Like millions of Americans I stayed up last night watching the Miss America Competition on television. I remember being a young girl and staying up watching the competition every year with my late grandmother. This year I sat up with my iPhone happily chatting on Facebook and Twitter, while also texting with my father who was watching as well. It was all quite entertaining. Just in case you missed it… here are a few of the awkward moments highlights.
Let me begin by saying that I have the absolute utmost respect for all of these ladies,and I myself could never imagine being in the spotlight like this. As much as the Leo in me likes to be the center of attention, the pressure of “perfection” all the time would not bode well with me. I would forever be known as the “black sheep” of the pageant – without question. And truth me told, even though I am going to point out some incredibly awkward moments and follies, I really appreciate these little boo-boos as it shows that these girls – even as close to “perfect” as they appear – are still very much human… which makes me just love them even more.
I tuned in late to the competition because, well… there was football on. But I tuned in just in time to see one of the most awkward moments of the night, when the axed contestants were served trays full of…. donuts. Now I am not sure if Dunkin Donuts was a sponsor or something – I kept watching expecting some kind of marketing plug, but it never happened. Instead host Brooke Burke-Charvet quipped about the ladies having “not had carbs for about six years” as a tuxedo clad gentleman served some of the largest donuts I have ever seen.
photo credit: Huffington Post
The “talent” competition was quite entertaining – with everything from awkwardly uncomfortable sexual dance moves of Miss Illinois rolling around on the floor, to headbanging pianist Miss Wyoming losing an earring on her final chord, to a poorly done song by Miss Tennessee which had me in tears laughing when my friend Tammy suggested she do one armed push ups or maybe play the spoons, and Amy remarked on Facebook that she “should have read a poem.”
However there were also some great performances – my favorite was Miss South Carolina who rocked out Jackson 5 on the piano. And though I am not a fan of tap dancing – and wow a lot of the ladies did tap as their “talent” – I have to admit Miss New York at least was entertaining in her routine to James Brown’s “Get Up Offa That Thing.”
photo credit: Huffington Post
My favorite part of the competition – and incidentally the portion that had me (and Twitter) alternating from rolling in laughter to fuming with anger – was the Question and answer segment, where moments after finding out you have made it through to the next round, you are asked a random, often highly controversial question from a judge, and are then scored on your response….
Now, I can not begin to imagine the anxiety these girls are feeling. And the questions were pretty heavy… and by “pretty” I mean incredibly. Everything from children being over prescribed medicine to gun laws to medical marijuana.
The answers all lead to some raised eyebrows – especially Miss Wyoming stating that parents needed to “look for alternative options” and something about “taking care of whats happening at home” when asked if children were being over diagnosed for ADD. Needless to say Twitter went ballistic at that statement.
But probably the funniest part of the entire night, the moment that will be talked about for years to come… came from Miss Iowa who when asked if legalizing marijuana for medical purposes was the right direction for our country, she promptly replied that it “depends on the situation” but that she has had friends who have used marijuana for medical purposes as a last resort, and that she “only supports marijuana being used for recreational and healthcare purposes.” Recreational? Whaa?
In the end, 23 year old Mallory Hytes Hagan – Miss New York – took the crown. She accepted her roses as Miss America 2012 tried to pin her crown into her simple pony tail hairdo as she said to the crowd she “should have worn waterproof mascara.” She walked around the stage briefly before being ambushed by hugs from the 52 other contestants while the worst most codependent song on the planet played – Let Me Love You by NeYo. What ever happened to the “There She is” song?! (read the lyrics for Let Me Love You people…this is not a love song…it is a “honey you need therapy” song. We should be teaching our daughters SELF love, not to love a man in order to “fix” yourself… but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post)
photo credit: Boston Herald
The Miss America Pageant all in all was terrific I thought – I laughed through most of it as I watched the twitter stream from #missamerica – ALL reality tv is a million times better with Twitter – and chatted with the best friends in the World (umm, mine) on Facebook. It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday night at home and I am excited about the next pageant – Miss USA which will air in June.
What did you think? Any funny/awkward moments that I missed?
Sadly, I didn’t watch it but after reading your FB status updates, I wished I had.
Miss Wyoming needs to come spend a day at my house where my husband has ADD, my eldest son has ADHD, and I have ADHD and THEN tell me that things need to be taken care of at home. I hope and pray God blesses her with 8 children – all with severe ADHD. Amen.
Amen.
I didn’t even know this was on last night but now I’m wondering if I can find some of these moments on youtube, I’m feeling like I missed out.
I think I saw that TLC will be replaying it. It is definitely worth the watch. I KNOW I missed some funny moments in this post… and maybe you can find out the story of the donuts. Talk about adding insult to injury.
I didn’t see it but wish I did after reading your post. I can only imagine some of those questions they asked. However, since my children all have add I would happily let Miss Wyoming come to my house and “see if she can take care of things at home.” Bet she would change her tune in a hurry!
And with this… I’m caught up fully! And now laughing my backside off (which could be a good thing, I can’t seem to get it to go away otherwise).
I didn’t see it this year but your recap was great and makes me wish I had! What a crazy competition. I wonder what the point of the donuts were and some of those questions and answers are quite interesting. I’ll have to be sure to check out next year’s event.
I didn’t get a chance to see it either. The only TV I usually get to watch are my shows that I record and I watch them in the morning before the chaos begins. Sounds like it was pretty interesting!
I only watched a bit of it because hubby was watching football but I was really happy about Alexis Wineman being America’s Choice.
I watched… I immediatley thought did she really say that about the marijuana (sp).It was funny, I think what she said was how she really felt. opps! Anyway I wanted Ms. Illinois (sp) to win! I wasn’t impressed with Ms. New York she was pretty average. Overall the program was good and funny and most of the talent was funny (dumb) is what I REALLY MEAN. LOL!
I tweet live during my favorite shows – primarily True Blood and Doctor Who. It’s so much fun it’s like watching the show with a big group of very witty people!