This is the week of beauty pageant drama, and we couldn’t make it to the weekend without something shady going on with Miss Universe.
Miss Australia finalist Stephanie Naumoska, a 19-year-old model from Sydney, is in the middle of the fun experience of having her bikini body scrutinized by everyone in the world. The problem? She’s 5 foot 11 and only 108 pounds, with jutting hip bones and countable ribs.
Somehow this escaped the notice of the Miss Universe Australia organizers, who say they’re looking for an Aussie girl who is “fit and healthy, beautiful, and nice,” according to the event’s Facebook page.
But does Miss Universe Australia think this painfully thin contestant needs help? Hell no!
Deborah Miller, director of the Miss Australia contest said Miss Naumoska, who was eventually beaten in the final by Rachel Finch, a 21-year-old television presenter and model, blamed “Macedonian heritage” for her extreme thinness.
“They have long, lithe bodies and small bones. It is their body type, just like Asian girls tend to be small,” Ms Miller said.
“So she does not have an eating disorder, there is nothing wrong with her.”
However, nutritionist Susie Burrell said there was no such Macedonian body type.
“There is no evidence published anywhere to back up that assertion,” she told the paper.
“From examining photographs there does appear to be significant muscle wasting on the upper arm and legs.”
For her part, Naumoska says “I eat six to eight healthy meals a day” — and I mean, even Mario Batali doesn’t eat that often. Sounds to me like she doth protest too much, and the photos are pretty hard to argue with. I could use her upper arm as a toothpick.
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“Finch, a 21-year-old television presenter and model, blamed “Macedonian heritage””
Unless she’s trying to apologize for conquering most of the known world before dying young without naming a successor, I’m not sure what a Macedonian heritage has to do with anything. Maybe the pageant director meant to say ‘Ethiopian heritage’.
My girlfriend is built like that. She is 5′6″ and weighs about the same. She eats way more than do, and excercises 3 times a week. She eats very healthy. I am 6′3′ and 242lbs.. Body type…look at her parents and family too.
Some people just have that build. Heck my mom’s side of the family are tiny gals and my mom never weighed over 100 until she was pregnant. I, however, inherited the Italian body of my dad’s side. Even though I like to stay fit I NEVER want to be as skinny as that chick in the picture… that’s just…ew. IMO muscles are sexier… I’d never be able to swim like I do if my body looked like that!
It’s my opinion that when your hip bone sticks out more than your butt… something ain’t right.
I wouldn’t call that a build so much as a lack of one. I mean, look at her! That’s not skinny, that’s bone with skin atop it. Where are her organs? How does she move? Are there strings attached?
Okay, I’m 5′11″ also and I got down to 128lbs once and people started to freak out. I don’t even know if I’d be alive at 108lbs. That’s just not right, I think it has to be an exaggeration. Her modeling page says 117lbs and from her pictures (http://www.modelmayhem.com/pics.php?id=645626) she seems to have a stretched out body and face, but she doesn’t look malnourished like Nicole Richie or anything. Still, there’s no way she eats “six to eight healthy meals a day” unless each carrot stick counts as one meal.
there’s a big diference between 5-6 ans 5-11. the normal weight for the first is 130 lbs, for the latter is 150 approx, so her being 108 is really too thin.
Babeltek, I couldn´t agree more
See, now…this is why those “recommended weight” charts are crap. For my height, I’m supposed to be 178-192. I’d look anemic. Right now I’m at about 250, with my sights on 220. If her doctor says she’s healthy, that should be enough.
I didn’t know the Macedonians threw up after every meal. I live Deceiver. You learn something new every day.
I couldn’t hit that. She’d be broken and I’d be bruised.
Yech. Who could find that attractive? She looks like a twelve year old. Not me. Anymore.
Stupid judge.
Yeah,right, it’s her body type… Hey now all the anorexics of the world can say that it’s not the starving or the puking that makes them skeletal it’s their Macedonian heritage…
One of my best friends is 5′7 and weighs 114lbs. She eats more than I do, probably 6 times a day… and she never gains a pound. Her mom and her younger sister are the same way. She was just born with a high metabolism. She’s been trying to gain weight for years.. but it just doesn’t happen. This model obviously has the same “problem”… and I feel bad that so many people and TV shows are criticizing her because of her figure. Just because she is thin isn’t going to make millions of other girls in the world want to starve themselves just to look like she does. What it is going to do is make other girls who are NATURALLY thin feel ugly. Leave her alone. People get judged for being overweight and underweight… but no ones perfect.
People, people! Who are you gonna believe – the contest promoter and the bits o’ bone or your own lyin’ eyes?
i’d like them to show me a pagent contestant that DOESN’T have an eating disorder.
and speaking as someone who has a eating disorder, i’m sure as hell glad i’m not her (even if she doesn’t). imagine the entire world scrutinizing your body. they scrutinize her for being too thin and they’d probably scrutinize her if she were five pounds overweight.
Seem to be a few people hearing hoofbeats and looking for zebras. Just a reminder there’s a big difference between naturally and unnaturally skinny. People with small builds and fast metabolisms don’t have bones poking through their skin.
