Miss Lloyd and Teddy Sheringham
But yesterday it appeared that Danielle Lloyd's relationship with the West Ham striker Teddy Sheringham had cost her the crown after she was stripped of the 2006 title.
In a recent magazine interview, Miss Lloyd, 22, disclosed that she had been in a relationship with the player when he was a judge in this year's Miss Great Britain competition.
She reminisced about Sheringham, at 40 the oldest player in the Premiership, buying her a £7,000 pair of Jimmy Choo shoes last Christmas.
This came as a surprise to the beauty contest organisers. They had been assured by Miss Lloyd that she did not meet him until the event's post-awards party in February this year.
Sheringham was the only judge to vote for her before she won the title on an audience vote.
The upset was compounded by publicity for December's issue of the US magazine Playboy which said that she would be appearing topless.
Yesterday, a statement on the Miss Great Britain website read: "Following recent claims in the press and magazines and the publicity given on the Playboy website for their next issue, we have sadly decided to strip Danielle Lloyd of her title as Miss Great Britain 2006 effective immediately.
"We are very sad that this action has been necessary and we wish her the best for the future."
Miss Lloyd, from Liverpool, maintained that she was misquoted in the magazine and insisted that her sacking was solely because of her decision to pose for Playboy.
She added: "I can certainly assure you that I had never met Ted until the night of the contest." She said she was "delighted and honoured" to appear in the magazine.
Sheringham's agent, Barry Nevill, also said yesterday that the footballer was adamant that he did not meet the model until after she won the competition.
The young model would have known that she was taking a chance by agreeing to pose topless for Playboy.
As the rules of the contest clearly state, the winner "will not accept or undertake any fully nude or topless assignments, paid or not, during her reign."
Miss Lloyd's camp insisted yesterday that her axing had more to do with attempts to garner publicity for the search for Miss Great Britain 2007.
A spokesman for the pageant said yesterday that a replacement for the ousted winner would be announced in the coming days.
In the meantime, a notice on the competition's website has invited hopefuls to put their names forward for next year's competition.
