Over 40 Camels Have Been Disqualified From Saudi Arabia’s Annual Beauty Contest After Receiving Botox Injections

You’ll be glad to know that Saudi Arabia has upheld the integrity of its camel judging competition this year – disqualifying over 40 camels from the annual pageant after discovering that many had received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups.

As per ABC, Saudi officials conducted the biggest ever crackdown in the competition’s history. The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some £50 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.

You can always judge how competent and progressive a country is by how it handles its camel judging competitions. It’s directly correlated to their human rights records and foreign policies. Apparently these cheating camels are getting all sorts of cosmetic procedures done to make themselves look more sexy. This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost their muscles, injected camels’ heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces. Well not on Saudi Arabia’s watch!

An Saudi Press Agency official said:

The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels. Extreme penalties will be imposed on manipulators.

The camel festival/pageant itself sounds pretty cool, to be fair. Well, if you’re into that sort of thing. There are meals stalls and memento outlets, a petting zoo that includes the tallest and shortest camels in the world, and a museum with life-sized camel sand sculptures. There’s even camel racing, camel milk tasting, and camel hair products on sale.