When Danille Lloyd was named a cheat, the coveted crown of Miss Great Britain came to Preeti Desai. Now, on the eve of this year's contest, she hopes her glamorous successor will be none other than her sister. The North-East beauty queen talks to Women's Editor Sarah Foster

YOU know you've made it when you get your own impostors, and in the case of Preeti Desai, there is no shortage of the breed. "There's a lot of people out there pretending to be me on websites," she laments. "I think people advertise on them because they get so many hits. The annoying thing is that I'll probably lose a lot of work from it. As soon as I got the title, they bought .co.uk and .com, but my only official website is www.preetidesai.net, and I've also got a myspace as well - www.myspace.com/preetidesai.

It may cause Preeti some vexation, but then again, she's Miss Great Britain, so maybe just has to accept that she is seen as a commodity. The way she came to take the crown was not exactly how she'd planned - it fell to her when Danielle Lloyd, the reigning winner of the contest, was dumped for dating Terry Sheringham, who'd helped make up the judging panel.

Yet, if the scandal cast a shadow, it doesn't show in Preeti's manner. She's clearly proud to hold her title, and when she has to give it up, which she must do tonight in London, it won't be done without regret. The one thing Preeti can cling onto is that the crown may not stray far - it could be taken by her sister. So how did Anjlee, 22, end up as one of this year's entrants?

"It was all a bit weird actually because neither of us are pageant queens," says Preeti, who's 25. "The organisers wanted me to re-enter, but I kept saying 'No. Once is enough. It's the kind of experience you just do once.' But my sister kept bugging me and saying 'go on, do it because you've only had it for six months'. I'd missed most of the contracts and sponsorships, as well as Miss World, and she was quite upset.

"I said as a joke 'why don't you enter if you're that bothered?' and we just kept joking about it, then we thought 'why not?'"

Just like her sister, Anjlee was chosen as Miss Cleveland, which meant an automatic place among the Miss Great Britain finalists. If she comes out as overall winner, it will make history, as no new holder of the crown has taken over from her sister. This makes it all the more exciting for the London-based musician.

"It's going to be an amazing experience," enthuses Anjlee. "Preeti is crowning the new Miss Great Britain and I'd like to think I could bring it back for my sister. We're sisters - we share everything - so it would be nice to share that."

They may be blessed with model looks, but life has sometimes been quite tough for the Desai girls. Brought up in Middlesbrough, their parents travelled there from India, and keen to forge a good career, their father opened several shops, becoming well known as a businessman. And then their mother became ill and Preeti faced a hard decision.

"My mum was poorly with depression," she explains. "To be honest, because we didn't recognise what depression was, it got worse and worse. I'd done my second year in hair and beauty at Middlesbrough College and it came to the point where I decided to look after her. That's what she needed, and she did get better. It's hard, but at the time, you just see it as a duty - it's your mum, so you want her to get better. You do think at some point 'this is for the rest of my life', but you get on with it. Any daughter or any relative would do it for their loved one."

While this is firmly in the past, it clearly made a big impression. As a result of Miss Great Britain, she's now campaigning on the matter. "I'm supporting Carers' Week (June 11-17) because of my mum's depression - so many people have it and go through it," she says. "I'm going to be doing quite a lot for that week, trying to raise awareness of the charities and all the help that's out there for carers. I've been involved with the charity Mind as well."

Though all this may seem like a gimmick; the oldest cliché in the book, what Preeti's keen to get across is her sincerity. She says that giving up the crown won't mean the end of her involvement, and that she only speaks for causes that are meaningful to her. "At the end of the day, I've been doing it from the bottom of my heart," she maintains. "It's causes that I feel strongly about. Nobody would have wanted to listen to me before, but getting crowned Miss Great Britain gives you a voice to be heard."

One thing she isn't keen to trumpet is her ethnicity. The first of Indian extraction to be a winner of the contest, she could have used this as a platform in the general race debate. That she chose not to take this route - despite being asked to give her views on racist claims surrounding Big Brother, which Danielle Lloyd was at the centre of - is simply common sense to Preeti. "I've been to a Roman Catholic school and most of my friends were white, and I've never, ever experienced racism," she says. "If I headed a campaign about it, it would actually be silly because I've not actually had any racism against me."

She will, however, offer her thoughts as just an ordinary observer. "At the end of the day, racism is ignorance and some of the comments that were made (in the Big Brother house) I wouldn't like being said to me," says Preeti. "There needs to be more education to change people's ignorance."

For one who claims she never dreamed she'd win the competition, she's truly blossomed since she did. Now based in London, where the work is, she's had her share of tempting offers. While she's unsure of which she'll take, one in particular excites her. "I'm in talks with Bollywood at the moment - they've been trying to get in touch with me ever since I was crowned - so you never know, you might see me in a Bollywood film."

If nothing else, when she gives up her crown tonight, she will retain some happy memories. "I think I've grown up a lot in the last six months," she reflects.

To vote for Anjlee, text missgb 21 to 80808.