Wigan father and daughter make history after both winning in the same pageant
A Wigan family will be jetting off to America after becoming the first father and daughter to have won a pageant on the same night.
The Dandy family from Wigan have made history after becoming the first father and daughter to win at the same pageant on the same day in the UK - and now they are off to Las Vegas.
Macey, 18, and David, 51, decided to enter the Diamond Pageant together for the first time in their respective categories of Miss Teen Diamond and Mr Diamond.
Diamond Pageants is an inclusive UK-based beauty and diversity pageant organisation founded in 2016. It celebrates contestants of all ages, backgrounds, body types, and genders, promoting positive body image and community acceptance.
As it was the pageant’s 10th anniversary and they were raising money for the charity Young Minds, this inspired David and Macey to get involved.
After their rounds of catwalks and interviews the two were announced as winners, making history as the first father and daughter to do so on the same night.
Julie Dandy, Macey’s mum and David’s wife, said: “Nobody has ever, ever done it and Dave and Macey all the way from little Wigan have done it.”
Macey, who has previously taken part in pageants, said: “How truly blessed I am to have won this with my dad. When I found out my dad won and I won, I was like ‘Wow, we’ve made pageant history, it’s amazing.’”
David, who has never entered a pageant before, said: “I felt emotional to be honest. It did bring a little tear to my eye when my daughter won, and then I went onto the stage and got told that I had as well.”
David now hopes that more men will be inclined to join in with pageants too.
He said: “Pageants have a stereotype that it’s just for women and girls but its actually more of a multi-sex organisation that men shouldn’t fear, you can just be yourself on that stage and it makes you feel liberated.”
As the pageant winners, the family will be jetting off to Las Vegas in August 2027 to compete for the title of Miss and Mr Global Icon, representing the United Kingdom.
David said: “It’s brilliant. America is one of the biggest and most influential countries in the world and I get to go there with my daughter.”