Even objectively speaking, netizens have been tearing apart the Miss Singapore contestants circulating around the net.

So, we reached out to Exclusive Resources Marketing (ERM), the event organiser, for their take on the online reaction.

Straight off the bat, they confirmed what some of us might have probably guessed: that some of the contestants were demoralised by this whole kerfuffle.

ERM also revealed that there were some underlying factors behind the picture (yep, the one just above this line) that launched a hundred online comments, that might not have been that clear to people online.

Clarifications

1. Elva had a case of sore eyes

One of the main recipients of an insane amount of vitriol was Elva, the girl wearing glasses.

Even an innocent picture of her performing CPR, which was not even part of the talent segment, was taken apart by netizens.

A question many had for her was — why she was wearing glasses on stage?

Well, it turns out, the contestant in question was suffering from sore eyes, which made it impossible for her to wear contacts that day.

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2. Pictures weren't by an official photographer

The much-circulated photo below was taken from one Joseph Juban's Facebook page.

The ERM employee we spoke to says they have no idea who he is, and definitely did not engage his services in photographing the contestants.

So, the pictures we saw were not sanctioned by ERM.

One of the only close-up pictures the official Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant released from the OneKM mall event was this.

Which illicited relatively positive comments from Facebook users:

The ERM employee we talked to also implied, from the conversation we had, that the girls might not have been completely ready for this intense a public spotlight yet.

That does raise another question, though — why hold a public event in the first place if they're not ready, right?

3. Because they needed to acclimatised to performing in public

According to ERM, the actual event finals will be held on August 25, at which point the contestants will be far more media ready.

A sentiment that they had earlier expressed, rather clumsily, on their Facebook page:

"We applaud the finalists of Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant 2017 for their confidence to pursue a beauty pageant dream. We look forward to witnessing their beautiful transformation by 3rd August 2017; believing that "there are no ugly women, only lazy ones-Helena Rubinstein"."

The girls pictured in the circulated group photo are also not the complete group of finalists, ERM said, as some had to go back to school.

So, what's next?

Whatever you think of the explanations ERM gave, whether the contestants might undergo a "beautiful transformation" one month later, or who you blame for this, one thing seems to be crystal clear.

The public interest in this pageant, which is arguably not even the premier beauty contest in Singapore, is at an all-time high.

Here is a totally unrelated but equally interesting article:

Simple changes to your army boy lifestyle to help you save some money

Top photo via Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant's Facebook page.