SWINDON, ENGLAND — Americans aren’t the only ones who insist their beauty pageant contestants be pure as the driven snow.Apparently American pageant contestants aren’t the only ones who are willing to play dirty in order to gain an advantage, either.
Lora Humphreys, 22, nearly lost her shot at the Miss Swindon crown — a qualifying heat for the Miss England pageant, which is part of the Miss World competition — after fellow contestants accused her of appearing in pornography.
According to the rules of the pageant, contestants are prohibited from entering — much less competing — if they previously participated in “adult entertainment,” including nude modeling.
Humphreys admitted she posed provocatively, though not naked, for magazines including Max Power. She was suspended from the competition while the allegations were investigated. Ultimately the Miss England organization found no evidence of wrongdoing and reinstated the Swindon resident.
“I feel hurt about all the things that were said about me,” Humphreys told the Telegraph afterward. “It can be soul-destroying. I have never been on any adult channels. This is supposed to be a friendly competition.”
Humphreys and 20 other “friendly” young women between 17 and 24 will compete in the first round of the competition. The top 10 finishers will move into the final round, which begins May 16th.
The incident is reminiscent of the scandal that recently developed around Miss California USA Carrie Prejean. The jury remains out about whether Prejean will be stripped of her title after at least two provocative images depicting a teenage Prejean clad only in panties appeared on the internet.
According to Miss USA pageant rules, failure to disclose one’s appearance in semi-nude or nude images is grounds for disqualification. Prejean, who has said she took the photos in an attempt to secure a modeling job, kept the images a secret from pageant officials until they began appearing online.
