If you didn’t get a chance to watch the Miss USA pageant, you’re probably regretting it.
With all the talk and gossip around Miss California’s answer to her on-stage question, it’s hard to ignore the pageant all together.
For those that have been living under a rock and missed the entire buzz around Miss California for the past few days, let me fill you in. During the 57th annual Miss USA pageant, contestants from across the U.S. strutted across the stage in Las Vegas, Nevada, in hopes of a national title, a New York apartment, and many other amazing prizes.
The audience was entertained with swimsuits, evening wear, and most importantly, the judges’ questions.
I will say that I wasn’t impressed with many of the answers to the questions, but Miss California’s answer seemed to shock a majority of the nation.
She started out trying to give a politically correct answer, stating that she was happy she lived in a country where people could choose to marry anyone they desired (in some states).
The answer took a sudden turn that I definitely wasn’t expecting. She contradicted her first statement by saying that she was happy to be raised in a country and in a family that valued marriage between a man and a woman. I can say that Perez Hilton was not the only one who was taken back by the shift in her answer.
Miss California’s answer has stirred up much talk across the US and amongst many of the judges at the 2009 pageant. Many of them stated that Miss California’s final answer had negatively effect the score that they gave her. It makes me wonder if the title would have been hers if she censored her answer a bit more to appease the judges (especially Perez).
This isn’t the first time we have seen a flopped answer to a judge’s question cost a contestant the crown. I think we can all remember the hype around Miss Teen South Carolina’s answer in 2007 to her on-stage question about why Americans cannot locate the U.S. on a Map.
Her scores in the other categories made her a front-runner until her horrifying answer basically knocked her out of the running all together. Maybe it’s time for the Miss Universe organization to apply as much emphasis on public speaking as they do on fitness and beauty, just an idea.
One thing that is in their favor is that both Miss California and Miss Teen South Carolina received a great deal more publicity than the actual winner. I guess the lesson we can take from their mistakes is that debauching your answer may actually work in your favor (notice that I haven’t even mentioned the true winner once). With all else said, Miss California was able to single-handedly make the Miss USA 2009 pageant a memorable one.
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