Miss Iceland gives up title, says she was withdrawn from Miss Universe competition without her consent
Helena O'Connor has relinquished her role as Miss Universe Iceland after the pageant director withdrew her from the Miss Universe competition allegedly without her consent while she had food poisoning.
"I hereby announce that the contract between me and Miss Universe Iceland, MUI ehf., has been terminated as of today," she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post on Dec. 16.
"I feel I have been treated unfairly and put in an impossible situation. I see no other way than to respectfully decline Miss Universe Iceland Organization's offer to pay a noncontractual 'penalty' in order to continue working for the organization, and I consider the contract consequently terminated," she added.
O'Connor went on to narrate the events that led to her decision.
It was her dream, she said, to walk the Miss Universe stage and had prepared for the competition for many months. She was to compete at the 74th Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand on Nov. 21.
She saw the pageant as "a platform to empower women from all over the world, each and every one with incredible stories to tell."
According to the beauty queen, since no one from the Miss Universe Iceland organization intended to accompany her to Thailand for the duration of the competition, her family travelled with her.
However, she got severe food poisoning. While she was recovering in the hospital, she said the Miss Universe Iceland national director pulled her out of the pageant.
"I am now being told that this was solely my fault and now I need to pay for that, whether I stay or go," O'Connor said. "I find this profoundly strange as I was fighting for my health, fighting to stay in the competition at the time when they pulled me out, knowing perfectly well this was my dream and I was doing my best to recover."
Returning from Bangkok, O'Connor was informed that if she wanted to continue her reign as Miss Iceland, she would have to pay a penalty since she didn't compete in the Miss Universe pageant.
"I feel that my organization has completely broken our contract, by not only depriving me of my opportunity I had earned and worked for, but also by demanding payments from me with no grounds to do so if I want to keep my titles," O'Connor said.
She expressed her dismay that Miss Universe Iceland allegedly broke their contract despite the organization supposedly agreeing to give her time to recover from food poisoning.
"I had been waiting to hear from the Miss Universe representative, when my national director told me that she had pulled me out of the competition. I felt completely powerless and I was deeply hurt, I was not given the chance to make this decision for myself. At the time, I was too weak to fight their decision and decided to focus on getting better," O'Connor added.
She also claimed she was forbidden to talk about her illness to anyone.
Before releasing the statement about her withdrawal from the competition, O'Connor said her national organization did consult her, but as she was very sick then, she "ended up telling them just to do what they thought was best."
The said statement read that O'Connor made the difficult decision of withdrawing from Miss Universe.
O'Connor further shared that she felt like she was being "punished" for pointing out issues at the competition venue.
"It felt like the contestants were not in a safe environment as there was no security to be seen and there were no chaperones in the beginning, there had been two police incidents at the hotel and apparently the food was not safe," she said.
She continued to say she could not, in good conscience, crown the next Miss Iceland "to suffer" as she did.
Miss Universe Iceland responds
The Miss Universe Iceland organization, as reported by PEOPLE Magazine, sent a statement categorically denying O'Connor's claim that she was "removed, unlisted, or otherwise withdrawn from the Miss Universe competition without her consent."
"Ms. O'Connor independently and unequivocally communicated her decision to withdraw from the competition, and that decision was respected and acted upon accordingly," the organization said, adding it had, in its possession, written communications from the beauty queen where she allegedly clearly stated her intent to withdraw.
As to O'Connor's claim that she was being forced to pay a penalty if she wanted to continue her reign as Miss Iceland, the organization said, there is no penalty being imposed for the beauty queen's non-participation in the competition.
"However, as outlined in her existing agreement, certain obligations remain applicable to any individual who retains the Miss Iceland title. These contractual duties are standard, non-punitive, and unrelated to her decision to withdraw from Miss Universe," the organization added.
It reiterated its claim that O'Connor explicitly told the organization about her wish to withdraw.
"At no point did Miss Universe Iceland misstate or misrepresent her wishes," it said.
The organization added that while it sought a meeting with O'Connor to straighten things out, it did not pan out as O'Connor was traveling with her family.