She looks like a DEAD 12-year old.
As someone who was always naturally very thin (119 was my heavy muscular weight), AND was anorexic for a brief period (I’m 5′8″ and weighed less than 100 pounds at my lowest), I can tell you right now that that girl is too skinny and is doing something to get that way. Probably by not eating much, she doesn’t have enough muscle to be over exercising. If she’s binging, she’s been doing it for a while. Her skin tone is off, her hands look wrong, and I bet that if you took a good look at her natural hair and nails, you would find signs of nutritional deficiencies. This is hard to explain, but the way her bones stick out is not the way bones stick out on a skinny healthy girl. Not just because they are sticking out, but the amount and places. She might be on the thin side naturally, but you don’t get the malnourished look without trying.
Take a hair sample, that will tell you what she’s eaten for the last several months.
She’s supposed to represent a standard of beauty? She has no tone! No curves! Great smile though.
It looks like it would hurt to hug her.
Look, she is combatting global warming. She is a hero in the struggle.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2387203.ece
And I’d hit it …
If that’s genetics, damn my German heritage. Aren’t there pictures of malnurished children in Africa with more on their bones? Perhaps six meals of more than 25 calories each in her life would be of some help… I understand that there are naturally skinny people who can eat and eat and remain skinny, but that just looks beyond natural. Shame on the committee for saying they’re looking for one thing and then actually looking at another.
that picture shocked me, and hardly anything shocks me anymore. i’ll take my 5′5 131 pound “fat ass” anyday over that sick emaciated body!
I met a girl from Australia who is suffering from anorexia. When I asked her to get help she told me that no one in her area understood the disease and that bookstores don’t even sell books on it. I didn’t believe her at first but maybe….
Uck. I think they Photoshopped out the flies around her eyes.
Unless Naumoska is the Macedoniam surname equivalent of Smith or something, I like how being thin, having a slightly olive complexion and dark hair (can’t make out her eye color) automatically qualifies you for “Macedonian heritage”.
Yeah, too skinny for the pageant or commercial circuit, but she could probably find a job and some purge-buddies in high fashion.
I’m one of those people that has always been thin, and at one time, people were worried about my health though I have pretty much always had a healthy diet. I’m not 9 feet tall like some of these models are, but who is? There are plenty of people who do have a normal diet and manage to remain rail thin. Genetics, metabolism, and activity levels all come into play.
Even so, this girl looks like she was just liberated from Dachau. I don’t care why she is so skinny so much as I question how anyone found this attractive enough to actually give her the crown. What’s going on here? Surely there was someone else competing in this pageant that can at least fill out a training bra.
Ow, damnit, her hip bone just stabbed my eye through the monitor…
She looks even scarier from this angle:
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/76505/original.jpg
Hell i’m 4′11 and 108 and feel too skinny! i wonder if it hurt her walk with bone rubbing on bone
katy – LOL! she looks like she’s so skinny it hurts.
She does know six to eight Tic Tacs a day don’t actually count as ‘meals’ right?
Those photos are painful to look at. Her insides must be aching.
I had a girlfriend that was 5′11″ and 100 pounds. I used to joke she had a conveyor belt metabolism, as she could eat all day and not gain an ounce. She did eat 6 to 8 times a day, and was/is a healthy girl.When she joined the Navy she got a clean bil of health. So, this chick could actually be telling the truth.
If I may play devil’s advocate here, her hair is awfully full and shiny for an anorexic. Could be due to a good stylist and lighting, though.
How can stuff like this still surprise anyone? Sad state of society maybe, but hardly shocking anymore.
I just “had that build,” too, but the difference is I’m 5′2″. I have a little sympathy for small women with lucky metabolisms, but everyone defending her being 5′11″ and 108 as healthy is kind of stretching it. That doesn’t look healthy.
Nati, I could have lived without seeing that picture! Ack, who would want to look like that?! She looks like she belongs in Auschwitz!
lol, sorry, Ani. I usually say that weight is just a number (because people often tend to overlook such factors as bone mass, muscle mass, height, etc.), but being 5.11 and 108 lbs just doesn’t sound right to me. And I don’t think she looks healthy either. I’m much shorter than that (I’m 171 cm, I think it’s either 5.7 or 5.6) and if my weight drops anywhere below 150 lbs, I look emaciated and feel sick. Last year my weight dropped to 148 lbs, and my bones were sticking out, I had huge undereye circles and my blood pressure dropped, too. How can someone (her height) survive at 108 lbs is beyond me.
I got down to 130 at 5′6″ and felt weird due to my body type – German and Italian. 5′11″ and 108 pounds is disgusting! There is a big difference between 5′6″ and 5′11″. I don’t care how much this girl eats, she does not represent the healthy type that Australia is trying to promote. This is why I hate pagents and Hollywood. They promote unhealthy looks and claims the rest of us are fat because we have curves and hide our bones.
It could be something other than an eating disorder – Crohn’s or something like that. But, one way or another, she’s got to be sick to look like that.
