A beauty contest in Kazakhstan was thrown into chaos after one of the finalists revealed he’s actually a man, British media report.

Ilay Dyagilev, 22, fooled organisers by posing as Alina Alieva, beating 4,000 applicants to the last stage of the competition.

He said: ‘My friends and I, we had a debate on beauty, and I decided to take part in the pageant. I’ve always been a champion of natural beauty.

‘You can see that many young women look identical, the same make-up, the same style – and they believe that they are beautiful if they follow trends. I don’t think so.’

But he decided to tell the organisers of Miss Virtual Kazakhstan that they had been conned, as had online voters from all over the country.

“I came through to the finale and decided to expose the identity of Arina Alieva when I realised it had gone too far."

The organisers said they were ‘shocked’ by the revelation of the man from Almaty. Ilay’s confession led to him being removed from the finalists and replaced by another contestant.

Photos East2West