Miss America: Realty Check
 

Why/When did Miss Virgin Islands start competing? :confused: I think I'll be watching the show but that really bugs me.

Probably when the ratings went waaaayyyy down.

It is a US Territory. Puerto Rico has been in the pageant for a while. Expect to see Miss Northern Mariana Islands soon right behind Miss North Dekota

American Samoa
Baker Island
Howland Island
Jarvis Island
Johnston Atoll
Kingman Reef
Guam
Midway Islands
Navassa Island
Northern Mariana Islands
Palmyra Atoll
Petrel Islands
Puerto Rico
Serranilla Bank
U.S. Virgin Islands
Wake Island

I want a Michael Urie of my very own!

Hawaii's contestant this year is a joke, and I was very disappointed to see her crowned last June. That's all I shall say about her.

Miss Oklahoma looks...old. I doubt she'll be the 3rd Miss America from Oklahoma in a row. She was "Bottom 3" last night.

I won't even go on about Miss Idaho and the need for hairspray. "This isn't the hair of a beauty queen...this is the hair of a senator's wife!"

I am enjoying the show so far, but it really does look like the "experts" trying to throw some superficiality in there. Though they did have that physical challenge and controversy discussion, it really does seem like everything's based on looks this time around.

LESS IS MORE!

If Miss Puerto Rico was competing I'd almost understand. It's 50 states plus DC plus Virgin Islands. I just find that strange.

I watched it last night and am glad they are doing something like this because I had long ago lost interest in these pageants. To me they were just a name and possibly a sorority affiliation.;)

The 19 year old Miss Iowa? Yikes. She wears more makeup in a day than I have in my whole life.

Does anyone know how many episodes this will be?

According to TLC's website, it looks like four episodes. The pageant is near the end of this month, I think.

I thought Idaho's hair was just weird. Back in the day before I discovered the wonderful world of flat irons my hair kinda looked like that when I woke up in the morning.

What I want to know is how many freaking bottles of hairspray did they go through while at that house?

And some of the contestants looked a good 10 years older than it said they were.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if I heard 4 weeks or 4 episodes.

I don't have cable and I wish I did so I could watch this show! How's Miss Delaware? I've met her and worked with her on a few projects. She's really sweet (and from a dairy farm!).

Only 4 shows?

Are they eliminating the contestants "American Idol" style?

I think it would be fun if they did it that way! Or maybe in the "Dancing With the Stars" style where their scores are half judges/half calls.

An Miss Virgin Islands... hmmm whatevs

The results of the show has nothing to do with the results of Miss America as far as I know. It's just a ploy to get them to appear more modern and relatable to the current audience so ratings won't be so sh***y.

It's cute and they basically give them challanges and then rank them into a top three and bottom three every week and then the ones that win basically get some scholarships and stuff.

There seems to be some controversy amongst the competitors because they are unsure of whether or not they should become more modern or remain a "pageant girl" because they feel that they might lose the pageant by not being a "pageant girl".

I think it's a good thing to change the image. I'm tired of looking at big hair and doughy stomachs with excessive eye make up.

Did anyone notice that the challenge during the dinner with the controversial questions, the majority showed a very conservative side. It's fine to not believe in sex before marriage and have certain views on gun control and virginity and what not, but I felt so awkward hearing girls my age ALL say the same thing. It sounded like a white male conservative convention than most modern American 20+ year olds. 8 out of 10 girls my age I know would not answer the same way. No one was different! Were they afraid to be different? Were they putting on a show for pageant time? Is this how they truly felt?

I didn't see it, but I think I'd have to agree. I highly doubt this is how they really feel. While sex before marriage is virtuous and all, I would seriously doubt that all of them really are "saving themselves"... they probably don't want to sound like the only hussy on the show.

Esp. while trying to impress complete strangers to win something, ya know?

Take Teen Miss South Carolina for example. Her answer made absolutely NO SENSE, but every single word sounded all pageant-like. She could have said "People can't find the U.S. on the map because our education system is a failure and they are all dumbasses because all they do is watch TV and play XBOX" but instead she said some random stuff about Iraq, Africa, helping the education system to help the children of the future and helping foreign countries.

Miss Vermont was trying to be different - with her take on gay marriage.

Do you mean Idaho? Big hair chick? She's the 19-year-old. Miss Iowa is 23 (and a former baton twirler which would explain the extreme peppiness).

Yeah, Idaho not Iowa. Thanks.

I realize that you didn't see it, but one of the judges tried to call some of the women on it (sex before marriage). Sort of a, are you really practicing what you preach? I think she was saying something along the lines of, "Are you a virgin, Miss "Insert a State here"... I don't think she got a response.

I saw that part too and no one's response was shown. It felt so awkward to me. I want a Miss America who can be herself whether or not she's having sex or whatever. They just HAD to bring it up so everyone could look around accusingly and be like "not me you whore"!

