Iceland is one of the most successful countries at the Miss World pageant with three victories, a record for a nation with a population of less than half a million people.
Rafn Rafnsson, the new chief executive of the Miss Iceland contest, "in hopes of diversifying the field of contestants beyond the statuesque blonde with striking blue eyes that has become the Icelandic stereotype", said "There is no Miss Iceland stereotype..."[3][4][5] One week later, in response to Rafnsson's statement, 1,300 people applied to become Miss Iceland,[4][5] including several nontraditional candidates, such as: In response to the increase of nontraditional applicants, Rafnsson said, "We have to follow the rules set by the international contest.
In addition to the age limits, contestants must be unmarried, childless and, of course, female.
"[4][5] Íris Telma Jonsdóttir, Iceland's 2012 Miss World contestant, "has the unfortunate job of sifting through applications for the coming Miss Iceland contest and the publicity stirred by feminists has even sparked an abnormally high influx of legitimate hopefuls.
That means she has a lot more reading to do before selecting the field of 25 women who will actually compete for a chance to move on to Miss World.