Miss Earth candidates pose up a storm… but some get in trouble for live-streaming chat about Hitler
Beauty queens descended on the Philippines with sexy display - but host nation's entrant immediately causes controversy by asking Miss Austria about Hitler and comparing her president to the Nazi leader
THEY may be stunningly beautiful and have physiques that many women would die for – but some of the Miss Earth pageant contestants have been raising eyebrows for different reasons.
Some observers have been left thinking that there is truth in the old adage that one can only possess beauty or brains - and not both - after one of the candidates decided to chat about HITLER live on camera.
Miss Philippines Earth 2016, Imelda Bautista Schweighart, received some social media backlash after comparing Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to Adolf Hitler in a live video streamed on .
The beauty queen and her fellow candidate Miss Earth Austria 2016, Kimberly Budinsky, had been posing for a pageant video when Imelda asked if Hitler was from Austria.
Kimberly answered: "That's a bad question because we normally don't really talk about Hitler. But yes, he is.”
"Oh my God, our President is doing Hitler stuff here in the Philippines", Imelda then responded.
Awkward.
Needless to say the video soon spread across the web, and has now had over a whopping 396,000 views.
Many social media users were quick to comment that they found Imelda’s remarks embarrassing and the whole conversation awkward.
Others were left pretty furious for her lack of thought.
President Duterte’s supporters have also gotten in on the Imelda bashing – many leaving angry comments on her social media posts.
However, Imelda soon took to her Facebook page to defend herself and said that the whole thing was a bit of a “joke”.
She went on to say that she was in fact a Duterte follower.
She wrote: "Guys, I'm a Duterte follower. The people who talk to me every day knows how delightful I am to see and experience the change he has made happen so far.
“I am half-German that is the reason why I talked to a fellow delegate about 'Hitler' so casually, who is Austrian.
“Because all my life I am always teased by fellow Filipinos as 'Hitler' because they are not well informed that Hitler was not German. In fact Hitler was Austrian.”
"So, when I saw my fellow delegate I made a soft joke about it out of my excitement. I am an extremist so forgive me my fellow Filipinos and Duterte supporters if you didn't understand how I am," she added.
Imelda’s comments follow the controversial politician proudly declaring that he was “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts.
In a speech given in Davao - a city where he reportedly sanctioned death squads - Duterte responded to claims that had previously compared his methods to those used by Hitler.
He said: “Hitler massacred three million Jews, now, there is three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them.”
While both figures were wrong, he continued: “At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have...", where he reportedly pointed towards himself, according to the BBC.
“But you know, my victims, I would like to be (sic) all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” he added.
Duterte, 71, won a landslide victory in May on the back of a pledge to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.
The lawyer and former city prosecutor promised immunity for security forces if they were charged with murder.
And on his first day in office urged residents of a Manila slum to kill drug addicts within their own community – promising to give them a medal if they were caught.
Meanwhile, most of the Miss Earth 2016 candidates congregated at the Diamond Hotel in Manila for a pre-comp pose up by the pool - all donned in bright-red bikinis.
The stunning beauty queens gave their best smiles for the cameras as they strutted their stuff poolside, showing off their toned, enviable physiques for the shots.
The environmentally-themed beauty pageant's coronation night will be held on October 29 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Last year's winner, Angelia Ong, from the Philippines, is set to hand her crown to one of the 84 gorgeous candidates competing this year.
Hopefully there won’t be any more controversial comments during the rest of the run-up…