”Australia”s Next Top Model” winner gaffe no publicity stunt, says judge

”Australia”s Next Top Model” judge Alex Perry has said that Oz model Sarah Murdoch”s announcement of the wrong winner of the series was not a publicity stunt.

A major blunder happened when announcement of the model series winner was muddled, with Murdoch announcing Kelsey Martinovich had beaten fellow favourite Amanda Ware.

This has sparked outrage against ”Australia”s Next Top Model”.

After a few seconds, a devastated Murdoch put a hand to her mouth and gasped: “Oh, I”m so sorry, Kelsey. There”s been a mistake.”

Perry denied that the mistake was little more than a publicity stunt when asked this morning on Sydney radio station 2DayFM.

“I would stake my life on it. There”s no way that she (Murdoch) would do that. I think you saw that the instant that she knew something was wrong, you could see it in her eyes, that wasn”t lying, that wasn”t acting,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Perry as telling Sydney radio station 2DayFM.

“Everybody wants to tag something sinister on it and say it was done for ratings (but) I know Sarah and I know the executive producer, it”s just not their style, they have too much integrity,” he said.

Ware, the actual winner as voted by the public, said the error did not play spoilsport in her victory.

“I think I got my moment. I said the same speech I would have said anyway. It was so close,” she said.

Today on Sky News, Jamie Campbell, director of publicity, said: “As it turned out, she was given information that was written on a card in front of her off the stage.””

As compensation for the error, Foxtel has given Martinovich a 25,000-dollar cash prize and an all-expenses paid trip to New York.