I SPENT time with a great bunch of soldiers recently and it turned my legs to jelly!
No, it wasn’t the sight of men in uniforms, it was because I was taking part in a Miss England boot camp.
That’s because this year the competition’s traditional, and often controversial, bikini round has been replaced with Operation Boot Camp.
You see, the current Miss England, Katrina Hodge, is a Lance Corporal in the Army and her aim this year has been to promote being active and to show the world that keeping fit and eating well is important if you want to be healthy.
In the process the bikini round has been banished – so all those who believe beauty contests are all about size zero wannabes parading around in next to nothing take note!
Katrina has become an inspiration to so many girls, including myself, who would love to follow in her footsteps.
Recently, all the Miss England contestants met up at the Hilton Metropole Hotel at the NEC to be put through training like a soldier.
I can’t say I felt all that glamorous after all those push ups, bleep tests, and sit ups.
But we all really pushed ourselves to the limit, and it was a lot of fun and great to meet all the girls.
You would think that because we are all there wanting the same thing that there would be a lot of bitchiness but you’d be wrong. It was great to all work together as a team and have a laugh.
It took my legs days to get back to normal, they were killing me! I’m more of a drama queen then a beauty queen at times but I am looking forward to watching it back on Sky Active when it comes out soon.
It’s less then two weeks until the final and as I mentioned in last week’s column I’m raising money for Miss England’s chosen charity The Variety Club.
It’s a fantastic organisation which has been going for 60 years and is dedicated to improving the lives of children and young people who really need there help.
I’m so proud to be part of it and you can be as well because I have set up an on-line Just Giving page at Please donate as much as you can, it all helps.
Join me again next week when the Miss England finals will only be a few days away.