Sophia signs for the Free Press! (From Free Press Series)

Sophia signs for the Free Press!

Starting today, former Miss Wales Sophia Cahill writes exclusively for the Free Press.

The time for model behaviour

I HAVE recently returned from Australia where the locals found out I had been a Miss World contestant and tried to enter me into a local competition - thanks to all my friends over there! Having survived being eaten by the local inhabitants of the rain forest, the Great Barrier Reef and a shark infested river I attempted, (and I am proud to say completed, thanks to an insane group of instructors), a skydive at 14,000ft, see right. I cannot imagine anyone looking glamorous or indeed at all attractive whilst pounding towards the earth with a distorted face and wobbly body - I won't be doing that again in a hurry!

For all those people out there who think that modelling is easy and just involves looking good in front of a camera I can tell you it's not - it involves a lot of hard work. For example, during a photo-shoot in Spain a few weeks ago we had to climb, in extreme heat, what appeared to me to be the highest mountain in Spain to get to the location.

Whilst I luckily got away with just a few blisters on my feet, my photographer decided to take a faster route down and proceeded to roll down the hill complete with camera and equipment narrowly avoiding the necessity to spend a week in hospital - poor guy. Pictures were good, though!

I also spent an evening with a load of celebs raising money for Kidney Research Wales where I was auctioned and raised £5,000 - thank you to the person who paid this in order to take me to dinner and to all the other people involved in raising money for this worthwhile cause. I am looking forward to dining at St David's Hotel with dinner being cooked by a top chef - I will have to watch the calories though!

Busy times, but perhaps not as busy as Emma Corten preparing for Miss Wales. I think she has an excellent chance of winning and wish her the best of luck. Also congratulations for winning Miss UK Earth, Emma!