Miss America Returns to ABC for 2011 Pageant
by Beth Cooney Fitzpatrick (Subscribe to Beth Cooney Fitzpatrick's posts), Posted May 24th 2010 at 4:00PM
Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron (left) and Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih (right). Photos: AP (2)Here she is (again!)...Miss America.
On the eve of her 90th birthday, ABC has inked a deal with the aging beauty and scholarship pageant, giving Miss America a place to rest her crown and sash until at least 2013.
After posting its best ratings on cable in January when current Miss America, Caressa Cameron, was crowned, the pageant found itself temporarily homeless, unable to reach a new pact with previous host, TLC.
The new, three-year deal with ABC was announced today by the Miss America Organization. Pageant officials say the agreement signals a new era for Miss America, which had been adrift since being dropped by ABC in 2004.
The revamped pageant will be broadcast live on Jan. 15.
"Miss America is one of this country's great enduring institutions, and creatively we are introducing new ways to honor the pageant's rich tradition, while also producing a spectacular show that will offer true entertainment appeal to ABC's viewers," Art McMaster, president and chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization said in a statement.
Does this mean the same racy lingerie poses that mogul Donald Trump recently employed to distance his Miss USA contestants from their pageant girl images?
Don't bet your evening gown, swimsuit or talent segments on it.
The president of Miss America's board, Sam Haskell III, told the AP the scholarship pageant will make an effort to distance itself from (sniff!) Miss USA. (Our translation: no pole dancing winners or sexy swimsuit photo shoots for wholesome America!)
Instead, pageant officials say they are thinking of having a reunion of some 60 living former Miss Americas.
"No little girl walks around saying 'I want to be Miss USA when I grow up.' She says, 'I want to be Miss America,'" Haskell said. Meow!
That said, StyleList thinks Miss America should take advantage of some of the shameless self-promotion that Trump has mastered at the helm of Miss USA.
We noticed newly crowned Miss USA, Rima Fakih, sporting her sash and crown at last night's live finale of Trumps' "The Celebrity Apprentice."
Maybe the new Miss America can compete on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" or take her turn as "The Bachelorette" when her reign is done. Just sayin'.
Miss USA pageant finds itself in another controversy involving pictures
May 11, 2010 | 3:40 pm
The Internet is abuzz with a new wrinkle in the marketing of the once squeaky-clean Miss USA pageant.
Instead of merely sporting the beautiful ball gowns for their official portrait the contestants typically don, this year the beauty queens are posing in lingerie, fishnet stockings, and racy bras -- quite a departure from when the pageant first started in 1950.
Billionaire Donald Trump, who has owned the Miss USA pageant since 1996, is defending the new portraits, which can be seen on the pageant's official website.
"We are in a different age. They are a little bit sexy, but I'll tell you what, everybody's watching, so I have no problems with it," Trump told the entertainment television show "The Insider". "If you look at Miss America, it's now off network television – and we're doing better than ever, so I really have no problem with it."
Miss USA, however, has a contract with NBC through 2013, although it helps, one would assume, that the peacock network is part owners in the venture, which airs the contest Sunday.
The pageant, you may recall, found itself mired in controversy last year when partially nude photos of Miss California Carrie Prejean surfaced.
The buzz via Twitter is mixed, as most controversial topics are. Check out a sample of the reactions after the jump...
Niquelle Allen wrote: It is hard to believe that Vanessa Williams was stripped of her crown for posing nude given the current pageant scandals.
1975jetsfan4 wrote: Can anyone find what's the big deal about this pics? I personally like them.
sYe216 was more critical: dear miss usa contestants, put your damn clothes back on. you all look like strippers.
An interesting pair of tweets came from a former Miss USA contestant who agreed with The Donald. Janaye Ingram wrote, "as a former #MissUSA contestant, I think the photos reflect the changing times. I think u can find this type of thing on any newsstand." Later she added, "If u dont like the photos, realize the problem is not the #missusa photos. The problem is society."
Shandi Finnessey, another Miss USA contestant who actually went on to become Miss USA 2004, agrees with Ingram. "Good luck to all the girls at Miss USA on Sunday. You look gorgeous in your pics and any haters are just jealous! ;)" Finnessey wrote. Earlier she did the talk show circuit defending the photos.
So what do you think? Are these photos too racy for a 60-year-old pageant? Or is Trump correct to assume that because Miss USA beats the comparatively more tame Miss America that the audience has spoken and they should get all the skin they seem to want? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
-- Tony Pierce
Video of Shandi Finnessy via her YouTube account