Zara Holland has criticised the woman who replaced her as Miss Great Britain for not defending her when she was stripped of the title for having sex on national television.
Zara 20, came face to face with Deone Robertson, the runner-up who took over the title, for the first time on ITV’s Loose Women.
In a tense exchange, the model from North Ferriby, East Yorkshire, also said she refused to return the bejewelled crown she won in 2015.
Asked if she thought Deone “deserved” the title, she said: “No, because in my opinion, if it was the other way around and I was in the same situation, I’d probably say I stand up for women.”
Zara was shown getting intimate with scaffolder Alex Bowen on ITV2′s Love Island.
She was told off camera that she had lost her title and initially chose to remain on the show, but left days later when her mother became ill.
New Miss Great Britain Deone, who held the title of Miss North Lanarkshire, defended stepping into Zara’s role.
“Someone would have taken it, they say on the night if for any reason the winner cannot fulfil her duties, the first-runner up will take them on,” she said.
In response to whether she thought Zara should have lost the title she said that “the rules were the rules”.
No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes! You live and you learn. Thank you for all your amazing comments and support, means everything.
— Zara Holland (@zaraholland11) August 18, 2016
“When you’re representing any brand, not just Miss Great Britain, any brand, I think the same thing would have happened… having sex on national TV is not okay,” she said.
At the time, the Miss Great Britain organisation said its decision was taken with “deep regret”.
Following the release of a full statement, the organisation also tweeted a message to say: “To be clear, we have no problem at all with sex – it is perfectly natural. We simply can’t condone what happened on national TV.”
