First episode of Miss America Reality Check
There are some things that just never seem to change. One of those is the Miss America pageant. Representatives from every state travel to the town of Atlantic City, New Jersey every September to compete for scholarship money and the chance to be the ideal American woman.
Well, times have changed and the Miss America Pageant was slow to move with them. Now the show is going to air on the cable channel TLC and along with the switch from network television is the hope that the pageant will regain its popularity. In order to do that, the pageant needs to become more relevant to today’s society. Thus the reality show Miss America Reality Check was born, as host Michael Urie (from Ugly Betty) said to “bring back the glory of the Miss America title.”
This show is a way for the pageant to get a makeover. All fifty two contestants will share one house for four weeks and try to reinvent themselves while they compete in different challenges. The contestants will be ranked each week in a top three and a bottom three, and the top three contestants overall will win a $10,000 scholarship and a trendy new wardrobe.
The contestants arrive together by bus and are decked out as if they were going to compete for the title that night – with fully done hair and makeup, evening gowns, crowns and sashes. They are shown a video where people are asked what they think of when they hear the title Miss America and the comments aren’t all that favorable. Urie states that there is going to be a new set of standards for the next Miss America – she’s going to be the ultimate “it girl” – stylish and relatable to women today.
To begin the transformation Clinton Kelly and Stacy London from the TLC show “What Not to Wear” go through the contestants’ suitcases and make some very nasty and critical comments about the clothes that are in them. Kelly and London say they are giving their expert advice in order to help modernize the image of Miss America. I was kind of disappointed with the lack of time and attention the hosts of What Not to Wear gave to the contestants. If they really wanted to share their expert advice maybe they should have forced all the contestants to go into the 360 mirror and really take a good look at what they are wearing and how it flatters or doesn’t flatter their body and how stylish they are. Just my opinion.
Urie then introduces the contestants to the “elite advisory board” who will be serving as judges for the reality show. Their opinions and views will mirror the ones by the judges on the night of the Miss America pageant. They are:
Dina Sansing – US Weekly editor
Jeannie Mai – celebrity stylist
Mark Liddell – celebrity photographer
The girls are then split into six teams for competition purposes. The girls figure out what the common bond is that ties them all together. The teams (and their common bonds) are:
Blue – most state wins
Green – the recent contenders – in the last decade these states have the most title holders
Light Blue – always a bridesmaid – never won the title but would come in second
Red – girls with the combination of brown hair and brown eyes
Purple – oldest girls in the pageant
Pink – the underdogs – have never won the title or never come in second place
Their first team challenge comes the next morning, and they call it “America’s Challenge.” As a team the girls must navigate a series of hurdles, then put together a puzzle of the United States of America, run to find their state flag and then race to the finish line. The winning team would get first dibs on the showers. Since there are only seven showers in the house for fifty two girls this is a really nice prize.
The light blue team wins, purple team almost wins and would have won if Miss Pennsylvania was able to find her flag. Being from PA myself this is disappointing because even I know what it looks like! After the competition the girls are told they have one hour to prepare for their next challenge, a dinner party with a special guest. They are told to get dressed and make a good impression with the new image of Miss America in mind.
The contestants get all prettied up – big hair and big clothes – and many of them ignore the judges comments that less is more. They are also expecting to meet some famous guest but instead the guest is “controversy.” Each table has an envelope with a list of topics for discussion and the judges are going to critique them on their answers to their questions and they way they handle the topics. The topics included birth control, gay marriage, sex before marriage, and gun control.
The top three girls this week were South Carolina, Utah and Pennsylvania. The bottom three were Vermont, Idaho and Oklahoma. Urie said for the other 46 girls they fell somewhere in the middle, but that was also a bad thing because they had not made an impression on the judges.
It’s going to be interesting to watch the shown and then see the pageant and see if the contestants took the advice of this panel of experts. And at this late date do you think any of the girls might go out and buy new wardrobe for the competition? That too is a question I can’t wait to see answered.
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January 27th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I want to know what happened in the evenings Miss America Contest…all the women with the exception of one (the winner) transformed themselves into a modern natural contestant…who did the judges choose?…the one women who wore a peacock blue dress for her solo and fishnet gown…you can change the contestants, but, someone forgot to change the judges.