HARARE - Former Miss Zimbabwe Thabiso Phiri is understood to have stepped down to protect the reputation of the Miss Zimbabwe Trust ahead of the Miss World pageant.
Phiri was selected out of 26 finalists to take the Miss Zimbabwe title at a black-tie ceremony in Harare on June 14 and the law student was due to leave the country in November to attend the Miss World finals in London in December.
While Phiri has adamantly refused to disclose her reasons for stepping down, rumour has it that the model photographed herself while in the nude and sent the images to her lover, who in turn allegedly leaked them via social media platforms. But she has strenously denied this.
Miss Zimbabwe 2003, Linda Van Beek, was forced to relinquish her title after she became pregnant — Phoebe Monjane, the then first princess took over the crown from Linda who had fallen pregnant midway through her reign.
This year, each Miss Zimbabwe contestant had to undergo a pregnancy test just before the contest.
Several Zimbabwean celebrities have also fallen victim to sex tapes leaked to social media in recent years, including reality television star and businesswoman Pokello Nare and radio personality Tinopona Katsande.
At least 5,2 million Zimbabweans, nearly half the population, now have access to the internet making such leakages hot news in the populace’s rumour mill.
Mary Chiwenga, the Miss Zimbabwe Trust chairperson, insisted at a recent news conference that the outgoing beauty queen (Phiri) was not pregnant.
“I can even take her for tests, she is not pregnant, and that one is out. It will only be appropriate for her to tell you the reasons why, but it’s not pregnancy,” said Chiwenga.
The Daily News on Sunday has compiled some incidents around the world in which beauty queens, especially those set to compete at the Miss World finals were forced to step down prematurely.
Vanessa Williams: She was the first African American woman to be crowned Miss America in 1984.
Ten months into her reign, nude photos of her that she believed had been destroyed resurfaced.
They were published by Penthouse magazine and Williams stepped down as Miss America.
Valerie Begue: Despite racy photos that appeared in Gossip magazine, Miss France 2008 was allowed to keep her crown, but was not allowed to compete in the Miss World or Miss Universe pageants.
Danielle Lloyd: Miss Great Britain 2006, was stripped of her title after it was revealed that she had posed nude for Playboy amid accusations that she was dating one of the judges at the time of the contest.
Lloyd went on to star in the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007 where she and other contestants were accused of bullying and making racist comments about Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
Amy Polumbo: An anonymous person threatened to reveal “scandalous” photos of the beauty queen showing her partying and drinking, but Polumbo refused to cave in to the blackmail.
She took the incident public and revealed the photos herself on the Today Show. She was Miss New Jersey 2007.
Lindsey Evans: Miss Louisiana Teen USA 2008 was stripped of her crown 10 days before completing her reign.
She and her friends skipped out on a $46 restaurant bill, and Evans left behind her purse, which contained a bag of marijuana.
The women were arrested for theft and drug possession when they returned to retrieve the purse.
Rima Fakih: Miss USA 2010, immediately after her crowning, photos of her in a pole-dancing contest surfaced causing controversy.
She was most recently arrested for a driving under the influence in her home state of Michigan.
Katie Rees: She was stripped of her title of Miss Nevada USA in 2006 after racy photos of her appeared on the Internet.
Some of the photos showed her kissing other young women, exposing her breasts and pulling down her pants to show her thong underwear.
Afterwards, Rees signed a two-year, $2 million-plus deal to host a variety show at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
In April, Rees agreed to pay fines for five misdemeanour traffic violations in exchange for prosecutors dropping a charge of resisting arrest.
Kumari Fulbright: She was a 25-year-old former Miss Arizona contestant in 2005 and 2006, a law student and member of the editorial board for a University of Arizona law school publication.
She was indicted by an Arizona court on five felony charges, including armed robbery, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.