Sophinel Báez, a former finalist in the 2015 Miss Dominican Republic competition, has made startling allegations regarding Clarissa Molina.
In an interview with Juan Carlos Albelo in the Dominican Republic, Báez suggested she was the rightful winner of the pageant, but that Molina, now a presenter on El gordo y la flaca, secured the crown by allegedly accepting an inappropriate proposal from a businessman and meeting with him privately. “[They met in a room and] no one else was called,” she stated. “What exactly happened, I couldn’t tell you.”
However, the former model emphasized that the same businessman too made an improper advance toward her before approaching Molina. “I knew it was going to happen, I knew she was going to be the winner,” she claimed. “We both had everything to win, we were highly close.”
Báez asserted that her competitor was well-prepared. “I played to win,” she expressed, adding that even Dayanara Torres told her the crown should have been hers. “You were the one who should have won, but they didn’t let them vote for you.”
According to Báez, when seeking financial support from businessmen for the pageant, she was on multiple occasions subtly pressured to “compromise herself.”
The allegations come as the world of beauty pageants continues to face scrutiny regarding fairness and ethical conduct. Báez’s claims raise questions about the influence of outside forces in these competitions and the pressures faced by contestants.