Canada: Bee-bearding battle creates buzz in Ontario

Brave contestants swarmed to the 9th Annual Bee Beard Competition at Ontario's Clovermead Adventure Farm on Saturday. The fearless entrants displayed their buzzing beards to the judges and crowd, before taking to the scales in order to have their bee beard weighed. Tempted by a queen bee strapped underneath the competitor's chin, worker bees gather on the faces and upper bodies of the contestants before being shaped into a 'bee beard'. The competitor with the heaviest bee beard is declared the winner, this year going to Justin Hiemstra, 2013's crown favourite. Judges also praised the bee-bearding skills of Marenda Schipper who took out 2013's Judge's Choice. The practice of bee-bearding is thought to date back some 180 years. The buzzworthy interest is practised across the globe, with contests being especially popular in China. In 2009, a Chinese couple attracted international attention when they swapped traditional wedding attire to get married while covered in bees.