A singer came third in the prestigious Miss Essex beauty contest after entering her first ever pageant.

Natalie Pickthall said she was surprised to have done so well after being told to enter by her mum.

The 25-year-old, who sings in girl group IV Rox, said: “My mum said I should do it because you can only enter pageants until you’re 25. I just did it for a laugh really, I didn’t think I would even come third.

“You had to just go in there and tell them the reasons why you wanted to be an ambassador for Essex.

“I was up against girls who have been doing pageants for the last four or five years.

“I think because of my job, which is demanding and means I have to stand in front of crowds, I didn’t have a lot of nerves, but I didn’t really know what answers they wanted.”

Miss Pickthall, who lives in Felsted and used to work in Braintree, where she still goes to the gym, said she would enter one more contest before she turns 26.