French farce as 'Miss' proves a hit with the wrong crowd

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION, France (AFP) — When the bitching begins there are surely few sights uglier than a beauty pageant, as the Christmas row over the newly-crowned Miss France amply shows.

Like a chaotic scene from the film "Miss Congeniality", this year's contest has rapidly descended into a complete French farce with bikinis, crucifixion imagery, an outraged bishop defending the girl, a post-colonial racism row and legal action set to follow.

It all seemed so innocent when Valerie Begue, a 22-year-old business studies student, brought the coveted Miss France title back to the Indian Ocean island for the first time in 31 years.

She was given a heroine's welcome at Saint-Denis airport five days before Christmas, only for the publication of suggestive...

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