As The Shark's Official Pageant Correspondent, I must say I've never reported on a pageant story quite like this one in Kazakhstan. Though the message that the imposter was trying to convey was an admirable one. HIGH FIVE!

According to The Daily Mail, Ilay Dyagilev (above) used photoshop and other digital wizardry to transform his own picture into the image of a fictional young woman named Alina Alieva.

When the imaginary Ms. Alieva made it into The Top Six (beating 4000 total applicants), Mr. Ilay decided the ruse had gone too far and confessed.

His reasoning?

'My friends and I, we had a debate on beauty, and I decided to take part in the pageant. I've always been a champion of natural beauty.

'You can see that many young women look identical, the same make-up, the same style - and they believe that they are beautiful if they follow trends. I don't think so.' - Dyagilev Ilay

My only view of Kazakhstan is the harsh and cartoonish version offered by the Sacha Baron Cohen Mockumentary film 'Borat'. It's nice to read a story like this and realize that I was duped! My perception of Kazakhstan was as inaccurate as the thousands who voted for Alina Alieva.

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