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Dutch candidate withdraws from Miss World. She won’t get vaccinated
Dilay Willmestein, who was recently elected Miss World Netherlands, decided not to represent the Netherlands at the Miss World pageant in Puerto Rico. The 21-year-old model from Eindhoven will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel to the competition, but she refused. The model announced her decision on Tuesday to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. Regarding the vaccine, she said, “I am not ready for it. It would not feel right. I don’t know if I will ever take it.“
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“I’m not ready to take the shot yet. I don’t feel good about it,” said Dilay Willemstein in an interview with Algemeen Dagblad. Willemstein noted that she hadn’t realized at the Miss World Netherlands pageant that she had to be vaccinated.
She postponed her decision for a long time. “But I like to look ahead. This door is closing, but new doors will open for me.” She previously said that winning the competition was her lifelong dream.”
“Straight after [the pageant], we were told that we would have to be vaccinated to enter the [Miss World] contest in December,” Willemstein told the paper.
A spokesperson for Miss World Netherlands confirmed Willemstein’s decision to the website Dutch News on Tuesday evening. The site reported the runner-up in the Miss World Netherlands pageant, Lizzy Dobbe, will take Willemstein’s place in Puerto Rico.
“This is my choice at the moment. I stand behind that. I think I would have regretted more if I had done something that I actually don’t feel comfortable with,” Willemstein told Algemeen Dagblad of her decision. “The day I made the choice, it felt really bad. But I like to look ahead. This door is closing, but new doors will open for me.“
