Zimpapers Logo

Recently crowned Miss World Rolene Strauss who wants to have dinner with President Jacob Zuma says she is fed up with corny pick-up lines, and would not mind being a superhero.

She stays fit, thanks to her skipping rope and her favourite movie is Dirty Dancing.

The 22-year-old Strauss, of Volksrust in Mpumalanga, became South Africa’s third Miss World when she was crowned in London last week Sunday.

She arrived back home on Saturday to a hero’s welcome at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

She speaks passionately and seriously about wanting to leave behind a legacy instead of just focusing on good looks, but when asked a few more light-hearted questions, the medical student from the University of the Free State patiently plays along.

Even after being adjudged the most beautiful girl in the world, she insists that she is still the barefooted little girl who once sat and waited in a tree in Kruger National Park for her parents to find her after she got lost.

“That is basically who I am, the girl who runs barefoot and climbs trees.”

Q: What is your worst pick-up line?

A: When they hear that I’m a medical student, they’re like, I have this pain here . . .”

Q: If you could invite three people to dinner, who would they be?

A: President Zuma, Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Miss World 1994, Aishwarya Rai.

Q: How do you stay fit?

A: I’m really sporty and like being active. I like doing things with my dad especially when I have the time, but with my hectic schedule, I try to get to the gym as often as I can, but it’s not easy. When there is no gym, I take out my skipping rope and skip.

The queen would not mind being a superhero, and if she could choose a name for herself, it would be Princess Freedom.

“I would love to be a superhero because superheroes are able to do anything and help anyone. I believe that being a woman we already have the magic.”

Strauss strongly feels that women should not “fit into a certain box to be someone”.

“Don’t try to be someone else. Create your own box.”

The beauty will be spending the festive season with her family before starting her work as Miss World in earnest, but once the year is over, she is determined to complete her studies to become a doctor, just like her father. — TimesLive.