Beauty pageant organisers accused of 'vindictiveness and bitterness' towards former contestant

Miss World organisers have been accused of being "vindictive and bitter" towards a former contestant. Milla Magee, the reigning Miss England, has claimed she was used for show.

Their motto is “beauty with a purpose,” writes The Guardian. But the Miss World organisers have been accused of something even more vile: being “vindictive and very bitter” towards a contestant who claimed she was used as a prop.

The reigning Miss England, Milla Magee, said she agreed to take part in Miss World 2025 because she believed it would be a platform to promote her campaign to include CPR in schools. But she says the reality has been very different.

The English beauty walked out ahead of the grand final in India on Saturday, saying she felt exploited and claiming she and other women felt they were being provided as entertainment for investors as a "thank you".

Miss World organisers issued a statement citing "false and defamatory allegations" that they said were "completely unfounded and did not reflect the reality of her time with us".

The organisation's executive director, Julia Morley, went further in an interview with The Hindu newspaper, accusing Magee of leaving because she "thought she had no chance in the competition".

On Saturday, Magee fired back: “What Julia said was vindictive and very bitter. And it was a ridiculous statement. I didn’t leave because I thought I wasn’t going to win. I left because I wanted to stand up for what I believe in, and it didn’t align with my values. And I don’t want another young woman who watched me last year to be put into this system and experience the same thing.”

Magee said there were “a lot of tears behind the smiles” at the Miss World pageant in Hyderabad and she did not want to “promote a lie”. She insists that while the pageant was designed to be “purposeful beauty”, she found it was about “wearing a different ball gown every day and how you look”.

The beauty says: “I felt like I had been fed a false idea about this system that promotes ‘beauty with a purpose’, which is supposed to be about advocacy and what you stand for. And I thought this was a really good opportunity for me to be on the world stage and talk about my campaign, which is being promoted through artificial respiration. It’s not about me standing on a stage, it’s not about what I wear. It’s not about how I look.”

Instead, Magee says, she found that she and the other contestants were there more to look good and entertain guests, with limited opportunity to pitch their ideas. In one instance, she says, a man she couldn’t identify approached her and said, “Next time I’m in London or England, come meet me,” which made her feel uneasy.

Magee also said she believed Miss World had incurred the wrath of her sponsors by posting her statement on social media for them to comment on, something she said she had failed to do her duty to.

However, she said she was "inundated" with messages from women who had taken part in the pageants "saying they felt the same way".

She called on the organisation to modernise, saying: “They have a big responsibility to acknowledge what I said, to acknowledge and listen to the reasons why I left, and not just so quickly and irresponsibly come out and say it was because I didn’t think I would win.”