Don't Blame Pizza Hut

Let's start this blog post with a sort of question and answer quiz thing. Just for fun. So here's the question:

The woman in this picture is quite famous for her sort of job. What is it?


A. Parliament Minister
B. British Idol
C. Beauty queen
D. Children's book author

Go on! Guess!


Done? Are you ready to find out the correct answer? It is none other than......


C! Her name is Chloe Marshall. She's 23 and Miss Surrey 2008.

What was that? She doesn't look like the typical size 0 beauty queen? She actually has curves? Well, that's because she isn't size 0. She's actually a size 16 (extra large).

I can see the shock in all of your faces. I can see dropped jaws and expressions of bafflement everywhere. And I can see your point. I mean since when have you heard beauty queen and size 16 in the same sentence? Well, here she is now, the winner of a regional pageant. A woman who represented Surrey in the Miss United Kingdom pageant. And curvy.

What was that? You're wondering how she got into the competition in the first place? You're wondering how a...robust girl like her could compete with the size 0-2 girls at the pageant? You're wondering what came over the judges to put her through the various rounds of competition? And most of all, you're wondering how she, a woman who certainly is no Kate Moss, won a beauty competition? Well, you aren't alone.

This is from the Philippine Star entertainment column of Mr. B (I'm not telling who exactly he is. But he's pretty famous in the Philippines.). He was writing a piece about the recently concluded Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) pageant. It was a pretty okay piece. I do get some of the comments on the production values of the show. But what is hauntingly blaring at me is this excerpt:

When the show got into the swimsuit competition- with the contestants doing the mandatory poses in a resort in Batangas- I thought most of the shots were unflattering. Was it the camera angles that showed most of the contestant's bulging midsections? It was either that or the contestants had too much Pizza Hut.

I know that the camera adds pounds but not that much. It adds at most about 5 or so pounds. So, that bulging midsection is in fact actually a NORMAL midsection. A normal midsection you normally get whilst sitting down, which is what they probably did in the photoshoot. The writer continues:

Then I saw the tale of the tape flashed on one side of the screen. Some of the girls had waistlines as wide as 26! You could actually mount a flat screen onto them! To the pageant organisers, send the winners to Gold's Gym, pronto!

The average waistline of a woman is 30. So to say that you can mount a flat screen TV on a 26 inch waist is ridiculous. Oh and by the way, most of the girls are already members of gyms to get into your pageant. I don't think you can dictate to them to go to the gym!

Mr. B, I kind of get your point. You just want to end the beauty title drought of the country. I get that you just want our ladies to be recognised for beauty. I get that you just want to promote Filipina beauty.

But Filipina beauty should and isn't limited to tall, white and size 0. In fact, no country's beauty is limited to just that. Just like a rainbow, beauty comes in all shades. Black or white, tall or short, size 0 to 28, it's all beautiful. It is this diversity that makes the world a lot more colourful and, yes, lovely.

But I can't fully blame Mr. B, though. Beauty pageants have this ingrained culture that does not that easily accept unique beauty. He's probably just a reflection of such a culture.

I think it's about time that the beauty in beauty pageant diversified. And it starts by accepting the Chloe Marshalls of the world as beauty queens.

And this time, you don't blame Pizza Hut.