Miss England hits out at ‘vindictive' Miss World bosses

Telegraph

2 days ago

Miss England has criticised the organisers of the Miss World pageant as 'vindictive and very bitter' after she left the contest early.
Milla Magee, 24, a lifeguard and a keen surfer from Newquay, Cornwall, quit the 2025 Miss World pageant final in Hyderabad, India, after she claimed she and the other finalists were being 'exploited'.
Her departure in May led to a war of words with the contest organisers, who have dismissed her claims as a 'desperate attempt to gain attention'.
Julia Morley, the organisation's chief executive, reportedly told a Hindu newspaper that Ms Magee left because she 'believed she didn't stand a chance in the competition'.
On Saturday, Ms Magee hit back, claiming the pageant purported to be about 'beauty with purpose' but was actually about 'wearing different ballgowns every day and what you look like'.
In comments reported by The Guardian, she said: 'What Julia said was vindictive and very bitter. And it was a ridiculous statement.
'I did not leave because I thought I was not going to win. I left because I wanted to stand for what I believe in and it didn't align with my values.
'And I would hate for another young girl to go into this system after watching me this past year and have to experience the same.'
Ms Magee said she agreed to take part in the contest because she believed it would be a platform to promote her campaign to have CPR included in the school curriculum.
But she claimed that she and the other contestants were left with little time to promote their causes and were instead expected to look pretty and entertain guests.
She also alleged that a man had walked up to her and said 'Next time I'm in London or England, hook me up', which had left her feeling uncomfortable.
'I went there to make a difference but we had to sit like performing monkeys,' she previously told The Sun. 'It's stuck in the past. Morally, I couldn't be a part of it.
'As Miss England, I was told the role would be 'beauty with a purpose' – and it was. I've campaigned for the causes I am passionate about, and have a voice as any modern woman would expect.
'But [Miss World] is simply about the way you look and present yourself. As far as I could see it hasn't changed from the 1960s and 1970s.'
Following her departure, Miss World posted a series of videos on social media showing Ms Magee smiling while taking part in interviews and sitting in the hotel during the contest.
The organisers said that Ms Magee 'expresses gratitude, joy, and appreciation for the experience' in the footage, serving 'as a direct contradiction to the recent false narratives'.
They referred to 'false and defamatory statements' that they said were 'completely unfounded and inconsistent with the reality of her time with us'.
Ms Magee was replaced as Miss England at the last minute by Charlotte Grant, 25, of Kirkby, Merseyside, a part-time model and owner of a cosmetics business.
Ms Grant was told as a child she would never walk again after breaking her back in an accident on a bouncy castle but ultimately recovered from her injuries.
Thailand's Opal Suchata Chuangsr won the final on Saturday. Hasset Dereje Admassu of Ethiopia was the first runner-up,