If by "would the outcome be different" you mean would you have been one of the 20 selected to participate in the program, the answer is probably not. You may not have been selected for a variety of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with your fiancé's ex, including but not limited to not having one of the 20 best business ideas submitted by applicants.
So you are telling me a program where the participants will eventually have a chance to compete for money and other monetary benefits and who uses grant money do not construed a contest. And for appearance sake there is not obvious conflict of interest in the selection process?
Yes that was not guaranteed. There are 3 parts to the selection. This interview was to see if I would be a fit for the program as my executive summary already survived the 1st round. In other words, this interview was more or less to find out if I am coachable. They will then use a panel of 4 people from the community later to then judge the business ideas. I keep coming back to how can someone who knows 2 of the contestants in an intimate way be bias in this situation?
Pet peeve: The correct term is "biased". As in, "to have a bias toward something is to be biased in its favor."
It is almost impossible to eliminate bias from a selection process.
The fact that you keep arguing in the face of being told you're wrong tells me that they made the right decision.
Do you think that constant complaining to them about their selection process is actually going to encourage them to take you on?
*watches the point fly way over the OP's head*
So there is a potential for 20 people to compete for money, your friend happened to be one of the judges. You just happened to be one of the 20 selected. You don't think there is an ethical question here?
Look. High school will be starting in a couple of months. Just focus on getting your HS Diploma and stop worrying about this.
Ethical issue? Maybe.
No, then this will be unfair to the others, clearly this is moot. I am researching to see how this is not a skill contest or just a contest, because there are laws in my state that govern skill contests or just contests. There are laws against collusion. If I were to depose a few people, the fact that this was meant to be a fair, it will come out that it was not, because of the people they hired. Seriously, companies don't have to be ethical in there dealings with the public?
Coming up with a business idea is not a matter of skill.