RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Rio de Janeiro's Carnival jury named parade group Beija-Flor (Hummingbird) champion for the second year running on Wednesday, while another samba group was relegated to the second division after its dancing queen paraded naked.
Viviane Castro, 25, a model and dancer, had lost her original "tapasexo" -- a small triangle of glitter used to cover the most intimate parts. An improvised substitute glued between her legs right before the show also fell off on the parade strip.
Although bare-breasted, almost naked beauty queens run galore in Rio's Carnival, full nudity is forbidden.
Beija-Flor and 12 other top samba clubs competed in the 70,000-seat Sambadrome on Sunday and Monday nights in a globally televised pageant.
Ash Wednesday is a partial holiday in Brazil and most Rio residents stayed away from work completely to watch the televised awards ceremony for the best samba school.
Although Carnival officially ends on Ash Wednesday and is followed by a period of Lent and penitence in the world's biggest Roman Catholic country, some street processions of irreverent merry-makers will continue playing loud samba tunes, dancing and drinking for a few days.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Bill Trott)
