08.05.12

MI12 AgeGate Rumbles On... Oh dear. The row over Maire Hughes being too old for the Miss World finals still hasn't gone away folks. A week after she owned-up to putting the wrong date of birth on the forms she found herself on The Saturday Night Show fighting her corner... Maire Hughes Listening to Maire Hughes talking to Brendan O'Connor on The Saturday Night Show last weekend, we can now see why the Miss Ireland judges gave her the tiara and sash. She sure is a class act... So, knowing that, surely they powers-that-be in the organisation could have better handled the fall-out from de-crowning the raven haired beauty? Yeah but hindsight and all that... Maire Hughes It seems to have been a bit of an all-round PR disaster folks. She told Beefy last weekend that some mystery figure told to her to stick down a false DOB making her eligible. But the Miss Ireland folk completely deny having anything to do with that sort of thing... Solicitor interventions were even hinted to on the show... Such a hullaballoo. Maire Hughes, boyfriend Stephen O'Connor Now, we've been in this business a long time now and we can see how something like this could happen... Lots of girls in lots of MI heats around the country, very few of them expected to win. So when a last minute outsider ended up in the mix we can see how easy it would be for a few months either side of a date of birth restriction to have been overlooked. Apparently the MI lads even rang the Miss World lads and tried to get the rules bent a little when the issue came up. To no avail... And even at that, we thought it was a social norm for a woman to lie about her age. Ask ten women their ages and see what happens. Maire Hughes, Brendan O'Connor But this could have been handled much better from a PR standpoint... After the age issue was noticed they should have had a wee press conference of sorts and have Maire Hughes publically hand the title over to runner-up Rebecca Maguire. And answer all the questions that needed answering so everyone went home happy and stopped all the conspiracy theories in their tracks. Maire Hughes, Brendan O'Connor Instead there was a week of he-said-she-said in the media, culminating with Maire on The Saturday Night Show giving her side of the story. Surely the new Miss Ireland and the MI organisers should have been there too? Perhaps Big Bren didn't invite them along or maybe he did... Eitherway, the interview created more questions than answers... Saying that, it sure brightened up last week and got Miss Ireland onto the front of every newspaper... Maire Hughes So there you have it folks, Maire Hughes was only Miss Ireland for 2 days and she's already our favourite one ever! On a completely unrelated note Billy Ocean was also on The Saturday Night Show singing: When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going. Billy Ocean

**Users can ONLY comment via the ShowBiz.ie site** Leave a Comment MikaMoma – D4 May 15, 2012 - 16:44 What a lucky escape this girl had. Viscount Castlereagh – Sandy Row May 12, 2012 - 11:19 Boyfriend. Always. Well there go Ol' Castlereagh's hopes. leanne May 11, 2012 - 18:33 This girl is absolutely stunning. Will prob be a blessing in disguise that she's no longer part of some cheap tacky beauty pagent. The girl thats now going suits it much better. This girl has such class and natural beauty, best of luck to her in the future JARED LETO May 10, 2012 - 18:44 Its funny how the previous Miss Irelands ganged up on the new one and actually made themselves look worse!! Even going as far as getting the papers to try and boot her out!! Highest form of bullying... Felix Steiner – Bayreuth May 10, 2012 - 11:55 You do realise that this is Miss Ireland, and not something that actually matters, that you're deliberating on? john May 09, 2012 - 18:07 yea hope that Rebecca. she showed her true colours and im not impressed.go Maire! Boo May 09, 2012 - 16:45 Lookin forward to Rebecca getting a bit of her own medicine with the girls in Miss World. Here's hoping they'll put her back in her box! Brona May 09, 2012 - 14:59 At least she finally admitted to lying about her age on the form... She looks good but Isn't really cut from the same cloth as previous Miss irelands!! The new girl 'whats her face' looks fresher!! queer eye May 09, 2012 - 12:49 to be fair she looks 26 and too old for miss world, the derry girl would have been my choice between the top 3 not happy with rebecca at all Marie May 09, 2012 - 11:44 She is absolutely stunning, and maybe it was a blessing she is no longer Miss Ireland as they all seem to go down the same route eventually and end up on the photocall circuit and she could do so much more than that. Heinrich Himmler – Berlin May 09, 2012 - 07:08 She is very good looking. Brendan O'Connor, not so much. Yvonne May 09, 2012 - 03:18 What a fiasco! Maire is a true beauty and so is Miss Derry, Kate McCauley. Either of them would have had a chance of winning Miss World. The girl who won by default is pretty but not Miss Ireland standard and maybe that's the reason why she's not getting much press coverage. Gabby May 09, 2012 - 00:55 She looks like a young Andrea Roche Gayle May 08, 2012 - 23:32 Favourite Miss Ireland EVER! well done xxx SHOWBIZ.IE – Recommended Links: May 08, 2012 - 23:10 www.rte.ie/tv/saturdaynightshow/ Leave a Comment * Your name * Your email address (will not be published) Your location Remember me ? ? Powered by TalkBack 1 **COMMENTS REMOVED ON REQUEST**