Beauty queen swaps Lee Green for Las Vegas after winning national crown

Cherelle Rose Patterson won the national title against 50 other finalists when they went head to head last month.

In October the 26-year-old business owner will fly across the pond to America’s Sin City, in a bid to secure the coveted position of Miss Grand International, the £100,000 prize fund and a year’s stay in Thailand.

Miss Patterson described the win as a big surprise and said she enjoyed competing more than ever.

She told News Shopper: “I was very surprised. When I got there literally every girl looked like an athlete.

“I trained but not as much as I have trained in the past.

“In the past I took it so seriously that I took the fun element away, but this time I just decided I’m going to have fun.

“I think that was different, I had so much fun on stage.”

Cherelle Rose Patterson is heading off to Las Vegas. (c.) Stacey Clarke.

During the three week competition in Vegas, Miss Patterson said contestants are judged on their personality, elegance and mannerisms, as well as their charity work leading up to the trip.

“They ask can you be a queen and are you ready to live in Thailand for a year?” she said.

Miss Patterson, who runs her own management company, said she wanted to enter the Miss Grand International competition because of its Stop the War and Violence campaign – a message she is particularly passionate about.

The contest aims to find the next woman to take on the running of the campaign, in a bid to help those who have been affected by war and violence.

Miss Patterson, who has competed in several pageants in the past, said she has always wanted to represent England on an international stage.

She said: “I’m a black woman and I think it’s really, really important to show England is diverse.

“We stand together as a country and we need to stop the war and the violence.”

She is now hoping to get involved in as much charity work as possible, before jetting off later this year.