Yahoo! Lifestyle reports: Beauty pageant winner Amanda Longacre has been stripped of her Miss Delaware title on the grounds that she is too old.

(Source: Facebook)

Organisers disqualified Longacre, who is 24, despite having accepted identification showing her correct birthdate on more than one occasion during the competition process.

According to reports in the US media, Longacre says she feels “erased” after losing her title in such strange circumstances.

“They deleted me off of everything, they’re ignoring me,” she claimed. “They deleted me off the [Facebook] group and put up a press release announcing a new Miss Delaware.”

Not only did the unlucky Longacre lose the Miss Delaware title, she lost prizes and $11,000 in scholarship money, all of which have been passed on to the new Miss Delaware, the original runner-up Brittany Lewis.

Longacre, a longtime Delaware resident, was due to compete in the Miss America pageant in September – before her 25th birthday in October. The Miss America rules require contestants to be aged between 17 and 24 years old.

Miss Delaware pageant organisers are staying mum about the debacle, due to the likelihood of ‘pending litigation’.

Source: Yahoo! Lifestyle