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Police on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia say their top detectives are searching for three men wanted for robbing the inaugural winner of Canada's Next Top Model reality TV show.
Andrea Muizelaar, 21, of Whitby, had a camera and bag stolen from her while on a stopover in Castries last week during a nine-day cruise she won on the reality show.
"We rely on tourism and we deal with these incidents very seriously," said Assistant Commissioner Andrew Armstrong of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. "This happened right out of the blue."
Muizelaar and a friend had wandered into a suburb of Castries to take photographs, Armstrong said yesterday.
"They were accosted by three men who stole a bag from her," he said. "She had wandered in a spot that was not a tourist area."
Muizelaar and her friend broke free and were helped by some local women who called police.
She said her friend was punched in the head and had a knife held to her throat while she suffered a cut to her upper arm and some bruises.
The trip was the latest in a series of tough breaks for her.
She said Canada's Next Top Model gave her a $100,000 contract that turned out to be subject to income tax, her former modelling agency sued her, and she never did land any major shoots.
She's now studying business at a Toronto college.