British beauty pageant Milla Magee, who was appearing for England in the Miss World 2025 event in India, has landed in the spotlight after dropping out of the contest. In an interview with The Sun, the 24-year-old alleged the experience made her feel ‘like a prostitute’ after being allegedly exploited by the organizers.
Magee, who made history last year as the first plus-size (UK size 16) winner of Miss England, is a 6-foot-tall lifeguard from Newquay, Cornwall. She spent her early years in London and attended More House School, before relocating due to academic challenges. Milla has been open about being bullied for her weight in her school years.
After winning Miss England, she spoke to the BBC and said, “I wanted to be involved in the campaign to shift the way of thinking about these so-called pageants. It’s come such a long way with women of all backgrounds coming together.”
She also initiated a CPR awareness campaign under the ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ platform. GoFarwithCPR is her project which tries to educate children and adults in the lifesaving skills of CPR all over the UK. “So that everyone in the country can save a life with their bare hands,” she told us.
In an earlier interview with Loaded magazine, Milla had mentioned that she wanted to dispel stereotypes. “I wanted to compete in Miss England to try and make a change. There are a lot of stereotypes about pageants, and I want to tell people that competing in Miss England has given me a sense of purpose, and pushed me to raise money for charity, and do positive things for my community,” she had said.
Why She Left Miss World
On May 7, Magee arrived in Hyderabad. On May 16, she left the Miss World pageant and went back to the UK. She condemned the pageant’s outdated style, stating, “We had to sit like performing monkeys. It’s stuck in the past. Morally, I couldn’t be a part of it.”
Speaking about her experience at Miss World 2025, she said, ”
Milla added how she felt ‘uncomfortable’ in the way they were made to do small-talk with the guests: “There were two girls to each table of six guests. We were expected to sit with them for the whole evening and entertain them as a thank you. I found that unbelievable. I remember thinking, ‘This is so wrong’. I didn’t come here to be farmed out for people’s entertainment. Miss World is supposed to have the same values, but it’s outdated and stuck in the past. They made me feel like a prostitute. At one point I tried to talk about the causes I was supporting but it was obvious the men at the table were not interested. Instead there was weird small-talk that left me feeling uncomfortable. I went out to make a difference, to help create a different future, perhaps inspire young people. 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. I couldn’t stand it.”
She concluded, “All the sashes and crowns in the world are irrelevant next to speaking up and changing the world.”
Charlotte Grant, who was the Miss England runner-up, took her place to represent England at Miss World 2025.