In their defense - it is entirely possible that one or more HAD sex and decided that she would hereafter wait until marriage.
AND - it is possible to be a virgin past the age of 16, Jamie Lynn Spears to the contrary.
I went to college in the 80s - my students assumed I HAD to have done drugs - uh, no. Not even a cigarette. So I'd hate to make a blanket statement either way about a group of 52 young women. I hope "updating" the pageant doesn't mean going the way of slutty Miss USA.

Oh, I'm not saying it's impossible that some of these women may very well be virgins. However, given that they range in age from 19-23 or 24, the odds are probably slimmer than if this was taking place eons ago (also assuming all the women were still unmarried at said point eons ago). I don't think the intent of updating the pagaent is to make them all fullblown sluts, I think it's to make them more authentic, and bring them out of the late 80s/early 90s.

agreed. no one made any blanket statements saying "they're all sluts and they need to own up to it!"... just saying it's highly improbable that ALL 52 19-24 yr olds are virgins.

If they have had premartial sex, so what? Why can't they be REAL and not pretend like they haven't. The reason of course being that if they have judges that want women who are waiting until marriage and are for world peace, they want to be that girl so they can win.

They can take the stance that people need to be responsible when having premartial sex and be fully aware of the consquences (*ahem*JamieLynn) including pregnancy and STDs.

I don't know that the contestants agreed to have their sex lives discussed - I'm a big believer in keeping private lives, uh, private. My point is that all of us, I hope, have high standards to which we strive to keep, but may sometimes fail. That doesn't mean we are bad people - only human. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?", to quote Browning. With a whole wealth of controversial subjects available, it seems rather sensational to put this one out there the way they did. What contestant is going to say "Premarital sex is great!"?? They kinda loaded the deck against the girls at that table especially given the short amount of time they had to discuss it.

Greek affiliations
 

Do we know which contestants are Greeks???

Missouri is an SK!!!

Let's list 'em!
 

Miss Colorado - Kappa Delta
Miss Missouri - Sigma Kappa
Miss Georgia - Phi Mu
Miss Illinois - Phi Mu
Miss North Carolina - Alpha Delta Pi
Miss Florida - Alpha Delta Pi
Miss Arkansas - Pi Beta Phi
Miss Kansas - Chi Omega
Miss Mississippi - Zeta Phi Beta


Any others??

I think this is the 1st year, but maybe it just came down to there never being a director for the Miss Virgin Islands-America pageant before this point. Once they got a director to run the...errr..."state" preliminary, they could send a girl to the Miss America.

There is another thread called "Any greeks in the upcoming Miss America pageant?" that I just updated with the Miss Missouri -Sigma Kappa tally. (CO was already accounted for.) Where did she go to school?

I don't know how to link threads, so if someone else wants to, please help a girl out.

Linking threads???
 

Me neither. :(

Miss Missouri attended U of Penn

Miss Illinois was a Phi Mu with me! Yea Ashley!!

Ole Miss actually has 3 girls in this:
Miss Illinois - Ashley Hatfield - Phi Mu
Miss Arkansas - Katie Bailey - Pi Beta Phi
Miss Tennessee - Grace Gore (not sure what sorority she's in)


Miss Mississippi is from Oxford too, but went to Alcorn State.

I was impressed that Miss Illinois stood up for herself in the last episode. That took some courage not to go along with 51 other girls!

If you find out which sorority Miss TN is in, we can add her to the list as well (got all the others)!

Miss Tennessee
 

I can't discover Grace Gore's sorority for love or money - maybe someone from Ole Miss can clue us in? Could it be - she isn't in one???

I agree, and I think the judges were happy that she still listened to the make-up tips and styled her hair differently.

I love this show! Total guilty pleasure

I dig this show. It's a way to make the pageant more interesting. And I actually want to see who wins for the first time in AGES!!

I was thinking the same thing. Normally I just think it's nice if my state makes it in, but now the show has me rooting for other states. I know the whole premise of the show was to make them seem "normal" and make people get invested...I admit, it worked on me.

According to this, she attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina for two years before transferring to Ole Miss and graduating.

Maybe she isn't in a sorority. I'm thinking if she were, it'd be plastered all over the internet by now.

I just realized that this year's Miss America telecast is going to be on TLC.

TLC. First CMT, now TLC. How sad.

I'm glad it's on TLC this year. I think they have the best shot at keeping it in future years. They also tried something new with the reality show, so I'm looking forward to seeing if the pageant is also a little different.

I'm having a Miss America party to watch the pageant on Saturday, and I'm giving out prizes to people who know facts about the contestants. Most of my info is from Reality Check. Anyone have a fun suggestion for the name of the drink I'm making - margarita mix, cranberry juice, fresca, and malibu. Yuummmm!

Ditto! I actually plan to watch this year and I haven't done that in a long time.