AS MISS Singapore World 2009 has learnt, it's not easy being a beauty queen in Singapore.

First, people mock your poor diction.

Then, they expose your past - though in Ris Low's case, one could argue that she brought it upon herself by being a credit card crook.

She can't even claim that her wrong-doing was from her distant past, having committed her offences about a year ago.

She was convicted and sentenced to 24 months of supervised probation just two months before winning the crown.

Ris may feel aggrieved that her crime was exposed just weeks before she was to represent Singapore in the Miss World 2009 pageant in South Africa in December.

But as former beauty queen Teo Ser Lee knows all too well, being a celebrity immediately opens one up to public scrutiny, misperceptions and, yes, gossip.

Miss Teo, 44, a winner of three beauty pageants, told The New Paper On Sunday about how people had misconceived ideas of who and what she was.

Never mind that she has a degree in accountancy from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and does not include her beauty pageant achievements in her CVs.

She said: 'I never thought it necessary to list my titles in my CVs as they don't lend credibility to the job I'm seeking.

'Even then, when I began work as an auditor, people tended to think that I got the job because of my exposure in the media.

'When I went for job interviews, I had interviewers and other candidates who asked 'Have I seen your face in the papers somewhere? Aren't you the one who won Miss Singapore World'?

'Some people just never came to terms with the fact that I got the job through my merit. They never cared that I had a degree - their idea was that I'm a bimbo or a beauty with no brains.

'But that made me want to work hard at my job to prove my worth.'

Some of her former clients and colleagues even belittled her or picked on her during meetings.

Miss Teo, who later moved into public relations and managerial positions in multi-national corporations, said: 'Some clients would ask indirectly if I knew what I was doing or what I was talking about, because they didn't trust my abilities.'

Miss Teo, who now runs etiquette consultancy Protocol Academy, said she did not enter beauty pageants to seek glamour or fame.

It was for a more practical reason: Her family was not well-off and she needed money to pay for her studies in NUS.

In 1986, during her second year at NUS, she won Miss Singapore International.

Her prize: $5,000 cash and more than $100,000 worth of products and services.

In 1988, hoping to do a master's degree, she entered and won Miss Singapore World. But she ended up using the $10,000 cash prize to ease her family's financial circumstances and she couldn't do her master's degree.

One last contest

In 1989, her manager advised her to give beauty pageants another shot.

She explained: 'Beyond the age of 27, I'd be too old to compete, so my manager asked me to give it one last try.'

She won Miss Singapore Globe that year. But her fame and exposure came at a price. People scrutinised her every move. It was something that she came to accept.

She said: 'Unfortunately, being subject to constant scrutiny is a price that public figures have to pay. Being a beauty queen is not all glamour.'

When she goes shopping, people comment on her appearance.

She said: 'On weekends, I sometimes just wore jeans and a T-shirt, without any make-up. And some people would come up to me and ask, 'Eh, how come you're dressed like that?'

She also had to contend with jealousy from other women, and men who kept trying to chat her up.

She said: 'There were times when women gave me the 'Who do you think you are?' look.

'When I'm socialising at events and I talk to men, their wives and girlfriends become uncomfortable. I could sense it from their body language so I simply stopped talking to those men.'

The scrutiny becomes more intense when a beauty queen marries.

It happened to Miss Teo when she married businessman Paul Nam in 1993, despite her not informing the press about it.

She said: 'People get married every day. But my marriage was covered as though it was the wedding of the year.

'I didn't invite the reporters to my church and wedding dinner but they turned up anyway. Still, it was a happy day, and I didn't get irritated.'

She got divorced a few years later, but declined to go into this.

Having experienced the life of a beauty queen, she empathises with other local beauty queens who have been criticised for things such as their poor command of English or their outlandish outfits.

She said: 'People will criticise anything. I guess that as an ambassador for Singapore, you are expected to speak well because you're representing the country.

'Then again, many people here speak English that way, if not worse.

'It's unfair for contestants to be criticised for their outfits because the clothes are either chosen by organisers or sponsors, so the girls don't get much say.'

On Ris' case

Does Miss Teo think it was silly of Ris to commit credit card fraud?

She said diplomatically that to err is human and that other people do commit such offences.

'But if a celebrity commits an offence, it's on the front pages of newspapers. It's not bitchy, but the adverse publicity is the reality of a life in the limelight.'

Still, like some other former beauty queens contacted by The New Paper on Sunday, Miss Teo feels it is preferable for a Miss Singapore to have no criminal record. (See report on facing page.)

As for netizens' calls for Ris to be stripped of her title, Miss Teo said everyone is entitled to their opinions.

She said: 'When you're representing your country, the public tends to have high expectations of you. As long as you're in the public eye, people want to talk more and exaggerate things about you.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.