It was to have been Miss Elizabeth Houghton's first overseas beauty pageant.

But the Singapore representative's experience at the recent inaugural Miss Grand International, held in Bangkok, didn't end the way she expected.

She was dropped before the finals last Tuesday.

This came as a shock to Miss Houghton, who had earned her spot in the pageant after finishing first runner-up in Miss World Singapore 2013 in July.

The British-Eurasian nursing student, 18, alleged she was dropped from the pageant because she had "talked back" to the organisers. She arrived in Bangkok on Nov 3 and was sent home 10 days later, six days before the pageant's finals on Nov 19.

Miss Houghton told The New Paper: "They (the organisers and the chaperones) were humiliating some of the girls like Miss Germany and Miss Sweden and calling them fat.

"So I spoke up for Miss Germany and told the organisers to stop calling her fat because it's not nice.

"They told me to shut up or I would be sent home."

Read the full story here.

She was dropped for smoking

According to Ms Teresa Chaivisut, the vice-president of international affairs for Miss Grand International, the Singapore representative was dropped mainly because of her smoking habit.

She told The New Paper via e-mail: "(The use of) tobacco is strictly forbidden in the pageant. Miss Elizabeth Houghton was smoking in public. We received this report from one of the staff members.

"The hotel (that the girls were staying in) sent us a warning letter as the room that Miss Houghton was staying in smelt of smoke."

Ms Chaivisut said the hotel had a strict no-smoking rule that Miss Houghton violated.

The other problem they had with Miss Houghton was that she did not fulfil her responsibilities at the pageant.

Said Ms Chaivisut: "She complained often that she did not feel well.

"(As a result), she did not join most of our activities (like an excursion to a temple and a dinner)."

Read the full account here.

Click on the thumbnail for more of Miss Houghton's time in the Miss World pageant.

Related stories:
	Drama after Miss World finals as cops are called on guest