Alexandria Mills Named Miss World Amid Vote-Rigging Controversy

Alexandria Mills won Miss World amid controversy that Miss Norway Mariann Birkedal deserved the prize but was rebuffed by the Chinese regime.

Alexandria Mills won Miss World amid controversy that Miss Norway Mariann Birkedal deserved the prize but was rebuffed by the Chinese regime. LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images

Alexandria Mills, the 18-year-old Miss USA winner, was named Miss World this weekend but reports have emerged that the votes were affected by the Chinese regime’s diplomatic row with Norway.

Miss Norway, Mariann Birkedal, got bilked out of the crown and China is being accused of rigging the contest, according to the Daily Mail.

Instead, Kentucky-native Mills got the award.

The newspaper said that the Chinese regime is angry over Norway giving the Nobel Peace Prize to dissident Liu Xiaobo last month and then pressured the judges into giving Birkedal low scores.

The 23-year-old Norwegian was a favorite coming into the contest but didn’t crack the top five.

“I have been very careful with speculating about that myself,” she told the Daily Mail. “It is kind of stupid to start thinking that if this or that had not occurred I would perhaps have been Miss World 2010. I do believe everything happens out of a reason.”

The Chinese regime, which hosted the contest on Hainan Island for the fifth time in the last eight years, also blocked Taiwan from entering the contest.