Former Rose raises thorny pageants issue

Former Rose of Tralee Clare Kambamettu has told how she believes Irish women are too insecure about their looks to enter beauty pageants.

The stunning London Rose, who was crowned in 2010, said she believes pageants run all over the country every summer are not centred on good looks unlike US contests.

A new TV3 series, Ireland’s Beauty Queens, is set to shine the spotlight on the rural pageants which have often been dismissed as Lovely Girl contests famously parodied in Father Ted.