Meet Miss Black Country: Rowley Regis' answer to 'Taylor Swift' who took this year's title
You might recognise her as the Black Country's version of pop sensation Taylor Swift, but beauty queen Alexandra Darby is now wearing a new crown.
The Rowley Regis pageant star has achieved her Wildest Dreams after she was named Miss Black Country 2018/19 on Sunday night.
The 22-year-old rivalled more than 300 other women to take the tiara, and said she was 'overwhelmed' when she found out the happy news.
Alex, who works as a singer and Taylor Swift tribute act all across the country, said: "I was just so excited and overwhelmed - mainly overwhelmed because of all the work I've put into this.
"It was amazing when I found out, I had so many friends there and the whole room was buzzing."
Alex, a former Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy student, entered Miss Black Country for the first time back in 2016, but did not win the title, which made her even more determined this time round.
And her hard work paid off, as for 2018 she not only took the overall crown for the competition, but also won Miss Intellect and Miss Charity, and will go through the to the prestigious Miss England finals in August.
Alex said: "This year I thought, I'm going to come back and win it.
"So for the last three or four months I've been working with lots of different charities - I raised £800 for Beauty with a Purpose, which helps children round the world, and I've worked with local ones too, the homeless charity Loaves N Fishes, and Survivors of Domestic Abuse.
"Miss England is just a bigger version of Miss Black Country so I'm going to just carry on with what I'm doing - raising as much money as I can for charity."
Alex lives with her auntie in Rowley Regis and had to perform in a wide variety of competition rounds to be crowned the overall winner.
Contestants were put through their paces with sporting challenges, being asked to make an 'eco-dress' out of recycled materials, taking part in a fashion round, and strutting their stuff in an evening wear catwalk task.
Alex won the title of Miss Charity due to raising the most money out of all contestants, and Miss Intellect for getting the most correct answers during a quiz themed on the Black Country and Miss England.
