Barrow's beauty queen among few Miss Earth Englands to place in top 20

Qualified chartered accountant Jordan Louise-Smith, 25, is only three representatives from England to make it to the top 20 in the Miss Earth Competition in 20 years.

The eating disorders awareness advocate is yet to find out exactly where she placed however it will be between 13 and 20. 

After four intense weeks in Vietnam, Jordan returned home to her family in Barrow at 4am on Christmas Eve. 

"It was an experience I'll never forget," she said. "Representing England on such a prestigious international stage has been the honour of my life.

"This is only England’s third-ever placement at Miss Earth and I am so overwhelmed to now be part of that legacy.

"There were so many fantastic experiences but one that I am particularly proud of is Group Europe winning Best Eco project.

"One of my passions is sustainable fashion and conscious consumption so I played an instrumental role in winning. 

"We had to highlight an issue about climate change and I was one of four people to present. We put on a fashion show and talked about the benefits of slow fashion.

"To win that overall, for me particularly, was a massive achievement.

"We also went on to present the issue again at two universities with questions and answers which was great."

Miss Earth is the largest environmental pageant in the world and aims to educate against environmental degradation and encourage climate action.

It is also the third largest competition of its kind behind Miss Universe and Miss World and the event is widely televised throughout Vietnam.

Contestants are given the celebrity treatment once they are over there but it's plenty of hard work with an intense schedule of preliminary competitions, presentations, humanitarian work, events and public appearances. 

Jordan said: "Not only do you have your schedule but your behaviour is monitored all the time for the full four weeks such as your manners and how you treat hotel staff.

"It's because they want whoever is crowned to be generally a good person.

"The team are excellent and you're so well looked after and the fans were so cute and made gifts for us. 

"The 5k as part of the Ho Chi Minh International Marathon for charity was quite an experience. I love the gym but high impact in 30c and 89% humidity was pretty gruelling but I did it. 

"I loved when we got to showcase outfits from local Vietnamese designers for the fashion show during preliminaries.

"We wore beautiful hand-painted silk dresses and traditional hand beaded Áo Dài for the opening finals.

"And the moment my name was called into the top 20 was very surreal.

"I misheard at first and thought they said 'Miss India' until I realised she'd already been called up - that's a moment I'll never forget when I realised."

Jordan is now back home resting with her family and says she has no plans to compete this year however she will be very busy. 

She added: "I made friends for life over there so it would be nice to see them hand over their titles and I will hand over mine this year.

"The girls, the team, the atmosphere, the audience were all just fantastic and I'd just like to thank everyone who supported and were watching me from back home."