Maybe she was using a bodybuilder contest diet to get “cut” – but she forgot to do the bodybuilding first.
I’m 5′4, 108 pounds, and technically underweight. I’ve honestly been trying to put on weight to lose my Auschwitz look because if you weigh 108 and you’re over 5′, you pretty much look like a skeleton. 5′11 and 108 is ridiculous.
Nati, I’m 5′4″ and 155…and if I got below that I’d know something was wrong (OR maybe I finally got the cash to get my boobs reduced LOL). Sure I’m not perfect (winter’s made me lazy), but after years of ballet, swimming, hiking, biking, rollerblading, and hockey… I got serious muscle on my legs which are probably the size of this Aussie’s waist. As I said above, the only way I’d really lose weight is if I got my boobs reduced (they need it).
Owitzia, 5′4″ and 108 doesn’t sound Auschitz-y, it sounds small-framed. My mom and grandma are both small-framed ladies, and my mom thinks it’s the end of the world because she’s 115, and she wants to be “skinny like me” and I have a good 40 pounds on her!
Stick some DD implants on her and nobody would be complaining.
Stick DD implants on her and her back would snap.
PSA for the day:
Once upon a time I did look like Miss Australia there. Turned out I had a hyperactive thyroid and my body was literally digesting my muscle tissue. I encourage any young woman with mysterious weight issues (can’t lose despite honest efforts or can’t gain despite honest efforts) to get their thyroid checked. Problems are a lot more common than you’d think and the low-level symptoms are easy to ignore. If left untreated it can lead to heart problems.
[/PSA]
I’m with Chuwah – she looks out of place in the pageant world but would do really well in high fashion. She’d just have to work a bit more on the ‘dead eyes’ look.
Maybe if girlfriend had a bit more muscle tone she could pass for fit and active. My 40-lb 6-year-old has better abs, and my ballet dancer friends look bigger than she does.
Eating disorder or not, how could she be considered the epitome of Australian beauty?
@Elle: I didn’t even think of that. Especially those women on medications that can react with your body and cause thyroid problems (ie. lithium carbonate).
MC Mom, many fashion designers now refuse to work with super-skinny models. Some no longer employ size 0 models…after Luisel Ramos (an Uruguayan model) died. She was 5.9, 98 lbs and had a bmi of around 15 (just like Naumoska) at the time of her death.
#1. Nutritionists typically have very little anatomy training, and may even go with a classic ecto/endo/mesomorph body diagnosis.
#2. When I Google “Macedonian Model” they all look like that.
#3. Would I fatten her up? Sure, but if I couldn’t I probably wouldn’t cut her loose either.
#4. We wouldn’t call out naturally fat people in this manner and microscrutinize their bodies, why do we do it for naturally skinny people? I’m sure there was at least one contestant who had not been dieting, right?
That’s what I ordered. The Macedonian Model. I hope they punch some holes in the crate this time.
Fortunate Son, we call out fat people all the time. Haven’t you ever seen the “Guess Whose Cellulite!!!” pictures on the covers of tabloids in line at the supermarket?
Pasta, I think the holes in the crate are extra.
Ummm, did anybody else click on Mario Batali link? I remember seeing that story somewhere else, too. Gwyneth’s douchebaggery doesn’t cease to amaze me. “He’s the only fat friend she has and she wants him to change”…not because being overweight is bad for his helath, but because having a friend who’s overweight is soooo embarrassing. I don’t think he’s going to lose an ounce in that Tracy Anderson gym, though. She is so overrated. I read her interview (I think it was in Harper’s Bazaar) and I was not impressed by her workout methods, to say the least. She discourages spinning, yoga and pilates – I’m not a fan of those, but I know they work for many, but when she dissed weight-lifting, I got pissed. Lifting weights is not only good for your muscles, it strenghtens the bones as well. It’s always recommended by damn near every trainer…Her workout routine sounded completely ridiculous and made me want to hit her in the face with one of my dumbbells.
Nati – My first thought on reading what you said about Tracy Anderson discouraging weight-lifting was “I hope she and Gwyneth both end up with osteoporosis for promoting their weight-loss bullshit!” (Weight-lifting is recommended, esp. to older women, as a way to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis…)
Now I feel like a horrible person for wishing osteoporosis on someone.
invyzible – exactly! Weight-lifting is recommended, and no one is talking heavy weights – you can lift light to moderate weights, but it’s extremely good for the bones, not to mention muscles. And the way she said it…”Weights for women?! You might as well be shooting steroids!” I was livid. Comparing what’s actually good for you, your health and your body to steroids otherwise known as poison! Light weights will not make you look too muscular or masculine. I lift heavy weights, and I’m not too muscular. I love weights and would recommend weight-lifting to everyone, especially, women. That’s why I was so angry with her. She charges a fortune for a single workout session and misleads people like that. The interview was in Harper’s Bazaar, women read it, she is a celebrity trainer, someone might follow her bs advice and end up with osteoporosis.
I think if Gwyneth ends up with osteoporosis, it won’t be because she didn’t do enough weight lifting. Just sayin’.