Porn scandal may ban Miss Russia 2009 from Miss World contest - report

The scandal around Miss Russia 2009's recently discovered nude photographs may keep Sophia Rudyeva from taking part in the Miss World beauty contest. Still, her participation is not totally ruled out, since there is no explicit rule stating that contestants cannot take part in nude photo shootings.

Soon after Sophia, aged 18, was crowned Miss Russia, photographs showing her in the nude appeared all over the Internet. It turned out that a while ago, reportedly when the girl was only 15 years old, she posed for an adult magazine erotic photo session. This is shocking behavior for the girl that is to represent Russia at the international beauty contest, but so far she has not been officially banned from the pageant.

“It was always taken for granted that the contestants could never be part of anything of the sort,” former head of the Miss Russia research commission, Ilya Prokhortsev, who designed the contest's original rules, told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily Thursday.

“So we kind of never included this point into our written rules. This is a nonsensical situation.”

The problem seems to be that Sophia, who represented St. Petersburg at the Miss Russia contest, had not, like the rest of the contestants, taken part in the regional part of the pageant, but was taken in the last moment as a substitute for the original Miss St. Petersburg. By skipping the regional level of the contest, Sophia also skipped a good part of the background check.

“We usually check all the participants of the regional contest. We know all the local agencies with doubtful reputation, and we know where to look on the Internet. But at the all-Russia level it's impossible to track down every girl,” Prokhortsev explained.

Organizers of the beauty pageant have refused to comment on the porn scandal before speaking to Sophia, who is currently abroad doing a commercial photo shooting.

Prokhortsev said he did not believe Julia Morley, chief executive of Miss World pageant, could ever accept Sophia's participation in the contest after the scandal. At any rate, even if Sophia does not get banned, she is unlikely to receive any prizes.