I thought it was because your jaws and the rest of your head flapped independently of one another, like on South Park.

GOOD ONE!! I stand corrected and you're absolutely right!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ce_phillip.png


the thread should be changed into a random thread, because it has gotten so far off track....LOL

I, er, um... I didn't notice any head flapping by Miss Canada! Her parents must have been new to the country.

On topic.

I didn't like Miss Japan. She kept giving these looks that were skanky, too sexual and not in a good way. I thought Miss USA and Canada were gorgeous and was very dissapointed with the top 5 overall. Only Miss USA would have stayed in my personal top 5 and I would have added Miss T&T as well. They just did a miserable job this year.

I completely forgot to watch Miss Universe and therefore, I did not see it. But I remember back in the day (I think it was 1996), when Alicia Machado won (she didn't speak English). She answered in Spanish, they translated it and she won.

I think it's better if the girls just answer in their native language and have it translated, rather than trying to flub their way through in broken English.

As for the skewing...I cannot say because alas, I did not watch it. I can only comment by what I saw in years previous.

The whole translation thing is kinda weird b/c I'm sure something gets lost along the way. And I've seen several people on hear comment that Miss Japan didn't answer her question. What actually happened was it was translated, she answered in Japanese, then got so inspired that she took the mic and told us all about the energy in the room! I thought it was cute but then she went back to her place on stage and no one bothered to translate for the judges what her actual answer was!

To me if Japan could speak that much in English, I'm sure she could have answered the question in English...or she should have let the translator translate what she just had said...I didn't like that at all...

I'm guessing they didn't translate it because they have very particularly rules about how long a candidate has to provide her answer. Bad move on her part.

But wasn't it Miss Japan who was given a question about (and I'm totally paraphrasing b/c I don't remember the exact question) what the worst thing to happen in the last like 100 years was? If it wasn't her, whoever it was, her answer, albeit true, was crap. She went off saying that men have more "power" than women, blah, blah, blah. I'M SORRY that is not the WORST thing to happen in the past 100 years.

Talk about the Holocaust. That is one of the worst things that has happened in the last 100 years (in my personal opinion), not that men have more "power" than women.

Yet, she gives this horribly crappy answer, that has nothing to do with the question, and places higher than USA, who gave strong answers, that oh wait actually answered the question.

I will seriously never understand the logic behind judges at times. They seriously remind me of the judges I delt with at the Cheer competition, when they scored a group that dropped all their stunts, yet my girls had a solid (albeit, not as difficult) routine, yet we scored dead last. Where is the logic there?

It's like the logic with the competition. I don't get it?

But if she's going to be honest, wouldn't she say the bombing of Japan and the American control of it? I think she may have avoided the question because her real answer would not be acceptable to the judges (or another answer would be too Eastern-Centric to appeal to Western judges.

you know, when they read her that question, i cringed b/c i thought the exact same thing - she might be honest, say the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshina & Nagasaki and ruin her chances at Ms. Universe (tragic, i know)

God forbid a contestant give an answer that's not all happiness and sunshine and puppy dogs, or one that sounds intelligent. Seems the perkier and happier the answer, the higher the score.

Look at who the judges were... they're all random celebrities and the majority of them have no pageant experience. TOM GREEN was a judge. What can you expect?

Plus, it would be hard for her to talk about the Holocaust going on in Germany, when at the time, the same things were happening to the Japanese people in concentration camps here in the US. And you know bringing THAT up wouldn't win her any brownie points.

The concentration camps in the US during WWII were not like the ones in Germany. Yes the Japanese were forced to live there, and yes, some people did get killed, but with regard to the conditions in them, you can't compare the two.

I honestly think that asking serious, difficult to answer/touchy subject matter questions would really be a good test for something like this. If you're going to be a spokeswoman, you've gotta be able to react and handle difficult and unexpected questions delicately.

Of course, that's a little to real life for a pageant.

No, I understand that, but I was saying something more along the lines of what jillybean said above. Miss Japan isn't going to say the Holocaust... to her Nagasaki and Hiroshima were worse disasters. But they were the agressors in that war thus making her answer seem, to Americans, arrogant and Asia-centric...

Ok that was just creepy.

Exactly. It's a pagent, not a NATO meeting.

She still could have answered the question honestly. She could have said "I feel the worst act in the last 100 years was the atom bomb on Hiroshima". End of story. She doesn't have to start going into detail saying "The worst act in the last 100 years was the atom bomb on Hiroshima which was done deliberately by the United States of America". Obviously that answer wouldn't be PC. These women are trained to give PC answers.

Again, her answer was crap and had nothing to do with the question.

So very true!


I totally agree. If the pageant people don't want her to be a spokesperson, don't do the "interview" portion in the first place. Make them stand around, sign autographs and "look pretty". If you're going to give a difficult question, I'm sorry you should expect a "difficult" answer, not ones with sunshines and rainbows.



