Hyderabad: A Miss World 2025 contestant has sensationally quit the beauty pageant, which is being hosted by Indian southern state Telengana.
Miss England Milla Magee has alleged that she felt the organisers of the 72nd edition of Miss World were exploiting her and making her “feel like a prostitute”.
The 24-year-old Magee initially blamed her abrupt departure from the pageant in Hyderabad for personal reasons.
“We regret to announce that Milla Magee has returned home to the UK due to personal reasons. We stand fully by her decision – health must always come first,” said Angie Beasley, the director of Miss England.
Later, Magee said that the pageant was “outdated” and “stuck in the past”.
A lifeguard from Cornwall, in southwest England, Magee became the first Miss England to quit the contest in its seven-decade history.
Magee told The Sun that she went to India to make a difference, “but we had to sit like performing monkeys”. Claiming that she felt like a “prostitute”, Magee said she could no longer be a part of the beauty pageant from a moral standpoint.
Magee claimed that the contestants were paraded in front of wealthy male sponsors, expected to dress in ball gowns from morning to night — even at breakfast — and told to wear makeup 24×7. “We were paired up, two girls to each table of six men. We were expected to sit with them for the whole evening and entertain them,” she said.
“It felt so wrong.”
Magee, who arrived in Hyderabad on May 7 for publicity events, withdrew from the contest 10 days later.
She had shared posts on social media while leaving England for the pageant, and also after being welcomed in India.
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Magee will be replaced by Miss England runner-up Charlotte Grant. The new Miss World will be crowned on May 31.
