Off With Her Crown! Miss Brazil Hid a Vital Statistic (Marriage)

www.nytimes.com By TONY SMITH

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, Feb. 4 — It was one thing when the last Miss Brazil admitted she had shaped her perfect figure under the plastic surgeon's knife, but this year's incumbent lost her crown and sash today after confessing that she was, in fact, Mrs. Brazil.

Pageant organizers dethroned Joseane de Oliveira, 21, after she confirmed weekend newspaper reports that she had been married before winning last year's contest. Advertisement

The 21-year-old model from the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul had already upset organizers by agreeing to appear in a prime-time reality show and posing seminude for a steamy photo Web site.

The revelation that she had walked down the aisle in 1998 before taking to the catwalk was the final straw.

"Joseane has passed on her crown and sash for the simple reason that she is a married woman," said Nayla Micheris, contest organizer and herself a former Miss Brazil. "Our contract is quite explicit. Contestants cannot be married or have ever been married."

Ms. Oliveira insisted on television Sunday night that organizers had known she had been married, but recanted publicly at a news conference Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

The faith of some pageant aficionados was shaken in 2001 when that year's winner, Juliana Borges, confessed to having had 19 surgical procedures, including silicon implants in her breasts, cheeks and chin and collagen injections in her lips.

Back then, the organizers kept mum. After all, everybody was doing it. About 400,000 Brazilians got tucks, implants or some sort of lifting done in 2000, making them second only to Americans in vanity procedures.

"I think Juliana exaggerated as to the number of operations she had, but she did it with the intention of improving herself," Ms. Micheris said. "We all know that contestants from Venezuela or Puerto Rico also have operations, otherwise they know they won't reach the final."

Ms. Oliveira passed the title on to last year's runner-up, Taíza Thomsen, who will reign just three months, until the next contest in April.

Despite her very public apology, Ms. Oliveira showed little or no contrition over her lucrative sidelines, like the reality show and sensual photo shoots. She is said to be negotiating a deal to pose nude — totally, this time — for the Brazilian edition of Playboy.