Miss HK Contestant, Who Stands At 1.63m, Draws Fresh Criticism For Tiptoeing In Photo After Calling A Previous Winner 'Short'

Joining in a pageant means having your every word and action scrutinised by the public. Nobody bore the brunt of this quite like Scarlett Li during the Miss Hong Kong 2026 competition.

It all began during the Q&A segment at the finals on Aug 30, where each contestant was assigned a Chinese character by the organisers and asked to share their thoughts.

Scarlett, the second contestant to speak, was given the character "Short". To everyone's surprise, she took a direct dig at the reigning champ, Stacey Chan.

“I think the organisers gave me the character ‘short’ because, over the years, quite a lot of the winners have been on the shorter side,” said the 1.63m-tall contestant.

“Take last year’s champion, Stacey, for example. So I think I might have a chance of winning the crown tonight too!”

Although Scarlett eventually emerged as the second runner-up and won the Miss Photogenic award, netizens were quick to target her for the speech.

Many condemned her for calling Stacey out, and accused her of being "rude," "having no filter," and "pushing others down to win".

But the controversy did not end there.

Following the pageant, the top four winners — champion Bernice Yuen, first runner-up Ada Tang, Scarlett, and third runner-up Jasmine Lo — were posing for a photo at an event.

What should have been a standard event photo sparked further backlash when eagle-eyed netizens noticed that Scarlett was standing on tiptoe beside Bernice.

Despite her efforts, Scarlett, who was the shortest contestant this year, still appeared noticeably shorter than the 1.68m winner.

Netizens again criticized Scarlett for a lack of grace and composure, arguing that her body language revealed an overly desperate desire to win and a lack of magnanimity.

Some then brought up her earlier Q&A comment to mock her further.

"If she can't accept being short herself, she shouldn't have called last year's winner short. Very unsightly, very cheap," one netizen snarked.

Scarlett later defended her comments on stage, explaining: "Being 'short' isn't derogatory in itself; it's a neutral word. Besides, I'm the shortest person in this batch myself, and being small and petite has its advantages."

However, she conceded: "My phrasing definitely still has room for improvement."