The recently crowned Zimbabwean ‘Mr Ugly’, William Masvinu, 43, has been dethroned after allegedly assaulting the sponsor of the competition for delaying to give him his $500 first prize.
Masivinu has now been replaced with the first runner-up, 61-year-old Fanuel Musekiwa, Iharare.com reported.
Masvinu who got his third crown for the pageant has now been banned for life, the Organizer, David, popularly known as Apama Styles said.
“For winning the pageant, Masvinu was supposed to be given a bull but he opted for $500 in cash instead. The fact that the sponsor (Isaac Mutangadura) had to sell the bull to get the cash for Masvinu caused the payment delay but the dethroned Mr Ugly was very impatient.
“Instead of him (Masvinu) dealing with me concerning his winning prize, he went behind my back and manhandled the sponsor.
“We, therefore, had no choice but to dethrone him for dragging the name of the pageant into the mud,” David said.
Apama Styles added that the decision to dethrone Masvinu was arrived at after taking into consideration the fact that he had “repeatedly exhibited” violent tendencies at the Mr Ugly pageant over the years.
“This is not the first time Masvinu has engaged in violent activities at Mr Ugly. He once threatened another former sponsor — Devine Assignments director Biggie Chinoperekwei — over the same issue and for this reason we have to part ways with him,” Mr Ugly founder said.
Masvinu, on the other hand, claimed that David had converted the prize money to his personal use.
He said, “Apama took time to give us our money. Imagine since December 3 up to now. He only paid us $100 instead of $500.
“It is not easy to parade before the whole world showcasing your ugliness and in the end getting nothing for it.
“We understand Apama got $500 from the sponsor Mutangadura but instead of giving us our money Apama chose to pocket it.”
He claimed that they reported the matter at Ruwa Police station in a bid to force Apama to release the prize money.
The 2015 Mr Ugly pageant almost degenerated into a brawl after Masvinu refused to concede defeat to Mison Sere.
He argued that Sere’s ugliness wasn’t natural since it was based on missing teeth.
He threatened to beat up the pageant’s adjudicators-Sharlene Nyakurai, Abigirl Mataranyika and Denzel Masawi — after accusing them of bias.
“That was not fair. How could he (Sere) win when he was number four the previous year?
“What has changed all of a sudden for him to win this time around?
“You made him the winner simply because of missing teeth. But does that define ugliness? Do you want me to remove some of my teeth to reclaim my position,” an agitated Masvinu said then.
