of the charges.
In a statement released last week, the committee said they were reviewing the facts about the situation. And in a brief statement to the Cayman Compass last week, a spokesperson for the committee said they were “consulting with the relevant stakeholders in order to make the appropriate determination as to how we proceed”.
The application form says the winner must “conduct herself with decorum and not commit any act of an immoral or illegal or other similar nature which in the reasonable opinion of the Committee will bring the National Winner or the Pageant into disrepute or contempt”.
Conolly was sponsored by her employer, Island Naturals, which CNS contacted following social media posts that the company had withdrawn its support, and we are awaiting their response to confirm or deny that.
Within three days of the last Miss Cayman Islands Universe pageant in September 2021, the ministry released a congratulatory statement acknowledging Georgina Kerford as the winner. But so far, there have been no official government communications identifying or congratulating Conolly as the 2022 winner.
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Category: Local News
Its a crying shame a drug dealer is a minister in Parliament with a Hon title, ony in Cayman. lots of young people are hooked on drugs and ruined for life from people sellig drugs. The law need to be changed,if convicted of selling drugs cannot ever run for M P .
Which minister?
In other news, has anyone had a salary increase in the last 2yrs?
Better to take her out now instead of letting her continue, go the international contest, in a one in 200 chance wins, they find out and she and our Beloved Cayman Islands is disgraced on the international stage. We do not need another blacklist no matter how mundane,
But it hurts….ouchie ouchie
I love how having a brush with the law excludes you from a lame beauty show but serious criminal convictions and multiple legal problems brushed under the carpet are fine for an MLA.
You have to understand your constituents…..criminal records help.
Kenny say that unna need to wait until he has his little tourism conference then he will fire her…he want to look good in front of all dem people.
All this local back biting is entertaining but ultimately irrelevant if we want to send a participant to the main competition. Because there is zero way a contestant who has prior convictions ( albeit not recorded) or been charged with assaulting a police officer is going to be allowed to participate. Or for that matter retain her crown, since I am sure the Miss Cayman Universe title is subject to the veto of the international competition organizers who own the brand rights. No way they want their brand contaminated by this.
I am not sure who is more embarrassing Kenneth or Tiffany!
All two.
Bryan is an idiot
I will not disrespect them but will salivate lustfully over there bodies. Is that not what this is all about, sex?
I love the concept that you can salivate lustfully over a person without disrespecting them – truly a modern man.
This young lady could salvage her dignity by stepping down on her own accord (and be grateful she removed herself from an outdated “show” that degrades women)
Think its more about the title and the prizes than the dignity. You don’t enter a cattle show if you are worried about your dignity. Read 9:44.
Best boobs award can go to none other than the committee for letting this happen and Good ol Kenny. Only in the Cayman Islands 😂😂😂😂
Decorum has vanished from Cayman…perhaps the world!
People seem as if they simply DO NOT KNOW how to do the right thing!
It is absolutely hilarious how you new age trumpers keep whining about this like the election. The young lady followed the rules and WON. I’ve lived in many places and cayman isl. is so filled with hate not good.
Then move away from us.
Trump would have had his Patriots storm the Parliament building by now.
No comparison at all, Keep Trump and his followers where the belong in the Wild Wild West they call the USA.
It’s even more hilarious you using the term ‘trumpers’ when you should perhaps understand left vs right wing politics rather than apply a particular political situation that is nothing to do with Cayman politics.
Let’s worry about Fu@@@@@ cost of living in Cayman.
If you put yourself in the public eye then prepare to be heavily scrutinized.
I don’t understand why it is taking so long to sort this out. Actually there is nothing to sort out, XXX perhaps they are just beleaguering action in the hope that the public will forget about it. Seriously does the committee really have the audacity to send her off island to represent the Cayman Islands with this hanging over her and the entire Cayman whether. This is so inappropriate whether you support the Miss Cayman contest or not.
Why host Two pageant??
Why Is government in the beauty business???
How could a private sector committee mess this up so badly.
try harder….its cig funded and promoted nonsense.
Many long time members are civil servants who should know better.
Why host any pageants? Why spend our money demeaning and degrading young women?
Technically Miss Cayman Islands World is a private pageant. The whole reason this started is when the official pageant made it so that anyone between 18 and 28 (I believe) could enter the pageant. But you have to be 18-25 to enter Miss World, so when Tonie Chisholm won in 2015 they couldn’t enter her in Miss World, only Miss Universe. Then the a private person decided to host another competition to have Cayman Islands represented in Miss World. But I do not believe that Miss Cayman Islands World receives an endorsement from the Ministry. Certainly no job at MOT.
