This year’s festival of fitties will be held in China, with the winning lady crowned on October 30. The format is fairly simple, as are the contestants.
Along with third world poverty and Simon Cowell, sexism is one of the great in-erasable stains on the conscience of the world. But what can one do hey? These are the days of apathy, the days of being too-cool-to-vote, the days of bloody Nick Clegg in the government.
Burn your bra? You don't even own one. Schlep around with a 'Not in my Name' banner? I don't think so. So instead, how about exploiting this great global ill, and make a few shekels for yourself via a cheeky bet on Miss World 2010? Because like watching monkeys play golf on youtube, some things are not to be encouraged, only to be enjoyed.
This year's festival of fitties will be held in China, with the winning lady crowned on October 30. The format is fairly simple, as are the contestants. There are four preliminary contests, namely Beach Beauty this coming Saturday, Miss Sport three days later, Top Model on October 23, before Miss Talent wraps up the Fast Track Events on October 26.
These events help provide the 15-20 finalists with each individual winner fast-tracked straight through to the showpiece. At the end of the whole process, Miss World 2009 (Miss Gibraltar no less) will mutter some trite guff about charity, before handing over the crown/funny sash.
So who wins? At this stage, it is tough - the field is enormous - even Calum Best couldn't eye them all up at once. However, the first point that needs consideration is that the last time the event was held in China, the home favourite took the crown.
If you're a gentleman who prefers an older woman however, Kazakhstan are the only nation brave enough to opt for a lady over the age of 25. So if you're female, 26 and reading this, you are indeed past it in Miss World terms. Sorry about that.
The home entrants seem solid enough. Miss England is a Law student at Nottingham whilst Miss Wales claims to be the youngest ever Welsh-speaking Arctic explorer. Miss Ireland's grandfather was the Irish Ambassador to China, so that could certainly work in her favour.
Formwise, it may be worth examining Miss South Africa, Nicole Flint, very carefully, given her strong performance in Miss Universe 2010. Now I'm no astronomer, and my geography is pretty rusty, but from what I can work out, Miss Universe and Miss World, would probably cover the same area in terms of eligible females.
But those in the know (one suspects they use the internet a lot) fancy another Asian contestant - Miss Thailand is expected to put up a strong showing. Insert your own ladyboy joke - we're so above that.
