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Milla Magee, the reigning Miss England 2024, made headlines this month after becoming the first contestant in the pageant's 74-year history to walk out of the Miss World competition, held in Hyderabad, India. Magee quit the contest on May 16, claiming she felt exploited after being asked to entertain middle-aged male guests and being disrespected by pageant officials. TNM has learnt that the Telangana government has conducted a preliminary probe, have spoken to other contestants and is likely to submit a report that the allegations made by Magee were false.
Magee told The Sun that the final straw came when she and other contestants were told to "entertain" sponsors who had financially contributed to the event. “There were two girls at each table of six guests. We were expected to sit with them for the whole evening and entertain them as a thank you,” she had said. “I remember thinking, ‘This is so wrong’. They made me feel like a prostitute.”
The inquiry conducted by a senior IAS officer in Telangana however claimed that Magee was seated with Miss Wales on a table, along with an IAS officer, his wife, daughter-in-law and a woman friend. Miss Wales reportedly has not raised any complaints and said that the seating arrangement was not awkward.
Magee, a 24-year-old lifeguard from Cornwall also described feeling “farmed out for entertainment” and compared the experience to being treated like a “performing monkey.” She said that she arrived in India on May 7 with hopes of championing her cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) awareness campaign but Magee soon realized the pageant environment conflicted with her values. “I went there to make a difference but we had to sit like performing monkeys,” she stated.
Magee also described being publicly reprimanded by a pageant official after an event. In her interview with The Sun, she said, “She [the official] clapped her hands right in my face to get my attention. It was so disrespectful, like she was addressing children rather than a coach full of adult women.” Magee had later phoned her mother in tears, saying she and other contestants felt being exploited.
The Miss World Organisation has rejected the accusations, attributing Magee’s departure to a “family emergency involving her mother’s health.” Julia Morley, Chairwoman and CEO of the Miss World Organisation, said in a statement: “We responded to Milla’s situation with compassion and immediately arranged her return to England, placing the well-being of the contestant and her family first.”
Morley also labeled the allegations published in UK media as "false and defamatory," noting that unedited videos from Magee’s time in India — in which she reportedly expresses gratitude — would be released to refute the claims. “These claims are completely unfounded and inconsistent with the reality of her time with us,” said the official statement.
An IAS officer who was part of the Telangana government’s inquiry told TNM that they were now doubtful since the allegations had been made to The Sun, a tabloid, and not to newspapers of repute in the UK.
Though the Miss World organisers and the Telangana government are rejecting the allegations, BRS leader Krishank has shared videos from a dinner hosted by the pageant. The videos show the various contestants seated on tables mostly with men. One of the men could be seen clicking pictures of the two contestants on his table.
Following Magee’s exit, first runner-up Charlotte Grant has taken Magee’s place to represent England at the ongoing Miss World final, which will be live-streamed in over 180 countries on May 31.
This is the first time Hyderabad is hosting Miss World, in the event’s 72nd edition. The previous 2023 edition was held in India too, in Mumbai. Before that, Bengaluru hosted the pageant in 1996. Following the opening ceremony at Gachibowli Stadium on May 10, contestants were shown around Telangana for a week by the government, including a state-run Buddhist theme park in Nagarjunasagar, Hyderabad’s Charminar, Laad Bazaar, Chowmahalla Palace, Warangal Fort and Ramoji Film City.