I, of course, was totally pulling for AZ. I was just thrilled that she made it beyond the first 15, but to make it to the final 5, well AZ hasn't done that in the years that I've religiously watched the pageants. LOL.

Her answer though was dumb, nothing to do with the question. But I told my mom, that that is how all the contestants (minus USA) answer the final question in the Miss Universe pageant, so maybe it would work for her.

I'm still bummed she didn't win. I liked NC though. I hated CA, so I'm bummed that she is 1st runner and AZ is 2nd runner. CA just seemed very fake and snobby to me.

saw the clip on perez hilton's site and he said the best answer she could have given was that it was a state issue and that each state should be left to decide.

Were the politcally inclined questions included this year to boost ratings and interest? (which if it was, it worked apparently... :p )

Seriously, the Miss USA pageant is what it is....a pageant. I hope going forward they stick with the "traditional" HRPL focus :D Judging by the attention this has caused, I doubt it though.

..and I didn't care for CA either. I agree that she did come across as too "something"..

Most all of the questions (I only missed one I think? ) were political - should we have universal health care, should we bail out companies etc.

If you are looking for more interviews, check out Perez Hilton's website.

I think she's just saving face when she says she wouldn't change what she said. And in all the interviews she says the same thing: "He asked me for an opinion so I gave it to him", and "I've received over 4000 Facebook friend requests"

Also, expect something disrespectful to be said when the opening is: "With all due respect..."

There were so many ways she could have answered that question that 1)would have been an actual answer and 2) wouldn't have made her look so bad. She did neither and deserved 100% to loose. And now that she's going on talk shows trying to look like a victim? Disgusting!! She told MSNBC this morning that she's going to pray for Perez Hilton. I think she needs to pray for herself b/c she's pissed off Perez so bad that he has retracted his apology. He won't stop digging for dirt on this girl until he finds something that makes her give up her crown. She pissed off the wrong person!!!

Miss Calif. goes to a christian college in San Diego that I hadn't even heard of...and I even attended a christian college in southern California! Her bio on the Miss Calif. website has scripture quoted...she sounds very religious. There were more diplomatic ways to answer the question, and she sounded surprised and flustered to even be getting the question. Whomever coached her did her a real disservice.

Until recently, my sorority sister and good friend competed in pageants (not sure if she was in the Miss USA or Miss America circuit). We were discussing the topic through email today and while she said she doesn't personally agree with gay marriage, her response would've been:

"thats a tough question because it is so controversial right now and i see both sides of the issue. On one hand, marrigae is traditionally between a man and a woman but on the other who are we to stop someone from being happy? Ultimately the decision should be left to each state to decide based on what they feel is apprioprate."

I thought that sounded pretty good!

The armadillo watching might have been a joke, but she happens to be quite accomplished at fiddle... I'm just glad she's still the same grounded, extremely sweet Chanley that I had the pleasure to serve on student government with at UCA.

Not to sound mean, but that would totally be fine with me because then AZ would be first runner up. LOL. Then all I need is NC to win Miss Universe and then AZ would become Miss USA (albeit by default but still). A girl can dream. LOL.

I didn't like CA in the first place, so I don't feel a bit bad for her that she is taking flack for her craptastic answer. Unfortunately that is the name of the game, look at Miss Teen NC, her answer is legend.

As far as Greeks:

Miss Texas is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha (someone already mentioned this) and was pinned as a sweetheart of Sigma Nu Fraternity at their 2008 National Convention.

Miss Virginia is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi
Miss Louisana is a member of Chi Omega

those are all I know of so far

That was Miss SC Teen USA, bless her heart! :p

That is EXACTLY the answer you are taught to give. I agree with whoever said that her coach did a bad job of prepping her for something like that.

I'm sorry but Perez is nothing but a 2 bit gossip attention whore that is famous for what???? (still trying to figure that out). If she gives up her title (the Miss CA title) because of him, she needs to be smacked and hard. He's a nobody. It's not like she has some influential political figure hot on her tail.....just a gossip blogger. I would tell him to KMA and keep it moving.

