Nakhon Pathom, Thailand - One month before Bangkok hosts the Miss Universe competition, Thailand crowned on Sunday a 110kg business student winner of a light-hearted, heavyweight pageant staged to promote elephant conservation.
Tarnrarin Chansawang, 18, was crowned the eighth Miss Jumbo Queen after a contest in which 24 large-size women sang and danced to pop tunes and traditional Thai music.
The annual event is an unlikely precursor to the international pageant May 30 in Bangkok, but the Jumbo Queen has become a strangely popular event in a country where most women strive to be skinny.
"I feel I am also beautiful, whatever the figure, it's okay," she said after the pageant. "I'm happy with my body."
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=qw1115027101495B234
NAKHON PATHOM, Thailand (Reuters) -- In an era of chiselled supermodels and bizarre weight-loss diets, a Thai beauty contest celebrated women with a bit of flesh when heavy-weight contestants battled for the Miss Jumbo Queen crown.
The annual contest, which aims to raise awareness and money for Thailand's dwindling elephant population, allows full-sized women weighing over 80 kilograms (176 pounds) to show weight-conscious Thais that big is beautiful.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiap ... ueen.reut/