A CONTENDER for the Miss Wiltshire title wants to encourage teenagers to step out of their comfort zone after battling with severe eczema as a child.

Emily Peplow of Linnet Road, Calne, hopes her story about how she overcame traumatic bullying at school will inspire those around her and help secure her a place in the final three of the competition.

"When I was younger I suffered from pretty bad eczema which affected my face, arms, back, everywhere," the 20-year-old said. "It started when I was about two months old until I was about seven but then it came back with a vengeance after that. I was quite badly bullied while I was at school and got called things like eczema face.

"It was quite a traumatic experience in my life and my sister and I used to watch those American TV shows about beauty competitions and I always thought I would never be able to do that."

Although Miss Peplow has since recovered from the skin condition, she hopes that her success and message of solidarity will inspire others to speak out about their experiences.

She said: "Now that it has all cleared up, I am a completely different person and I don't think people realise how traumatic it can be. I am such an advocate of getting people to talk about their experiences and I already helped people who follow my story on social media.

"I want to do this for myself and to show other people that you can do something like this and it does get better. I don't care what people think of me anymore because if I did, I would never do anything in life."

The three contenders with the most votes will automatically go through to the next stage and another two contenders who have raised the most coverage will also be put through. The overall winner will be crowned on June 4 and will go on to compete in the Miss England final held in Birmingham in July.

To vote for Emily text MISS WILTS07 to 63333 or call 09013070185 and enter 07.