- Katrina Hodge the model and beauty queen, left, and Katrina Hodge the soldier, right.
The Miss England Pageant will no longer include a swimsuit competition, thanks to Miss England 2009 Katrina Hodge, also known as “Combat Barbie.”
Hodge convinced the pageant’s organizers to drop the swimsuit competition portion of the pageant, saying that it put contestants through too much anxiety. “I think it’s nerve-wracking enough to girls to get up on a stage and speak, let alone in a swimsuit,” she said.
But why did the organizers listen to her? Because the beauty queen obviously can back up her words with action: Hodge is a lance corporal in the British Army who once disarmed and detained a suspected rebel fighter with her bare hands while serving in Iraq. (She is also a lingerie model for La Senza, by the way.)
Instead of parading around on stage in a swimsuit, Miss England contestants will now participate in a sports challenge, overseen by Hodge.
Now there’s a pageant I’d watch.
She actually looks hotter in the fatigues. Maybe it’s the camera angle 🙂 Will the sports competition involve some form of mud or pudding wrestling?
That’s brilliant that is although in another way it’s also a shame….