And seriously, all of this just taked away from Miss NC - who should be the one getting all the attention right now. :)

I realize that Perez took her response personally, and that he's got some media influence, but for him to actually "dig for dirt" on Miss CA (in an attempt to strip her of her crown) is taking this whole thing too far. He needs to grow up and get over himself. :rolleyes:

I was just coming here to say the same thing. Yet again, the Miss USA pageant has generated controversy. Donald Trump must be in heaven right now, because of all the extra coverage the non-winner is getting. If I was Miss North Carolina, I would be TICKED!

Same with the winner from last year. Her crown was overshadowed by Miss SC and her dumbass answer.

OPPOSITE MARRIAGE?! Seriously?

I agree with both of you - Perez Hilton is a wannabe, and Donald Trump is probably chortling gleefully!

LOLcopter

And for the record, wouldn't "opposite marriage" mean single anyway? LOL

I don't like Miss California's answer... BUT she was honest, and is that not what she is suppose to be? I don't know if she answered honestly out of integrity or stupidity (a gay man asked the question, and the panel was full of celebrities who lean liberal, so its not hard to think of what they want to hear)... It seems like people get persecuted for keeping it real, or saying what they really think, and that is just silly and preposterous. Perez's crusade now is not helping the gay agenda and his admission that she lost because of her opinion shows that his judging was biased (of course, if the show was going for integrity within the judging, we would have completely different judges). Her answer was not well articulated and educated, no matter her opinion, which would be a fair reason for her not taking the title, but her opinion is irrelevant since either side represents a large enough portion of the american melting pot... In a way, I commend her for not saying the answer that was clear the judges wanted to hear...

Does anybody else think that the fact that Perez Hilton was one of the judges shows how low this particular pageant has sunk?

What did you miss about the part where she did not answer his question? It's pretty cut and dry. I've never respected girls who couldn't focus enough at a pageant to answer the question that was asked. Nobody asked her her opinion about anything. A lot of people who are conservative (not saying that you in particular are) are blogging/commenting online and keep missing that point. He did not ask for her opinion on whether gay marriage is "okay" or not. He asked her what should states do regarding gay marriages.

As far as what Perez is doing, I can't say that it's a bad thing he's a judge, most of the time I'm not sure who the judges are anyways and they don't seem qualified so what difference does it make that I do know who he is and he doesn't seem qualified. WHO IS QUALIFIED besides other Miss USAs and former handlers, people in that field etc.? Nobody, really. I do think that he can possibly be distracting from the gay marriage cause, but he has the right to express his feelings about her opinion and he is. Plus he's the Queen of All Media so he's going to use this as his platform to push for his cause/rights and promote himself, can we blame him? Also, no one judge can actually say if that is the reason she lost. As those in the know keep pointing out, Ms. NC USA was ahead the whole time points-wise so that sounds like a load of bull. His vote alone is not what caused her to not win. She simply wasn't good enough to win. That question probably wouldn't have changed a darn thing.

ETA: Isn't opposite marriage meaning that between a man and a woman? Maybe we should get her to explain herself-on the other hand, that may prove difficult for her to do.

Well, I've long thought it was already so low to begin with . . . I don't know that this represents a big "fall".:rolleyes:

I can't believe the crappy quality of the judges they had this year! I'm all for business execs and former beauty queens being judges, but Kelly Monaco (a "stripper"), Kenan Thompson (nice of him to wear his "good" hoodie for the live telecast), and Perez Hilton (some bitchtastic gossip blogger)?

Oh, wait. This is a Donald Trump production. Never mind.

I was not defending the execution of her answer by any means, and if it came off that way, then i did not mean to... I think her stupidity is evident in regards to how she answered the question, but blasting her on her opinion is not fair. She is entitled to have one, and her opinion is not extreme, even though i do not agree with it. But you are right, she did not need to voice an opinion. The fact she did along with her lack of eloquence while answering showed the stupidity behind her answer. However, her opinion itself should not be ridiculed, because she was honest. I also agree that Perez has a right to utilize his platform, but, again, his execution by means of ridicule and disgust is not very productive, in my opinion, to the cause at hand...

