Curvy and well-shaped women take centre stage as they will compete for the coveted crown of the Miss Plus World International in Bloemfontein on Saturday (19/08). Exclusively for full-figured women, the pageant is held annually during August to tie together with Women’s Month celebrations.
The crowning ceremony will be held in the Bloemfontein Civic Theatre. The pageant is organised by the Chief Leeuw Foundation. It is aimed at instilling self-esteem, help dispel body shaming, and inspires more well-endowed women to appreciate themselves.
This will be the first crowning ceremony held after the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic the past two years.
The event will see 11 finalists strut their natural beauty on the runway in front of the judges. The finalists, who hail from different provinces across South Africa, were selected from a group of 18 aspiring contestants who entered this sixth edition of the pageant.
One of the finalists is Tanya Pike (31), from Bloemfontein, the first white contestant to enter and reach the finals.
“She is breaking barriers. I believe we also had contestants from the Indian community, from outside the Free State,” said Samuel “Chief” Leeuw, the pageant’s organiser.
Pike is, however, no stranger to pageantry, having bagged second princess titles and prizes in the Miss Cancer Survivor contest held in October last year.
She is a breast cancer survivor and ambassador. Pike recently graduated from the Cambridge International Qualification (CIQ – UK) with a postgraduate extended diploma in Business Management, and is currently studying towards her Master of Business Administration (MBA) qualification. She also holds a B.Com degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology.
The pageant has made it possible for winners to compete in America with Puleng Direko, Dipolelo Hou, and Mammone Aphiri among the lucky full-figured women who won prizes abroad.
