Show must go on, says Miss Maltese Islands

Miss Maltese Islands, who flew to London with the rest of the Miss World contestants on Saturday, was yesterday trying to erase from her mind the incidents which took place in Nigeria.

"The show must go," said Joyce Gatt, as she rushed to get ready for a press photo shoot.

The riots in Nigeria, which have left around 200 dead and more than 1,000 injured, cast a shadow over the Miss World contest and pushed its organisers to shift the event to London. The contest will be held as planned on December 7.

The number of contestants, which originally stood at 92 has now dropped to just over 80.

The pageant has been dogged by controversy from the start. Five contestants had boycotted the contest in protest at the sentencing of a Nigerian woman to death by stoning for having a child outside marriage.

Riots were then sparked by a newspaper article which said the Prophet Mohammed would probably have married one of the contestants were he alive today.

Miss Denmark was reported as saying that she would still not take part in the pageant despite the move to a safer area.

"It should be a happy event but, personally, I feel all the happiness is gone," Masja Juel told the British media.

Miss Canada has also abandoned the contest, while Miss Korea has no intention of returning to London.

Miss Scotland, too, stood her moral ground and refused to take part in the competition.

"A beauty contest is not worth dying over and I want to go home. People are killing each other and saying it's all about Miss World - I can't have that," she said.

However, Sue Rossi of Modelle International, which organises Miss Maltese Islands, has confirmed Malta's participation in one of the world's most televised shows.

"We had our doubts when the contest was still in Nigeria, but now it's been shifted to London we see no reason for pulling out. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Joyce and it would be unfair to pull her out," Ms Rossi said.

Miss World Organisation president Julia Morley blamed the international media for the collapse of plans to host the pageant in Nigeria.

"Quite honestly, you - not individually - but you as a group, you pulled Nigeria down and you allowed Nigeria to be humiliated," Ms Morley told reporters before she left Nigeria.

Ms Morley took exception to stories in the international press about the use of amputation as a punishment by Islamic courts in northern Nigeria.

At least three convicted thieves have had their hands cut off in northern Nigeria since the region re-introduced Sharia law in 1999.

Ms Morley claimed the story was "created" and demanded that the journalists apologise.

Trying to see the positive side of things, she said they had wonderful footage of Nigeria which will be used on the final night in London.