SWEET 16 star Anysha Panesar is no stranger to controversy.
Last year her £20,000 Moulin Rouge-themed birthday party caused a stir after it featured on MTV show My Super Sweet 16. And now the Welsh schoolgirl is ruffling feathers across the pond – after she was named America’s Perfect Teen.
The 16-year-old, who lives with her parents and younger brother Toby in the village of Llangan in the Vale of Glamorgan, beat her US rivals after being chosen to compete in the pageant as “Europe’s Perfect Teen”.
The pageant’s founder Michael Galanes, whose toddlers’ pageant Little Miss Perfect has become a TV hit in the US, said: “Anysha – what a beautiful girl.Yes, her win caused a bit of a stir because she is, of course, British, but that is perfectly within the rules of the competition.One of the judges told me they liked Anysha because she was a breath of fresh air – she has natural beauty but she isn’t afraid to be a bit wild.”
The sixth former, who goes to Howells School in Cardiff, began entering pageants last year.
“I’ve taken part in quite a few pageants now,” she added.“They started off as just a bit of fun because I went on a school trip to The Clothes Show in Birmingham (near London) and won a catwalk competition there, and that got me through to the finals of my very first pageant. It just somehow grew from there and I got addicted to them.”
The fashion-conscious teenager even has a coach to train her in the art of pageantry.
“It’s not common over here to have a coach but in America it’s the norm,” she said.
“If you don’t have a pageant coach it’s weird.
“The pageants themselves can be really overwhelming because the girls do them every single weekend and they’ve been doing them since they were four years old.
“I wasn’t as experienced as the other girls and didn’t know as much as they did – so I still can’t believe I actually won.”
Anysha spent a week pampering and practising her moves at her family’s Florida holiday home before moving to a hotel up the road in Kissimmee where the pageant was held.
The contest, which included girls as young as 13, took place over a long weekend in August.
“I think I was a bit different,” said Anysha, on why she stood out for the judges.
“The pageant is like no other in that there are no rules for what you wear. It’s more like America’s Next Top Model. One year a girl even carried a panther cub down the runway.
“I didn’t think I would actually win because I’m British, so I thought there was no chance I was going to win an American pageant.
“So when it got to me and one other person I thought I was going to come second.
“Then they announced the first runner up and I began walking forward before I realised it wasn’t my name.
“My mum was sitting there crying her eyes out and my dad didn’t know what to do with himself. My grandparents were on the phone and my boyfriend was crying down the phone to my mum – they were all so proud.”
As well as a crown and a sash, Anysha won a $2,000 cash prize and an $18,000 scholarship to learn broadcasting in the US, which she plans to take up after her A-levels.
She is also in talks to have her own TV show about her year as America’s Perfect Teen. In the meantime, despite her lavish 16th party, she has no plans yet for her 18th bash.
Her mum Caroline, 41, said: “We’re so proud of Anysha, she’s such a talented girl and we couldn’t be more supportive of what she’s doing.
“At the end of the day, we just want her to be happy.”
