Miss Cook Islands Ngatepaeru Marie Maoate, who was placed fourth runner-up at the 38th Miss Pacific Islands Pageant held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, received a warm welcome from the Cook Islands community in New Zealand.

Upon her arrival at the Auckland Airport on Sunday, the sounds of drumming and ukulele echoed through the terminal as the community performed the welcoming turou which caught the attention of many, including tourists.

Speaking to PMN Cook Islands, Maoate said: “I’m feeling very honoured and privileged to be here, I have just a little bit of my people here, and I know that my people across the Pacific Ocean are watching and I’m thankful that I represented our Cook Islands as much as I could and I am very proud that I represented the country.”

The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant was marred by controversy following complaints and allegations of fraud prior to Miss Samoa being crowned the new Miss Pacific.

According to RNZ Pacific, Solomon Islands’ Minister of Home Affairs instructed the Immigration Division to impose the “stop notice” on all judges of the pageant. The government said the allegations were deemed serious in relation to the relevant laws of Solomon Islands. As a result, all judges of the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant were restricted from departing Solomon Islands until the issue was resolved. The stop order was lifted on Wednesday (local time).

There was also criticism levelled against Miss Cook Islands and her team, as well as the organisers of Maine Kuki Airani Aotearoa 2024, which was won by Maoate, earning her the right to represent the Cook Islands at the Miss Pacific Pageant. PMN Cook Islands later apologised to Maoate “for all the online comments regarding your reign as Miss Cook Islands” and “to all those mentioned in the post and our community who may have been hurt by the post” made by one of its announcers.

Prior to her departure from the Solomon Islands, Maoate urged members of the public to refrain from expressing negativities around the pageant.

“It is our own Pacific people that do bring ourselves down but from the journey that had started here in Honiara for me and my Pacific sisters, we have created a bond that whatever comment that comes to us, we take it in as a compliment in a way that it doesn’t affect the way at how we look, how we speak and how we see each other,” she said.

“Being in this place, it’s a place to bond and create and experience each other’s culture and we obviously have a lot of similarities with our cultures and I’m grateful to be amongst my sisters.

“I just ask our public to refrain from pulling our people down. It’s not a nice thing to say but my sister has held herself very high as well as all other contestants.

“So with the background noise, I believe we haven’t touched any of it and I’m not going to touch any of it because we’ve all executed all our categories very well, we held ourselves accountable for what we’ve done, we support each other and we love each other.”

Maoate emphasised that she was honoured and privileged to be on the Miss Pacific Islands platform to represent all the youth, women and the voices of the Cook Islands.