'Booby trapping' dresses 'fair game' in fiercely fought Miss Universe race

Melbourne, Sept 7 (ANI): Second runner-up at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant, Jesinta Campbell, has revealed that her national dress was sabotaged at the competition.

Campbell, 19, said that one of her 82 competitors, or someone associated with them, booby-trapped her outfit by sticking pins in delicate places.

The target was her so-called and widely derided "national dress", made up of high-heeled ugg-boots, an aboriginal-art styled one-piece swim suit, and a rainbow flamenco dress.

"I put it on just before I was due to go out on parade but I felt these sharp pains when something stuck into my back," the Herald Sun quoted her as saying.

"I took the top off and found all these pins had been stuck into it. I didn't have any injuries or marks, but I didn't have much time to take them out and get it back on because I had to be out there.

"The sabotage was a bit harsh, but you have to laugh at these things and not take it too seriously and it did give me a story to tell when I got home," she stated.

While she wouldn't point a finger, she did admit the contestants from Mexico, Central and South American countries plus the Philippines were extremely competitive.

"Winning is so important for those girls because they become queens in their country and are worshipped if they win - and it changes everything forever for them," she said.

"But there were 82 other girls there and I can't narrow it down, so it's a mystery to me.

"But I know who didn't do it - my best friends were the girls from Ireland, Belgium, Great Britain and Guam and I know they wouldn't have done that to me," she added. (ANI)