What I'm thinking now is that they give these difficult questions to see how the contestants with "blow them off" and "change the subject" and the ones who don't get scored lower, because OMG they actually answered the question. :D

Like figure skating. Can you imagine the uproar if every Olympic event was judged by a panel of people from the host nation? AND the judges had no experience in the sport?

Miss Universe gives you very little credit for your interview to begin with. I don't know what the percentage is, but it's very low.

If it's like Miss USA, the interview is worth 10%, I believe.

Yeah, it's the same pageant system.

Wait, what?!

The answer actually made some sense when you consider some aspects of Japanese culture. This is not per se the case as much today but Japan has been a very male-dominated country where it was not uncommon for the woman to have to walk in back of her man at all times. She probably saw a lot of that growing up. To her that was one of the worst things. Remember they did ask her for her perspective.

I wonder then if they have changed the scoring b/c when I competed since there were three parts to the competition each had equal weight. So the interview should have counted for 1/3 of the score.

I believe they have, there was some discussion about it at the time and before this year's pageant.

My sister (sorority) does the Miss America prelims and dislikes Miss USA for that reason.

I'm looking for details :)

The scoring system is not listed (or at least I can't find it) on either the Miss Universe or Miss USA websites. But if you look at the individual state websites it will list the judging system used. The prelims still give an equal weight to all three levels of competition. I happened to the Missouri website and it explained it pretty easily.

http://www.missmissouriusa.com/2006pageantinfo.html

The judging system is going to be the same from the state level all the way up to Miss Universe b/c they are all the same company.

Here is the link for Miss America scoring

http://www.missamerica.org/news/nati...ng-process.asp

I wish I could find what I read though

Perhaps it's simply that looks are 66 percent and interview is 33
as compared to Miss America where all looks are 35% and Talent, interview, etc. is the rest.
*shrug*

Tara Conner, Miss USA, is under scrutiny

I'm curious to see if she's going to be stripped of her title...and I'm wondering for what reasons. :confused:

So far the only thing they can say is that it might be behavior in bars. Hmm, makes you wonder about the "source" it's coming from.

Other than the underage drinking (which is obviously an issue), I'm kind of appalled that women who wear the crown under the Miss Universe guise of Trump, aren't allowed to have "personal issues". I mean come on. You've selected a 20 year old to represent the USA. She placed 4th in Miss Universe (pretty good, since USA hasn't placed that high in a while if I remember correctly). And then she has to be a "role model". All the while I think they forget that she is just in fact 20 years old.

Who knows. I hope she doesn't get stripped of her crown because I really like her.

Actually, Shandi Finnessey (Miss USA 2004) placed first runner-up to Miss Australia Jennifer Hawkins at the Miss Universe pageant that year.

I'm involved with Miss America; I co-direct a local prelim and am webmaster for my state organization.

I've also written a book on pageantry; details in my sig block.

If you're part of Trump's posse, you're NOT ALLOWED to have issues. You're supposed to be perfect. I'm not saying it's right...but that's just how it is.

If she wasn't ready to be a "role model" at 20, then maybe she shouldn't have run in the first place.

I know it's almost been ten years, but don't forget about Brook Lee, Miss Universe 1997! I remember her interviews quite well because she lashed out at the program's scrutiny over the reigning Miss Universe's fluctuating weight. I believe it was Miss Venezuela at that time. Brook won the judges over after saying that she would eat everything in sight (twice) if and when she became Miss USA/Universe.

And thanks for the link to your book, ragtimerose! I'm also a MAO volunteer with several of the local prelims and one of my college friends is a director of one of them. I may just pick up a copy!

That's right, I watched that pageant too. It was one of those pageants where I actually liked both women. Of course, I definately wanted USA but I liked Australia.


OTW: I didn't remember 97's one because I really wasn't "into" the pageants then. :D.

The Don's giving a press conference tomorrow that'll announce her fate. Her chances of keeping the crown don't look good at all.

According to this, she's already been evicted from the Miss USA apartment.

Bye bye Tara!

My understanding, albeit amateur, is that pageant contestants basically sign away their rights to be a "real person" for the term of their reign. I know two former Miss Teenage Americas, and both of them had to do so. Both regretted ever going quite as far as they did in the pageant world.

A twenty year old really should understand what a contract is, and how to honor it. It's not as if she's just getting a plastic tiara, there's a LOT of goodies that come with that ONE year of being a role model! If Ms. Connor is unable to control herself for ONE year, she's not a good role model, and not a suitable choice for Miss USA.

Based on this behavior, she should go. Whether we think Trump's rules are right or wrong the fact is she signed a contract agreeing to a certain code of conduct. If she can't abide by what she signed.... bye bye!

The situation itself is pretty unfortunate, but what's the most ironic is what she said in her Miss USA on-stage interview.

When asked by the judge how she felt about young celebrities partying all the time, she said pop stars and celebrities should "tone it down a little."

My, how the tables have turned.

And if I remember correctly I believe she said something about Jesus in schools (?) or something along those lines..... this is hugely ironic in light of those answers......