or be dethroned.

Joanne Darrell was called to a crisis meeting with Zeth Landy, the organiser of the Miss Bermuda pageant, on Thursday night after a string of controversies.

Now she has been banned from speaking out in the media and been handed a one-month ultimatum: "Clean up your act or lose your crown!'' Mr. Landy is unhappy that Miss Darrell, 21, has spoken in the press about problems which have left a shadow over her crown.

First, she was denied the opportunity to compete in Miss Universe because of sponsorship problems.

Appearances, which carry a $150 fee, began falling through.

Then close friends claimed Miss Darrell was unhappy that she had been made promises which were broken.

It is believed they included a box to carry her crown and having her sponsor's name emblazoned across her banner.

But it emerged last night that her crown had mysteriously been broken.

Mr. Landy told The Royal Gazette last night that he had considered stripping her of her title.

"I called the meeting and that was surely on the agenda,'' he said. "But she was not stripped of her title yesterday, we are more than willing to work with her and everything seems to be on the up and up.

"We are giving it a one-month trial and error period now and after that we will take it from there. If there were further problems in the next month, she would lose her crown.

"She verbally abused the pageant in the media. Nothing was promised as far as Miss Universe was concerned and I guess there was some miscommunication.

"Joanne Darrell has made appearances away, in Canada, where she is a student.

So where would her banner and sponsor's name be? In Canada.

"As for the box, well the crown is actually broken. I don't know how but it has to be because of something irresponsible.'' But Mr. Landy added that he "learned a lot'' about the former Warwick Academy student in their 90-minute meeting.

"She is a very sensitive person and that explains some of her reactions in the media,'' he said.

"She actually broke down in the meeting. But I feel that she has learned that the old Miss Bermuda has been done away with and is now being operated as a business.

"Rule number one is that she cannot contact the media. If contacted, her response should be `no comment' unless she is given prior permission to speak.

Darrell gag order "That's a beauty pageant rule throughout the world. But I'm not here to bash her. She is very beautiful and very dedicated and the most fabulous Miss Bermuda we have had in a very long time.

"I have known Joanne for quite a long time and I was quite hurt which is why I haven't commented on all this before.

"But I love that girl. She's beautiful and I let that be known in the meeting.'' He said another meeting, to review Miss Bermuda's prgress, would take place at the end of June -- and then a decision would be made on whether she could keep her title.

Miss Darrell did not return calls to The Royal Gazette last night.