Miss England 2024, Milla Magee, has withdrawn from the 72nd Miss World pageant held in Telangana, India, denouncing the competition as “outdated” and exploitative.
While the 24-year-old initially cited “personal reasons” for her May 16 departure, she has now revealed in a bombshell interview with The Sun that she “couldn’t take it anymore.”
“I went out to make a difference,” Magee said. “Never in a million years did I expect to find myself in that situation. We were there to please these people and sit like performing monkeys.”
Magee described a highly controlled environment where contestants were required to wear makeup and gowns at all times—even at breakfast. After one event, she and others were reportedly chastised for being “boring.”
Her breaking point came during a dinner event where contestants were paired and assigned to tables of six men, who they were instructed to “entertain” as a gesture of thanks for their financial support of the show.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is so wrong. I didn’t come here to be farmed out for people’s entertainment,’” she said. “They made me feel like a prostitute.”
When Magee tried to steer the conversation toward her CPR awareness campaign, she said the men appeared uninterested, engaging instead in awkward small talk that left her feeling “uncomfortable.”
As a lifeguard, surfer, and the first plus-size Miss England contestant to qualify for Miss World, Magee has championed the idea of “beauty with purpose.” She famously attended pageants without makeup to promote body positivity and encourage young women to embrace their natural selves.
But at Miss World, Magee felt those values were dismissed.
“Morally, I couldn’t be a part of it,” she said. “All the crowns and sashes in the world mean nothing compared to using your voice and making a difference.”
