Miss World contestant pulls out of pageant over ‘uncomfortable' duties
A Miss World contestant has dramatically quit the pageant over claims organisers paraded her around like a 'performing monkey' and made her feel extremely 'uncomfortable'.
Milla Magee, 24, made history as the first Miss England to quit the contest in its 74-year run, The Sun reported.
The beauty queen has said that while visiting India to attend a publicity event for the annual contest, the Miss World contestants had to wear ball gowns all day, even during breakfast.
But her final straw with the contest was when she was allegedly asked to entertain middle-aged businessmen at tables as a 'thank you' for the money they had put into the show, the New York Post reports.
'We were expected to sit with them for the whole evening and entertain them as a thank you,' she told the UK newspaper.
'I found that unbelievable. I remember thinking, 'This is so wrong.' I didn't come here to be farmed out for people's entertainment.
'Miss World is supposed to have the same values, but it's outdated and stuck in the past. They made me feel like a prostitute.'
Magee said that at one point, she tried to talk about the causes she was supporting, but said 'it was obvious the men at the table were not interested'.
'Instead, there was weird small-talk that left me feeling uncomfortable… We were there to please these people and sit like performing monkeys. I couldn't stand it,' she fumed.
Magee even said organisers berated contestants for being 'boring' and claimed one clapped her hands in her face.
'She clapped her hands right in my face to get my attention and as a signal for people to listen to her… It was so disrespectful, like she was addressing children rather than a coach full of adult women,' she told the outlet.
On May 16, Magee quit the contest and flew home to Cornwall — allowing runner-up Charlotte Grant, 25, the current Miss Liverpool, to take her place.
It is believed to be the first time since the contest began in 1951 that Miss England contestant has quit.
The 24-year-old previously advocated to scrap Miss World's swimwear round and allow contestants to be judged on life-saving skills like chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Magee is a trained lifeguard and strong advocate for CPR education after a personal tragedy left her family helpless during an emergency.
Angie Beasley, director of Miss England, announced Magee's departure for 'personal reasons.'
'We regret to announce that Milla Magee has returned home to the UK due to personal reasons,' Beaseley said, according to the outlet.
'We stand fully by her decision — health must always come first.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Comedian Margaret Cho says Ellen DeGeneres was ‘not nice' to her
Comedian Margaret Cho has spoken out about her 'creepy and weird' encounters with Ellen DeGeneres. Joining the chorus of people to air their unpleasant stories about the former talk show host, who now lives on a farm in the UK, Cho revealed she opened for DeGeneres at comedy clubs in the 1980s before they both hit the big time. Years later, Cho said she was invited as a guest on DeGeneres' talk show, where she claimed the host pretended they had never met before. 'Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,' Cho said on The Kelly Mantle Show podcast. 'I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs. Later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she would act like we just met. And I'm like, 'Bitch, what?' That's weird. We go way back. It's so creepy and weird.' Things got weirder as Cho, 56, recalled a bizarre broadcast edit she felt was a personal swipe from DeGeneres, 67. Remembering how she attended a David Bowie concert in a 'Chinese emperor outfit', Cho said the late singer went on DeGeneres' show the very next day where he talked at length about the comedian's fabulous attire at his show. 'The producer, who's a really good friend of mine, had to call me and tell me, 'I can't believe she did this, but she cut it out of the show,'' Cho said. '[The producer continued] 'But you need to know that he was going on and on about your outfit. God [Bowie] said your name. He loves you.'' While unsure if the comments were cut for another reason, Cho conceded, 'I'm going to take it personally.' DeGeneres, who is married to Australian actress Portia de Rossi, quit her long-running talk show in 2022 following widespread reports of a toxic environment on-set. It all started when a March 2020 tweet claimed DeGeneres was 'notoriously one of the meanest people alive', which was met by more than 1000 replies of people detailing their not-so-nice experiences with her. The aftermath was even more brutal, with countless Ellen staff coming forward on the record with their own stories of bullying. Addressing claims for the first time after her return to TV for the show's 18th season months later, DeGeneres admitted she was a 'work in progress' but pleaded to viewers that she is still 'the person you see on TV'. 'As you may have heard this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should've happened,' she said at the time. 'I take that very seriously, and I want to say I'm so sorry to the people who were affected.' She admitted being known as the 'be kind' lady is 'a tricky position to be in'. 'Sometimes I get sad. I get mad. I get anxious. I get frustrated. I get impatient. And I am working on all of that. I am a work in progress,' she said. 'And I am especially working on the impatience thing because … and it's not going well because it's not happening fast enough.' DeGeneres moved to the UK with de Rossi late last year, shortly after US President Donald Trump was elected. She's shared brief glimpses on social media of her quieter life living on a sprawling property. It is unclear where in the UK DeGeneres and de Rossi have relocated to, but they are rumoured to have set up in the English countryside. Shortly after news of the couple's big move broke, the two were spotted out with a group of friends at The Farmer's Dog in the Cotswolds, a countryside region in England. They had earlier in the year sold two of their homes in Montecito, California, in March and August.
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
Channel 9 reporter Hannah Sinclair weds partner in lavish Bali wedding
Nine reporter Hannah Sinclair has married her longtime partner in a lavish Bali wedding. The network's European correspondent exchanged vows with Mitch Burke on a clifftop with panoramic ocean views on Friday, with guests sharing photos of the celebrations on social media. Sinclair, who moved to London from Sydney late last year, wore an elegant spaghetti strap silk gown, and opted for a broadbrimmed hat over a traditional veil. Burke, for his part, wore a white tuxedo jacket with a black bow tie. The aisle, which Sinclair walked down with her mother, was set atop a pool of water and lined with bouquets of flowers. The couple said 'I do' under an archway of flowers with the sweeping ocean view in the background. Changing into a bubble hem mini dress for the reception, Sinclair's guests shared videos of the fairy-light covered dance floor and fireworks display. Among guests included Sinclair's Nine colleagues Gabrielle Boyle, Lizzie Pearl, Ashley Carter and Tim Davies. It comes after Sinclair held her hen's party in Canggu the night before her wedding day, sharing wild photos and videos as she danced the night away with a group of friends who were all dressed in pink. 'I have the best family and friends in the world,' Sinclair wrote. The journalist, who started her career with Southern Cross Austereo in Tasmania, first joined Nine's Perth bureau in 2016, before moving to Sydney two years later. Sinclair took up a role with A Current Affair in 2021, and was later promoted to her current correspondent gig which she started in September last year. Sharing the news on Instagram at the time, Sinclair said working in London was her 'dream job'. ''She was unstoppable, not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them.' This quote really resonates with me as I reflect on how far I've come in my 10 year career as a journalist,' she wrote. 'Today's my last day for a white with the amazing team at (A Current Affair). Next week I start my dream job in London as Europe Correspondent for Nine, and boy, am I excited.'
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- SBS Australia
Vegas: The Story of Sin City S1
SBS's award winning companion podcast. Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who have risen to excellence despite a role-model vacuum.
