Miss America, perhaps the nation’s most historically successful pageant, was dropped by ABC last year after its television audience fell below 10 million. Last week, as Bellew was watching the televised show, a volunteer turned to her and said: “If I didn’t know the girls, I wouldn’t watch that for two hours.” Every former Junior Miss and volunteer in the room agreed.Īmerica’s Junior Miss is not the only distressed pageant. Yet even the program’s most devoted fans admit the show’s format was stilted. The contestants, she said, delivered the best reality they could. “They tell us they want more backstabbing,” Bellew said, “but ugliness and viciousness is a problem for us.

Miss USA Tara Conner made headlines for underage drinking and drug abuse.This year, Junior Miss relied heavily on local taxpayer support, with the city and county of Mobile providing a third of the program’s $1-million budget.Īfter experimenting with a behind-the-scenes “reality” TV concept last year, the program was told it needed more cutthroat competition. Genesis, in retaliation, filed a lawsuit against the pageant, claiming that the allegations are false, and that the pageant owners are deliberately spreading lies about her.ħ. After judges found out that Genesis Davila did just that, she was stirpped of her Miss Florida 2017 title. Just this summer, Genesis Davila was forced to give up her Miss Florida 2017 title for violating pageant rules.Īpparently, there are rules in beauty pageants that prohibit contestants from using professional hair and makeup stylists. She had claimed to be 21 when she was really 18, and she was also married and a mother of two children.Ħ. Almost immediately after her crowning, judges discovered that Leona had lied about various details of her background, including her age. This scandal dates all the way back to 1957, when Leona Gage of Maryland was named Miss USA - and then dethroned in less than a day. There was Leona Gage, who lost her Miss USA crown after only 24 hours. The rumors only got worse when sources told news outlets that Nia actually never moved to Nevada, but only set up the “minimum paper trail” to allow her to compete.ĥ. She appeared on a morning radio program called The Todd Show and was asked to name the capital of Nevada.aaaaand she couldn’t do it. In 2014, Nia Sanchez was fighting rumors that she wasn’t actually from Nevada, the state for which she was competing in the Miss USA pageant (which she won, BTW). When Nia Sanchez forgot the capital to her home state.

She was eventually released after a judge found no evidence to prove that she was involved in criminal activity, but her crown was taken away all the same.Ĥ. At the time of her arrest, she was held with her boyfriend and six other people when the police found 9 mm pistols, semiautomatic rifles, and $53,000 in cash in their car. Laura Zuniga was arrested in 2008 with charges of racketeering, drug trafficking, guns and money laundering.

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