DANCING QUEEN
Brit beauty Samantha Flores steals the show at Rio carnival as half-naked dancers parade in skull headdresses and vampire fangs
BRIT samba queen Samantha Flores took centre stage at the Sao Paulo carnival in Rio on Friday, dancing her way down the city's streets with thousands watching .
The 37-year-old Londoner was given the prestigious position to appear as the head of the procession down Sambadrome avenue, dancing alongside hundreds of other performers and huge statue-like props.
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Talented Samantha was given the responsibility to dance alone because samba bosses believed she deserved it, and was decked out in a costume covered with 12,000 crystals glued to it and almost 500 pheasant feathers displayed on her back.
She said: "I was a bit shocked when I received the invitation. I am not a voluptuous Brazilian woman.
"I have a lot of respect for the queens and muses in the school – they are unbelievable. I cannot compare myself to them so the best thing I can do is to just be myself.
"The amount of body and skin exposure in these costumes is a lot more than you would see in London but I'm comfortable with this and used to how things are here."
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Brit dancer Samantha Flores shares her happiness after being crowned Queen of the Carnival in Rio De Janeiro
To train for her big moment, the former PR agent spent three hours a day training.
Samantha added: "You need to have enough lung capacity to keep going right to the end as it's a least an hour or more of continuous moving and dancing," she explained.
"You can't afford to collapse because of tiredness and you have to keep on smiling throughout.
"But once you enter the Sambadrome the energy from the crowd is electric and infectious. Imagine 90,000 people looking at you in a bikini it's a fantastic feeling."
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She fell in love with Rio after a girl's trip there in 2006, moving there permanently six months later.
Thousands of revellers took over Rio de Janeiro on Saturday as the Sao Paulo carnival festivities started in full flow, with scantily-clad dancers parading on ornate floats..
Over six million people are expected to take to the streets of Rio for the annual celebrations which sees elaborate parades take to the streets - costing as much as £1.4 million a piece.
Described as the "world's biggest party," on Friday officials handed a glittering key to the city to figurehead King Momo, who resides over the partying.
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He cried "I officially declare the carnival open," accompanied by his carnival queen and two princesses.
But this year, the celebrations come amid growing concern over escalating violence in the city, with reports of shootings averaging 22 per day in January, according to Fogo Cruzado, a group which tracks armed violence in Rio.
In recent days, a three-year-old girl was killed in an attempted robbery and a thirteen-year-old boy died after being caught in crossfire between police and traffickers as he made his way home after a soccer game.
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The violence has meant Rio will beef up its police force to around 17,000 after the federal government denied a request for troops to help enforce security.
Last year, 9,000 troops helped police the festival, but the city's govenor has promised to pay cops more than £14 million in delayed salaries.
Rio's mayor Marcello Crivella said on Friday at an event opening the festivities: ""We live with our hearts torn apart by so much violence.
Rio chooses Londoner Samantha Flores as its carnival queen
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"Carnival at this moment is about resurgence, about hope."
Brazil is also battling a spike in yellow fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical regions, with 98 deaths and 353 cases now confirmed since July, 2017.
Rio's state Health Secretary Luiz Antonio Teixeira Junior has recommended that unvaccinated tourists avoid forests and waterfalls, as a massive vaccination campaign was launched in Rio and Sao Paulo.
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Despite the outbreak, party-goers are expected to spend some £7.6 million on the city, with some paying over £700 to watch the top samba schools perform.
Over 400 more informal block parties are expected to take place while the carnival goes on, with names like "Lie down but don't sleep," and "Worm's crotch."
The festival officially ends on Wednesday, and is historically intended to be a period of indulgence before the season of Lent begins.
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