Why do people enjoy beauty pageants so much? It is obviously about the beauty competition while people also enjoy the backstage drama from time to time. Beautiful ambitious young women vye to nab the crown, attached with some modest material benefits. Yet, the crown on the most beautiful woman comes with fame and some great responsibilities, while not all beauties are equally adept at keeping both intact. Due to this, the world has witnessed many pageant winners losing their crowns amid major scandal.
Over the years, pageant contestants have made headlines over drug use, racy photos and controversial comments.
The dethroning of infamous Jannatul Nayeem, who could have been the first Bangladeshi beauty queen to represent her country in the global run, is the latest instances hereof.
In this article, Showtime looks back at some of the most memorable dethroned pageant queens.
Ariadna Gutiérrez Aréval, Miss Columbia 2015It appears that live TV competition finales are officially about to become the worst nightmare for organisers. Like 2015’s Miss Universe finale and last year’s Oscars conundrum, the “could have been” Miss Columbia faced a similar challenge, when Comedian and Miss Universe 2015 pageant’s host Steve Harvey admitted that he made an ‘honest mistake’ when he misread a cue card and declared Miss Columbia Ariadna Gutiérrez Aréval as the winner. Ariadna can be considered as one of the shortest serving Miss Universe.
Later, it turned out that he had read out the wrong name and that Miss Phillipines, Pie Alonzo Wurtzbach, was the actual winner while Adriana was the first runner-up. Miss Columbia stayed with the crown on her head for four minutes and later tagged the experience “humiliating.”
Zara Holland, Miss Great Britain 2016Another most recent instance happened at the Miss Great Britain 2016, where Zara Holland lost her crown after having sex on a British reality television show. The beauty queen got involved in sexual interaction with 24-year-old Alex Bowen in an episode of
Love Island. The later edited scenes of the episode were viewed by a million fans across the UK.
After stripping her of her crown, the organisers stated on their website: “We wholly understand that everyone makes mistakes, but Zara, as an ambassador for Miss Great Britain, simply did not uphold the responsibility expected of the title.”
Vanessa Williams, Miss America 1984By winning the title in 1983, Vanessa, the Miss New York, became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. However, The Ugly Betty star could only enjoy the throne for ten months, until an anonymous caller told Williams that arty nude photos taken of her back in 1982 were about to surface.
Vanessa stepped down as Miss America amid the scandal in a July 1984 press conference, with the photos appearing in the September 1984 issue of
Penthouse. However, Williams chose not to give up and stayed in the public eye since then. She, soon after, started a singing career, and later branched out into acting, with great success even getting Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award nominations.
Shwe Eain Si, Miss Grand Myanmar 2017 The 19-year-old Burmese beauty queen was stripped of her crown recently for speaking out against violence in the politically chaotic state of Rakhine, in Myanmar. According to BBC News reports, Shwe Eain Si claimed that she lost her Miss Grand Myanmar title because she posted a video online bashing Muslim Rohingya militant for attacking a Burmese police post last month.
In the video posted on Facebook, the beauty queen called the insurgents “harbingers of terror and violence” who acted “as if they are oppressed.” Pageant organisers later dethroned her for breaching of contract saying: “she failed to behave like a role model,” reports the Daily Mail.
Marjorie Wallace, Miss America and Miss World 1973Marjorie Wallace, who made history by becoming the first American to be crowned Miss World in 1973, had made yet another history just 104 days later, when the pageant officials announced to strip her of her title, hence making her the first Miss World to have her title taken from her.
However, Wallace dated celebrities including Welsh singer Tom Jones and Formula One driver Peter Revson during her time in UK. However, the beauty queen carried on an affair with Tom Jones even when she was engaged with Revson, who was seen kissing him on a beach in Barbados. The Pageant authorities took this as a violation of the contracts and took away her title on March 7, 1974, announcing that Wallace “had failed to fulfil the basic requirements of the job.”
Oxana Fedorova, Russia, Miss Universe 2002Oxana Fedorova was the first Miss Russian to win the title of Miss Universe. She was a law student at the time of her Miss Universe win. Being a serious student, Oxana was too busy with school and could barely keep up with the rigorous travel schedule that she was required to comply with her crown. However, rumour had it that she was dethroned because she had put on weight.