Brazil’s carnival celebrations are among the wildest parties in the world, but someone has to reign over them — and being “queen” can be a year-round job. AFP interviewed two “carnival queens” who devote a substantial part of their lives year-round to the personas they bring to life every February: the super-buff, silicone-pumped queen of the Portela samba school, and a business executive turned drag queen who has fused his love of carnival with his job as an airline sales manager. Hard work being queen With a glowing smile, rippling muscles and a body glowing with sweat, Bianca Monteiro dances the samba so fast it is hard to keep track of her feet. Monteiro, 31, is the “queen of the drum section” at the Portela samba school, the winningest group in the history of Rio de Janeiro’s annual carnival competition.