He actually did a pretty unreal job of losing all that money so quickly...funny how having a TV show can create an illusion of success.

Miss America wants out of Atlantic City

Hopefully the link will work.

Miss America Wants Out of Atlantic City

By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Officials who run the venue where the Miss America pageant has been held for the last 84 years voted unanimously Thursday to allow the contest to leave the site.

The move clears the way for the pageant to leave Atlantic City altogether.

The vote came after a surprise announcement earlier in the day from the organizers of the Miss America pageant, who told Atlantic City officials they want to move the contest from the only home it has ever known. The pageant is in dire financial condition and last year lost its broadcast network TV contract.

I wonder where it'll be held next? Will it be similar to the Miss USA pageant now?

Good lord, please no!

Was it really all that different before? Maybe I just never noticed. Something like one has a talent portion, and one doesn't? :rolleyes:

Aside from the talent portion, MAO seemed less commercial to me and put more focus on scholarships (I volunteer on the local level). A woman needs to be matriculated somewhere and have a stellar academic record in order to be even considered as a prelim candidate (for us, anyway).

Miss USAs travel the country speaking on a number of issues (if they're smart enough). Miss Americas have a chosen platform.

It's a harsh generalization, but if I had to draw a comparison...Miss USAs=not too bright. Miss Americas=very educated.

Plus Miss Usa is moved to a different location pretty much every year. Although it might be held in the same state a half a dozen times, it tends to move. While MAO was continously at Atlantic City.

I wonder if any of the Miss Teen USA finalists or winners have gone on to Miss America? (and even more if they won)

Miss America Pageant Moving to Las Vegas

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press Writer
Published November 16, 2005, 9:10 PM CST

LAS VEGAS -- After 84 years of crowning beauties on the Boardwalk, the Miss America pageant is moving to the Las Vegas Strip, organizers announced Wednesday.

It will be the first time the contest has been staged outside Atlantic City, N.J.

The Aladdin hotel-casino will host the pageant, scheduled to air Jan. 21 on cable channel Country Music Television, organizers told The Associated Press.

"What we wanted to do is find a new host city that has all glitz and glamour Miss America is known for," said Art McMaster, chief executive of the Miss America Organization, the nonprofit charitable group that runs the annual event. "Obviously Las Vegas is right at the top of this list."

The pageant has been dogged by financial troubles and slipping viewership in recent years. It was dropped by ABC last year, leaving Miss America without a network TV contract for the first time since 1954.

Paul Villadolid, vice president of programming for Nashville, Tenn.-based CMT, said Las Vegas was chosen because it has a record of putting on first-class shows and for its energy.

"There's a lot of excitement in the city, and we hope to infuse that into the pageant," he said. "Las Vegas echoes our vision to attract a broader and younger audience."

McMaster pulled the event from Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in August, citing high production costs, and said it would be held in January instead of on its traditional post-Labor Day date.

Then pageant officials went looking for a host city that would pay for the right to hold the annual competition. McMaster said more than two dozen cities had courted Miss America.

Organizers would not discuss terms of the deal, which was completed this week, but said it was for one year only.

McMaster said it was too soon to tell if Miss America would settle permanently in Las Vegas. "We're not ruling anything out," he said.

Since 1921, the pageant has been a proud product of Atlantic City, which used the parade of polite, earnest beauties to keep tourists in the seaside town past Labor Day.

To some the choice of Las Vegas was an odd one for an organization that leans more toward country hokum than "What happens here, stays here" revelry.

Up until 1997, Miss America contestants weren't allowed to enter a casino while they were in Atlantic City because Miss America organizers worried how it might look.

"When I think of Vegas, I think of the showgirl image, and I don't think it's necessarily the environment that Miss America has always touted being," said Miss America 1993 Leanza Cornett.

Villadolid and McMaster insisted that the move to Sin City won't taint Miss America's image. McMaster said he plans to keep contestants too busy to spend time or money in casinos.

Villadolid said CMT's production intends to "preserve and celebrate" Miss America's values, but he and McMaster acknowledged the move will necessitate changes.

Fans have likely seen the last of the Miss America parade, in which all 52 contestants rode down the Boardwalk in convertibles before throngs of spectators.

And Miss America's victory dip in the ocean, when the winner frolicked in the surf for gawking photographers, would be impossible in landlocked Las Vegas.

"We're not going to have the same traditions as we had in Atlantic City," Villadolid said. "We're anxious to come up with some new exciting events."

Lee Meriwether, Miss America 1955, called it a "heart tug" to see the pageant leave New Jersey. But she's optimistic a new venue will draw new fans and help launch new traditions.

Meriwether said she never liked the dip in the ocean much anyway.

"It was such a tease, I thought. That's really the only time Miss America appears in a swimsuit during her reign. You go out in the suit for the frolic, and that's the last time you wear it, honey," she said.

If the pagent every really had any morals, this will probably put an end to them...

Oh good lord..
 

Mario Lopez to host 86th Annual Miss America Pageant

Let's see how many contestants he can hook up with!

The pageant will air Jan. 29 from the Aladdin Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip on CMT.

He has already been married to a former Miss USA - Ali Landry (a Kappa Delta). Marriage annulled after only 7 weeks. Supposedly, he cheated on her at his bachelor party.

Let's not forget why the marriage was annulled. He couldn't keep his hoo-ha in his pants!

And that's EXACTLY why I'm wondering what the hell the MAO organizers were thinking?

Because, in show biz terms, Mario Lopez is hot right now. He was simultaneously (I know, I don't know how to spell it) on "Dancing with the Stars", "Nip/Tuck", and a recurring role on "The Bold and the Beautiful". He was been in lots of magazines and talk shows. I would guess that they are hoping that it would bring in ratings.

bring back James Denton from Desperate Housewives.....he is HOT!:D I cannot stand Mario Lopez....he does nothing for me.

Okay, you are obviously still not over your crush on Zack... or Screech :eek: :D LOL!

"It is always YES, never YEAH" -- still one of my fav movies :cool:

My crush on Mark-Paul Gosselaar: sixteen years strong and still going.

Ditto!!!! :D




So I found out that Miss Arkansas is a Chi Omega (her bio said she was in Order of Omega, the official Miss Arkansas site listed what house she is in). Do we know of any other greeks?


Of course I'm totally biased with Miss Arizona (home state), but I'm also just inspired by her story. She was raped her sophomore year at ASU, recovered from it, and went on to win the state title. She now goes to tent city and puts a face to the convicts. I give her so much credit. I don't know if I could compete in a pageant days after I was raped, but she did. (FYI: her rape case is still open, no rapist arrested yet). So needless to say, I hope AZ does really well at the pageant!!!