Actually I think this pageant sunk when Donald trump bought the rights to it. (Sorry, not a fan of his at all.) I guess the thing that upsets me the most is the fact that perez Hilton is choosing to skewer her over her beliefs when he forces down our throats his beliefs every day on his blog. I personally commend her for not being too PC with her answer. Not everyone thinks that gay marriage should be legal, and she didn't play it "safe" with her answer.

I heard a lot more cheers than boos when I watched the video with her answer. I think Perez should stick to blogging about his celebrity friends, rather than tearing down a woman who choose to answer honestly.

<---going to put on her flame retardant suit now.

I'm still having a hard time with the gay marriage/civil union issue because I have yet to hear any reasons against it that don't have to do with religion, which the government doesn't regulate. We have the choice to worship as we see fit, or NOT worship. Granted I think pageants are pretty antiquated and hokey, but Miss California is representing ALL of the United States of America, which includes all kinds of people. It is okay to have an opinion (such as I am against the death penalty) but when if I was say, the International President of Alpha Gamma Delta, I represent ALL my sisters and don't need to take a stand on it. What I need to do is represent my sisters and promote women, scholarship, and diabetes research. It wasn't required for her to take it where she did, and it more than likely cost her the crown.

At the end of the day, Miss California won a serious amount of publicity. Some of it is positive, some negative, but either way, she'll be remembered long after Miss North Carolina. She's the one to whom Perez Hilton owes a very heartfelt apology!

Although I disagree with her opinion, I don't think that's what made her answer terrible. I think contestants should be articulate and well spoken...Miss California did not come across that way. At the very least they should be able to speak in complete and coherent sentences...Miss California was unable to do so. And for crying out loud, she said "opposite marriage." It seems like the people who are crying "but it's her OPINION!" are forgetting about how flustered, ridiculous and inarticulate she sounded.

Not to pick a nit, but, considering she's not a Constitutional lawyer or an expert in state's rights, anything she answered would be "opinion" and not fact.

The reason there is a cliche about the "intelligence level" of pageant answers is because usually the answers are stupid!! But, I also think that the questions are unfair in that some are really hard to answer without taking a side that is going to piss a fair portion of the population off, and others are complete puff ball questions.

And, as to Perez Hilton, anyone who is on the Speidi fan train and thinks LC is evil is an idiot ;)

A new word has been added to my vocab. Thank you. :)

The More You Know
 

For each "competition", the lowest score and highest score is thrown out and the remaining scores averaged. So even if Mr. Hilton did rank Miss Prejean last, his score should not have kept Miss Prejean from winning.

And apparently, Mr. Hilton wasn't the only judge displeased with Miss Prejean.

After hearing the answer, [Alicia] Jacobs, a former Miss Nevada USA [and judge], writes on her blog, "if I could have made her 51st runner-up, I would have."

She goes on to say "I fault her [Miss Prejean] for her complete lack of social grace, and that's a quality I want my Miss USA to posses. If Prejean had been at a dinner party attended by people with whom she was not familiar, and the subject of Gay marriage came up, would she have made that same statement? Would she have stifled her response so as not to offend anyone at the dinner table? I wonder?"

In her blog, she alludes that other judges felt the same way. "Going into the finals, she was in 3rd place in swimsuit and 2nd place in the evening gown competition."

I wonder if she's going to get on some "blacklist" by the Gay Mafia ala "Will and Grace" where no fella who likes the fellas will help her with her pageantry. No hair stylists, no fashion designers for dresses, no choreographers, no personal trainers, no makeup artists, no voice coaches, NOTHING. She might get stuck with people who help the televangelists ladies and be screwed. I'm pretty sure the Velvet Hand has a firm grip in pageants.

Now I see where Miss California got all her charm
 

Link to the article interviewing Miss Cali's grandma

A few highlights:

Oh good grief, interviewing the grandma....really??? :rolleyes: Who's next...her childhood friend's cousin neighbor?

For reals, if I was Miss USA, I'd really be hacked off. All that work for nothing basically....