DETHRONED

Miss California Loses Crown

Prejean claims organizers wanted her do Playboy.

It’s no secret that recently dethroned Miss California USA Carrie Prejean got her wrists slapped for posing nude in a photo shoot, but were pageant execs egging her on? Hours after news broke that Prejean would be dethroned for breach of contract and too much “extracurricular stuff,” the quondam queen took a phone call from TMZ—and accused pageant big wig Keith Lewis offering her a semi-nude Playboy spread, along with a spot on NBC’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! Lewis responded, saying he never pressured Prejean to take Playboy up on their offer, for which she would have been paid $140,000. Lewis said Prejean asked that no jobs be turned down without her approval. Prejean went on to say she was blindsided by the pageant’s decision to fire her and only learned of it after TMZ broke the story. “They don't like me,” Prejean said. “From day one they wanted me out and they got what they wanted.”