Size 10 beauty queen told she was '˜too fat'

Zoiey Smale, 28, won Miss United Continents in June and was gearing up for the excitement of competing for an international title in the final round of the competition in Ecuador.

But just weeks after winning the UK round of the competition, the organisers of Miss United Continents told Zoiey she needed to ‘lose as much weight as possible’ to stand a chance of winning the competition.

Zoeiy was meant to travel to Guayaquil, Ecuador this September to compete for the title of Miss United Continents, but just weeks after being crowned the UK winner her dream collapsed.

In July, the national director who was supporting her through the final stages of the competition informed her that the Ecuadorian directors wanted her to lose weight.

Zoiey told the Mail: “It was one of those things, in the 21st century you don’t actually expect people to be that blunt.

“I’m a size 10; I’m not big at all I’m just bang on average. I just think to be told to lose as much weight as possible for a competition, why would people say that? It’s horrible and it made me feel so rubbish about myself for a long, long time.

Zoiey, who has competed in pageants since she was 18 years old, said she hung up the phone and, after thinking about it for two weeks, decided that she didn’t want to compete in the final in Ecuador.