Cynthia de la Vega, winner of the Nuestra Belleza Mundo México pageant, was all set to compete in the 2011 Miss World on November 6 in London. But now, de la Vega claims, she has been stripped of her crown because she failed to lose enough weight before the competition, CNN is reporting.
In an official statement, the organizers of Nuestra Belleza Mundo México stated that they were removing de la Vega because of a "breach of contracts" between the pageant and the winner, who failed to meet "the recommendations and agreed upon targets for her preparation."
CNNMexico reports that Lupita Jones, director of Nuestra Belleza Mundo México, claims that it was a lack of discipline and dedication that rendered de la Vega ineligible, not specifically a matter of weight.
But de la Vega told reporters in a press conference, "Organizers of the Nuestra Belleza Mexico contest demanded that I lose a few kilos," weight she acknowledges she gained in the stressful preparation for the pagaent.
"But," says de la Vega, "they never provided a nutritionist or any other assistance to ensure the weight loss," the Daily Mail reports. A good nutrition plan, the kind she would have needed to meet the pageant's standards, "should be specific for each day of the week and should also be supervised to make the necessary adjustments."
De la Vega affirmed that there's nothing about her body that prevents her from competing. "I feel healthy enough to represent my country," she told CNNMexico, "and I think this is an injustice. They took away the crown that I earned. That is mine."
Watch a video of de la Vega competing below (in Spanish):
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