Teen loses beauty crown over dyed hair

Teen beauty queen Olivia O'Neil has been forced to hand back her Miss Teen Wanganui crown - for dying her hair.

And she says it's a weight she is glad to be without after  spending the past few months in an unpleasant spat  with Miss Wanganui director Barbara Osborne.

For their part, organisers have accused Olivia of unacceptable behaviour.

Olivia, 15, handed her crown back last week, having held her title for only three months.

Olivia said she had been increasingly unhappy with Mrs Osborne and  the treatment of herself and other pageant girls.

But things came to a head when she posted a new profile photograph on her Facebook page, showing off her newly dyed dark-brown hair.

She says Mrs Osborne commented repeatedly on the picture, asking "Is that a wig?", before going on to make more comments including "I hope it is, don't give me heart failure","Oh my God, I hope it's a demi", and "Please tell me that's a wig".

Olivia replied, saying her hair in the picture was not a wig and that if Mrs Osborne didn't like it, or think it was "pageant worthy", then pageants might not be for her.

Mrs Osborne replied to the comment, saying: "Well you better decide, miss.

"Hand over your crown with an attitude like that. I'm sure someone will step into your place with manners."

Olivia  said she was sick of "being picked on" and that she would give the crown back.

She says Mrs Osborne then told her she "would not go far in this world" and told her to drop her crown in.

"It was really surprising, I didn't think that she would flip out like that.

 

"I don't think you can tell a 15-year-old that they aren't going to go very far in life. It's hurtful."

Following their public exchange on Facebook, Olivia said she received a private message from Mrs Osborne telling her to seek legal advice.

"She tried to say giving up the crown was my choice, but it wasn't. She had already said that I had to give it back."

Olivia claimed that over the course of the pageant, she and  other pageant girls were  criticised for their appearance, complexion and hair, told to wear more makeup and yelled at.

"She was always really harsh on the girls.  It was really inappropriate for what she is doing."

The girls would get yelled at if their lipstick, which had to be red, wasn't on heavily enough, she said.

 

Olivia said she wanted other girls to know what they were getting themselves into when entering the pageant.

 "It's not the best environment for young girls to be sent into. And when she says things like 'present yourself better', 'wear lots of makeup', 'do 20 sit-ups', it gets to you after a while."

Olivia originally joined the pageant at the recommendation of a friend and was interested in competing in the Philippines.

"The only way to get far in pageants is to be nice to Barbara, because she controls everything," she said.

Olivia said Mrs Osborne often criticised her for a lack of commitment but, of the months of practices, she missed only a handful, due to her commitments to two school netball teams, and dancing.

"I always felt that she didn't like me that much. She was always telling me that I wasn't committed, or that my hair was grey - it had white-blonde streaks. It was like she was looking for a reason to take it [the crown] away from me."

Olivia's father, Vaughan Cockburn, said the  disappointing thing was how Ms Osborne had spoken to the girls, who were essentially children. Mr Cockburn said he contacted Mrs Osborne by email to ask how to go about making a formal complaint because he found her comments to his daughter to be unacceptable, unwarranted and inappropriate.

He was told to write to her, as director of Miss Wanganui.

"We were going to complain to the board, but when we found out Barbara is the director there was no point," he said.

Mr Cockburn said he had asked Mrs Osborne to apologise for her comments but she did not, calling Olivia's actions "out of line" and saying she would not recommend her for any other pageants.

Olivia's mother, Charis O'Neil, said she had let her enter the contest in the hope it would  boost  her skills and confidence.

Ms O'Neil said the comments Mrs Osborne had made to Olivia about  motivation and commitment also did not sit well with her, neither did her continual short-notice demands that Olivia attend practices and meetings when she had other commitments.

"She had unrealistic expectations of what was achievable for a 15-year-old girl without her own transport and income," she said.

"I don't know if she's a nurturing and esteem building kind of person."

When contacted about the concerns of the family about Miss Wanganui, Mrs Osborne refused to speak to the Chronicle.  In her place, Jevan Goulter was appointed Miss Wanganui Pageant spokesperson.

In a statement, Mr Goulter said Olivia had "exhibited unacceptable behaviour on social network sites [Facebook]".

"The organisation retains all rights to de-crown a current crown holder if the organisation feels that the crown holder is bringing the organisation into disrepute."

"This situation has arisen because it was quite clear that the former crown holder was not living up to these expectations."

Mr Goulter said Mr Cockburn had been invited to discuss the situation with Mrs Osborne before, and he again invited Olivia and her parents to meet with him and the directors of Miss Wanganui for mediation.