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Tag: beauty pageants

  • Miss Honduras Accused Killers Refuse to Testify

    The man, along with three accomplices, accused of killing Miss Honduras and her sister, refused to testify during their first court appearance on Tuesday.

    Miss Honduras and Miss World contestant Maria Jose Alvarado and her sister were found buried near a riverbank roughly 12 miles from the northwestern city of Santa Barbara on November 19. The two had disappeared while attending a resort hotel party on November 13. The sister Sofia Trinidad’s boyfriend has been charged with murder.

    Plutarco Ruiz, 32, while donning a bullet-proof vest, refused to testify during a brief hearing before a judge, along with three others accused of helping him cover up the crime – his friend Aris Maldonado Mejia, resort owner Ventura Diaz and Diaz’s wife, Elizabeth Alvarado.

    Alvarado was shot 12 times and Trinidad was shot 10, in what investigators initially believed to be the result of a fit of jealous rage on Ruiz’s behalf, after he saw Trinidad dancing with another man. New evidence revealed that the women might have been shot while trying to leave the party, as they were weary of the amount of drugs and alcohol being served.

    Alvarado, 19, who was crowed Miss Honduras in April, was set to fly to London last week, in order to compete in the Miss World beauty pageant.

    Miss World pageant chairwoman Julia Morley said in a statement, “We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life. We will be holding a special service with all of the Miss World contestants on Sunday, where we will be honoring the lives of Maria Jose Alvarado and Sofia Trinidad, and say prayers for them and their family.”

    Chief detective Leandro Osorio said the bodies of Alvarado and her 23-year-old sister were unearthed along the banks of the Aguagual River, near the town of Arada, which lies in a region plagued by violence.

    In a comment to the Daily Mail, Ruiz denied shooting the sisters.

    Honduras presently hold the world’s highest murder rate, at 90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012.

  • Dethroned Miss Delaware Files Lawsuit

    Dethroned Miss Delaware Files Lawsuit

    Former Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre is suing state pageant officials and the Miss America organization after being dethroned for being too old.

    Longacre turns 25 in October, and pageant rules state that contestants must be between the ages of 17 and 24. Apparently, the fine print reads somewhere that contestants have to still be 24 by the end of the year. Due to this technicality, Longacre was stripped of her crown, and the Miss Delaware title went to her runner up, Brittany Lewis.

    In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, Longacre is seeking to be reinstated as Miss Delaware and to be allowed to compete in the Miss America pageant. The 24-year-old is also seeking $500,000 in damages for herself and $2.5 million for other contestants, who she believes were recruited to compete in pageants before being told they were too old. Longacre was originally cleared by pageant officials to compete.

    Longacre also seeks an official pass to be able to compete for the Miss America title in September, restoration of her titles as Miss Pike Creek and Miss Delaware, and the full-term reign as Miss Delaware.

    The lawsuit, which names others who were disqualified after competing, asserts that pageant organizations knowingly recruit ineligible contestants to augment dwindling participation, take advantage of them for fundraising and appearances, and then disqualify them.

    The Miss America 2015 pageant runs from September 9-14 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and will be broadcast live on ABC.

    Image via Youtube

  • Olivia Culpo’s New Boyfriend Nick Jonas

    The 2012 Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo, crowned the 2013 Miss Universe, Gabriela Isler, on Saturday with her new boyfriend, Nick Jonas, by her side.

    Jonas hasn’t just been by her side during the pageant, but all the days leading up to the pageant. He said, in an interview with E! that he didn’t realize there was so much work that went into what Culpo does.

    “Ever since, beyond just this trip, I think that this trip specifically though, just seeing…all the hard work, but watching her and what she’s done this last year and a half of her life, it’s amazing,” Jonas said. “She puts a lot of hard work in and I’m just happy to be a part of it and do whatever I can.”

    Culpo credits Jonas for making her hectic life a little easier. While looking at her boyfriend she said, “Well, time with my family and a good relationship is definitely what makes it easy. So those things kind of balance out with the hard work. And being able to give back and being able to inspire people with the crown and sash is an honor.” She added, “It’s something that I was only able to do for just the year, and I’m just excited to have had that and to be able to pass it on to somebody else.”

    Jonas says he was happy to be able to attend the passing of the crown and to be able to support Culpo. “I’m so happy to be able to come and be a part of the…support,” he said. “She’s obviously someone I care a lot about, so I’m happy to be here and it’s a nice trip for me to just come and enjoy.”

