 Image copyright Zoiey Smale Image caption Zoiey Smale was named Miss United Continents UK 2017 in June but has now handed back her crown 
 
 The winner of a beauty pageant says she has handed back her crown after being told she was "too big" and needed to go on a diet. Image copyright Zoiey Smale Image caption Zoiey Smale said her size 10 figure is "healthy" rather than "ridiculously thin" 
 
 The 28-year-old, who has been entering beauty pageants for a decade, beat 11 other finalists to win the title of Miss United Continents UK 2017 in June. In a Facebook post, Smale says she has decided to withdraw from the competition after she was "asked to lose weight and go on a diet plan." Smale told the MailOnline that the national director of the Miss United Continents pageant said the Ecuadorian directors wanted Smale to lose weight. Image copyright Zoiey Smale Image caption Zoiey spoke out about the pageant on social media 
 
 Ms Smale said she has received a lot of support since writing about her decision on social media. Smale said she loves herself and "will not change for anyone."
– If she lived in the US, Zoiey Smale would wear a size 6, meaning she's far slimmer than the average American woman, who wears a size 16. But her thin frame apparently wasn't thin enough for organizers of an international beauty contest. The 28-year-old beauty queen from the UK emerged the victor in a national beauty contest in June that bestowed on her the honor to represent her country in the Miss United Continents 2017 pageant in Ecuador in September. But Smale, who wears a UK size 10, says contest organizers told her she was "too big" and needed to drop some pounds, per the BBC. Smale was "shocked," and in a Facebook post, says she opted to lose her crown rather than any weight, reports Mashable. Smale says it's depressing that "there are pageant directors who believe you must be skinny to be beautiful" when "real queens empower others, are intelligent, and help communities come together." She adds, "I don't think it is right to have my face representing a pageant ethos I do not believe in," especially when "my body has carried me through my 20+ years of being on this earth, allowed me to have a career I am very proud of, carry a child and … has never given up on me." Her advice to other women: "Love yourself" and "eat a bit of cake." If Twitter users were in charge of judging, Smale probably would've won the pageant title. They're heralding Smale as a "hero." Pageant organizers have yet to respond. (This personal trainer tried and failed to body-shame a bride-to-be.)