Seems as though having a police record is a required “qualification” to be a public figure in this country….
Her crown must be taken. If I had children I would not want her going to their school and talking about values and love. It would be the height of irony. The appropriate solution is to give the crown to the first runner up.
There’s something decidedly creepy and weird about these “pageants”. 50 years past their sell by date.
The only people who care about this are Sandra and the people at CMR.
And Kenny.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are all so obsessed with her arrest. That is irrelevant. Have you forgotten? She has the best legs. And the best smile.
Dear 4:01, you are incorrect as Miss Conolly did not win best legs but the 1st runner-up Miss Powery did win best legs. Try your best not to disrespect the young ladies irregardless of your feelings about the contest or the contestants.
There it is, “irregardless”. Everything you need to know about proponents of beauty pageants summed up in just 12 letters.
Sooooo snobbish and superior
Yet right
Aren’t you embarrassed that you even know that
the whole concept is disrespectful to common sense.
The irony is not lost on some of us that the Tourism Minister is both a former Mr. Cayman and did jail time for drug pushing. Not sure whether his comment about being in the public eye was because of his run ins with the law, being on the stage, his current role as an elected member or a reporter on Cayman 27.
He is not a former Mr Cayman. He did sell drugs however.
Actually he is and won in 2001 or 2002, after he was beaten by Jonathan Powell, the first ever Mr. Cayman who took the first crown.
This sparked a fierce rivalry between them that ended up in a boxing match at Matrix Night Club on Monday Nights fights that used to happen.
You might be a bit young to remember that.
Or have short term memory like the majority of those who wote.
4yrs max.
Despite the fact that the Miss Universe does no ask about criminal charges, if for some reason it gets out, it would be a stain on Cayman. Best to avoid and Tiffany should recognize this and do the right thing and step down.
If it does get out! Dear lord, you think CNS is only open to Caymanians? That whoever blew a whistle on her won’t be popping an e mail to the international press and the organizers of the main competition if she goes through to the final?
Oh dear, they didn’t ask about criminal charges because I am sure they didn’t think that anyone, any responsible committee would put forward someone with these charges pending. You think they should have to break it down to baseline ethics.? It is already out, we do not live in a bubble.
CNS: In case anyone missed the charges listed in your article on August 8th:
” Conolly last appeared in Summary Court in March facing two counts of common assault, two counts of damage to property, and two further charges for disorderly conduct at a police station and one of assaulting a police officer.”
Must not have read the pageant application form .
Would you just stop attacking her!
If you put yourself in the public eye then prepare to be heavily scrutinized.
She is a public figure…..it comes with the territory; if you canty take the heat then get out the kitchen.
Truth isn’t an attack
I know it’s whataboutery, but my God, in Ukraine there’s thousands dying for no reason, there’s migrants from Latin America trying to get into the USA out of desperation, refugees in Africa fleeing to Europe, ethnic minorities and pro-democracy advocates being squashed in Asia…yet here we are with stories about some stupid competition that should have been put out to pasture in 1972.
She needs to be removed, and the whole thing canceled as it’s an affront to all vaguely educated residents.
This has turned into quite an embarrassment for our little country. What else could happen now?
This is nothing compared to a public official barely escaping an assault charge in US and then beating up a female bar manager here at home.
Oh Lord, we still talking about this?
Beauty pageant? How very demeaning.
Says the ugly ducking that prefers transvestite story time hour and allowing men in women’s bathrooms all in the name of progress.
#caymankind
Wow! Someone has some issues.
Whole thing is stupid anyway. Really, Miss UNIVERSE? We have not established life on other planets in our universe yet alone compete with them! Whats next Miss interglactic?
World Series?
Suggest Ms Conolly step down herself and the committee give her the ability to reenter next year providing the court cases go her way.
Considering our current MLAs I think her past is quite suitable representation of the island and criminal history should be a requirement of the pageant.
SO if you have been found guilty of a criminal offence(s), but no conviction recorded, does that count towards being of good character and no criminal record?
11:55am: Yes. Also you could be a super model, sell crack cocaine, interfere with law enforcement and still become an Honorable MLA. Why could you not have multiple arrests and become our representative at the Miss Universe pageant.
By the way the Miss Universe pageant discriminates against other beings in our universe as it only includes earthlings.