Plus-size girl wins

The top three Miss England finalists, from left to right, Miss Surrey Chloe Marshall, Miss Derby Laura Coleman the newly crowned Miss England, and Miss Norwich Jessica Linley

Miss Surrey Chloe Marshall, the plus-size girl won second place at the Miss England competition held in London on July 18. The size 16 girl is four sizes bigger than Miss London Leah Green, who had been rejected by modeling agencies for being "too big" and entered the Miss London contest to promote voluptuous women! Leah unfortunately did not make it to the top 7.

Daily Mail

A 17-year-old girl today became the first size 16 girl to come second in the Miss England beauty contest. Chloe Marshall, who is a trainee opera singer from Cranleigh, was crowned Miss Surrey. Chloe said earlier: "I would love to be a top plus size model and support curvier women, I also want to help teenagers with their confidence and to love them selves in their own skin. I wanted to enter Miss England to show everyone that you can be beautiful no matter what size you are and that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes."

Another interesting contestant, who received a special award, was Miss Tunbridge Wells Katrina Hodge:


This 21-year old is a Lance-Corporal in the British Army and has fought insurgents in Iraq. She was given the Eco Girl Award. Collecting her prize, Katrina Hodge said: "I am an ambassador for the whole of the armed forces. "Obviously, I have had a bit of stick from the lads.I have been to Iraq and there is nothing scarier than walking on this stage."

Katrina Hodge is skinny, with figures of 32-23-20, for a height of 5'8" and a dress size 8. But that is okay since she looks to be naturally slim and has an athletic body....Katrina is also a keen runner.

What will surprise most people is that the winner Laura Coleman is a healthy size 10! The 22-year old has a curvy figure of 36BB-26-34 and will represent England at the Miss World competition in the Ukraine on October 4th.



As a 16-year old Laura was a skinny size 8 and recalls what happened when she tried to get into modeling: "When I was 16 I was taken on by one of London’s top model agencies, who told me I would have to lose weight of my hips. I was only a dress size 8 and my parents and I were shocked at the suggestion! Many of the models used to compete to loose weight, and the castings and jobs I went to were awful, I didn’t feel like a person, I felt like an object. I can understand how many young girls are influenced by the model industry, the girls are brainwashed into thinking thin is beautiful by the agents and designers. I hated it, I went back to school and studied for a degree instead!"



Chloe Marshall on the other hand is very keen to become a plus-size model. The blue-eyed cutie is 5'10", with a figure of 36D-28-38; obviously from these figures and her swimsuit photo, it seems that Chloe has extra weight in her hips and thighs. If this is due to genetics or some medical issue, then it's fine, but extra weight is never good for health.

Chloe in fact was a size 18 in school but: "Kids taunted me with really upsetting things." Thanks to such horrid bullying she started a fitness program with plenty of exercise, and reduced her snacks of fatty and sugary stuff. "I love roast dinners and banoffee pie so I have them in moderation. I no longer eat pies and pizza all the time. Now I'm toned up and happy."



Chloe Marshall runs for 40 minutes every day and does horse riding on the farm where she lives near Guildford, Surrey. She also likes swimming.

Despite such efforts to stay healthy Chloe has come under fire from a dietician and former Miss England judge, Monica Grenfell, who accused her of being greedy and eating too much food. (Remember Jen Hunter and her criticism by stupid Rachel Hunter?)

Such people don't realize what kind of struggle it is too lose weight without starving oneself. And what kind of self-motivation and support one needs to lose weight gradually and still remain healthy and happy!