26-year-old Jen Atkin just flexed on her ex in the best way.
Not just because the office administrator lost weight after being dumped for ‘being fat’ but because she went onto being crowned one of Britain’s most beautiful women.
Jen, from Lincolnshire, took the title of Miss Great Britain 2020 on her third and final attempt – she went through to the semi-finals in 2017 and through to the final in 2018.
When she was with her ex, her weight had spiraled as she would binge on takeaways. At the time, she was due to wed her boyfriend the following year.
But her ex-fiancé broke up with her over her looks and left Jen devastated.
The beauty queen, who has now married after finding love again, said: ‘When we broke up, I was devastated but it ended up being the best thing that’s happened to me.’
Jen has had the last laugh after achieving the coveted title awarded to her at the Leicester pageant.
Jen had retired from pageants after getting married last year but decided to give it one more shot after having her name put forward to represent Great Britain this year.
She said: ‘I’m still in shock at winning, I’m so happy I can’t even put it into words – I honestly can’t believe it.
‘When I started doing this it was just for a bit of fun, I never imagined how far I would come.
‘Winning Miss Great Britain marks the end of a long and difficult, but also amazing, journey.’
Jen added: ‘Although my body has changed so much I think don’t think my personality has, and I think that’s really helped me. The judges were able to see what kind of person I really am.’
She says that being dumped spurred her on to slim down from a size 22 to a size 10.
When her ex-fiancé left, Jen signed up to her local gym and never looked back.
She entered for fun and was selected as one of the 10 finalists for in her first pageant – Miss Genting Sheffield in 2017.
After being named the 75th Miss Great Britain following a whirlwind couple of years, Jen said: ‘It was such a shock – three years ago I would never ever expected to be winning Miss GB.’
Jen is also a keen fisherwoman and a country singer.
On her plans for the year ahead, she said: ‘I have so much in the pipeline for my reign, including the release of my next country single this spring.’
More than 400 guests watched the live Miss Great Britain event where contestants took to the stage in fashion wear, swimwear and evening wear before being interviewed live on stage.
National Director of Miss Great Britain, Kate Solomons, said:’The contest now attracts such a versatile mix of women, from full-time mums, those studying for various careers and this year we had a farmer, a rugby player, a doctor and a dentist taking part in the final.
‘Miss Great Britain really does attract an eclectic mix of independent and empowered women who work together to help build the brand and various amazing causes.’
In the past eight years, Kate and her team have changed the ruling to allow married women and mothers to enter and this year, a new division open to women aged 28 and above was introduced.
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