Size Ten beauty queen gives crown back after being told: Go on a diet
A SIZE Ten beauty queen has given her crown back after organisers told her to lose weight.
Zoiey Smale, from Nottinghamshire, was due to represent the UK at the Miss United Continents 2017 competition in Ecuador.
But after winning the UK title in June, the 28-year-old claimed she was told she needed to ‘lose as much weight as possible’ to stand a chance of winning.
The mother-of-one, who has competed in pageants since she was 18, said she was shocked at being asked to go on a diet.
Miss Smale had been due to travel to South America for the competition on September 23 after beating 11 other finalists in Nottingham.
But weeks before the competition, a leading official phoned Miss Smale to tell her that the Ecuadorian directors wanted her to lose weight.
Miss Smale said: ‘She tried to put it tactfully but I knew exactly what she was getting at.
‘She said to me, “They want you to go on a diet plan and they want you to lose as much weight as possible for the finals.” I was like, “pardon?”
‘It was one of those things, in the 21st century you don’t actually expect people to be that blunt.’
Miss Smale, who now works in the sports industry, was hurt by the director’s words. She said: ‘I was branded “fat” because I am size ten. I actually believed that I was so disgusting that no one would ever love me. How sad is that?’
She has since been given a lot of support since writing about her decision on social media.
‘I wanted to tactfully address it because my reputation is so important to me,’ she said.
‘I was so angry I didn’t just want to throw out insults so I took a bit of time, because it hurt like hell.’
Miss United Continents were last night unavailable for comment.