Miss Earth organisation has decided not to allow Irini Moutzouris, the Miss Earth South Africa 2017, to compete in the final leg of Miss Earth 2017, and the decision is apparently made due to her not meeting the height and weight' requirements for the international pageant.
The minimum height requirement to compete in Miss Earth 2017 is 5 feet 5 inches (approximately 165 cm), while Irini's height is 164 cm. Miss Earth South Africa organisation has decided to bring their winner back home to support end-of-year programmes in South Africa.
While it is the prerogative of the Miss Earth organisation to allow a candidate to compete and their rules are clearly stipulated, we find it shocking as how then Irini was allowed to participate earlier as the height of the candidate was known to the organisation and was even published on their website! We do wonder what height has to do with the 'environmental advocacy' of Miss Earth 2017.
Anyways, with her withdrawal, now there are 86 contestants competing to succeed Miss Earth 2016, Katherine Espín.
Below are the excerpts from the official statement released by Miss Earth South Africa organisation -
"The Miss Earth South Africa organisation prepares to receive Irini Moutzouris, the current 'Green Queen', home earlier than anticipated. Our delegate will not compete at the international event, and the decision has been made to bring her home. The international body has a different set of rules to our local programme, their event is governed by rules and requirements on height and weight, and they made the decision to not allow Irini to compete in the final leg of the competition based on the height requirement. We accept this as their prerogative and have decided to rather bring our ambassador back home to support our end-of-year programmes."
Supporting their candidate after disqualification, the national director Ella Bella Leite said,"We strongly believe in our candidate, she is an energetic and passionate advocate for the environment and for the education of young people."
What do you think of this decision made by Miss Earth organisation?
Given the mission of the Miss Earth organisation, should they not reconsider their height requirements?