Miss Switzerland 2012 pageant cancelled
A lack of funding has forced organisers to cancel the 2012 Miss Switzerland competition.
As pageant director Christophe Locher told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper on Sunday, “We terribly regret the decision, but we had no choice”.
He told the Swiss News Agency that he and his team were “confident” that they could find a solution for 2013. One possibility would be holding a non-televised event.
Last September, public service television dropped the competition in the wake of steadily falling audience figures. Afterwards, the contest found a potential new partner in private television channel 3+.
Yet the Miss Switzerland organisation has been unable to raise the necessary funds to broadcast a pageant this year. The cancellation means that Miss Switzerland 2011 – 20-year-old Alina Buchschacher of Bern – will be able to keep the crown for a while longer.
The Mister Switzerland contest suffered a similar fate in May 2011, when public television station SF ended its affiliation with it. However, that contest has since signed a three-year contract with 3+.
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