    “Extra’s”, AJ Calloway, also got to speak with Culpo at the event, and ask her about her new relationship with Jonas and what she plans on doing now that her reign as Miss Universe is over.

    “At this point, my main priority is just being able to relax and spend time with my family and friends,” Culpo said. “I was just kind of plucked out of my normal life. I’m going to do that and see what other doors open. I love hosting and acting,” she adds. “Maybe I’ll also sleep-in for a day, not wear a dress, not wear makeup.” As far as her relationship with Jonas goes, she says they are happy and feel lucky to have found each other.

    Image via Twitter

  • Miss World Muslimah Pageant Gives Miss World Pageant A Run For Its Money

    The Miss World pageant, like other beauty pageants, had drawn its fair share of criticisms from those that come from nearly all walks of life. Backlash against the immodesty, sexism, and other troubles likewise associated with the display. Some of the most vocal opponents have been those from the Muslim community, particularly the more conservative sects, who have labeled the show “smut” and “an affront to Islamic morals.” Enter the solution; the Miss World Muslimah Pageant.

    The World Muslimah Foundation holds this pageant annually, and this is its third year running. The pageant is only open to Muslim women, and while the glitz, glamour, and general fabulousity that comes with the Miss World pageant was present at this event, as well, there was also a strong emphasis on piety, modesty, and religious knowledge. Clontestents were clothed in beautiful, long, loose-fitting gowns and head scarves, with smiling faces, dolled up hands, and fabulous stilettos the only visible sources of skin.

    This is the first year that the pageant has directly competed for visibility and air time with Miss World, and it has competed pretty well. According to pageant founder Eka Shanti, “Muslimah World is a beauty pageant, but the requirements are very different from Miss World. You have to be pious, be a positive role model and show how you balance a life of spirituality in today’s modernized world.” She went on to clear up any misunderstandings that might be present in concern to animosity towards the Miss World pageant, saying, “People think we are against Miss World. What we’re against is nudity. For the sake of education, I want to give another example.”

    In the face of the disgusting, racist backlash against Miss America winner Nina Davuluri, seeing a pageant devoted entirely to women of both cultural and religious minority is an awesome and refreshing thing. Despite religious differences, and putting extremes aside, it is undeniably a good thing that there is at least some kind of alternative to Miss World and Miss America-esque pageants that aims to peddle good will and generosity as valuable assets, rather than just how good one looks in a bikini.

    Image courtesy of the official Miss World Muslimah Organization Facebook page.

  • French Senate Votes to Ban Child Beauty Pageants

    The BBC reported this morning that the French Parliament has voted on a bill that would make beauty pageantry illegal for participants under the age of 16. The vote passed the French Senate 196-146, and the ban will be headed to the National Assembly before it’s made law.

    Lawmakers kept the language short and sweet: “organizing beauty competitions for children under 16 is banned.” Pageant organizers as well as parents who pressure kids into entering could face two years in prison and a 30,000 euro fine, and the language is general enough to cover basic photo competitions or “pretty baby” contests.

    Beauty pageants have been a controversial topic as of late, and though they are more common in North America than Europe, the message for young women across the world is clear: in this hypersexualized world, you need to look as good as humanly possible, even before pubescence. ABC News noted that department stores the world over are now selling lingerie directed at tweens.

    Chantal Jouanno, the French conservative and former Sports Minister who authored the report that spurred the ban, said that the “foundations of equal rights are threatened by the hyper-sexualization that touches children between 6 and 12 years old… At this age, you need to concentrate on acquiring knowledge. Yet with mini-Miss competitions and other demonstrations, we are fixing the projectors on their physical appearance. I have a hard time seeing how these competitions are in the greater interest of the child.”

    The new French law is explicitly designed to protect young girls, who are perceived to be more vulnerable than boys. Jouanno: “When I asked an organizer why there were no mini-boy contests, I heard him respond that boys would not lower themselves like that.”

    The idea came about when a French Vogue photo shoot involving 10-year-old girls in make-up, jewelry, dresses and high heels came out in the fall of 2010. Vogue defended the images as fulfilling the common fantasy of girls dressing like their mothers, but the lawmakers were unconvinced. After agreeing to hear Joanno’s report called “Against Hyper-Sexualisation: A New Fight For Equality,” Parliament took action.

    “Let us not make our girls believe from a very young age that their worth is only judged by their appearance,” Joanno said at the time, a sentiment that the lawmakers clearly echoed.

    [Image via a BBC YouTube video about English beauty pageants]