Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez during the swim wear portion of the Miss USA Pageant held at the Baton Rouge River Center on June 8, 2014. (Photo by Brianna Paciorka, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
An hour after she was selected Miss USA 2014, Nia Sanchez stood by herself on a small stage in the Baton Rouge River Center facing a crowd of journalists and photographers. She was wearing a scarlet gown, a sash and a glittering crown. Sanchez, a fourth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art Taekwondo, beat out 50 other contestants to take the title.
It was a somewhat poetic ending for the folks in Nevada. This year, Donald Trump and the rest of the management team at the Miss Universe Organization decided to move the big-time beauty contest from its usual base in Las Vegas to the Louisiana Capital. Then in a Hollywood twist, Sanchez rose up to to take the title back to the desert.
Miss Louisiana USA Brittany Guidry, the home-state favorite, was third runner up. Her loyal family and supporters in section 135 reacted graciously with enthusiastic applause when it became clear Miss Guidry would not wear the crown.
Miss Louisiana USA's grandmother Linda Pontiff and her great aunt Charlene LeBlanc clutched fans emblazoned with Brittany's portrait. They agreed the contestant was a real "down to earth" person. Brittany's brother Matthew and his wife shared a few biographic tidbits about his statuesque sis. She owned a faithful dog for 20 years, she tore her ACL as a cheerleader and her current favorite food is pulled pork. At her request, they brought her a pre-pageant serving of Popeye's mashed potatoes.
Miss Louisiana USA and Miss Louisiana Teen USA are teary, but proud of Miss USA placement
Miss Louisiana Teen USA discusses her sister queen, Miss Louisiana USA, who came in fourth in the 2014 Miss USA competition.
I sat behind the Guidry bunch. It was my first beauty pageant. Who, I wondered, attended pageants? Certainly the crowd was studded with plenty of svelte young women who had worn sashes and crowns themselves. But there were others.
Robyn Lott, a former beauty pageant contestant seated behind me explained the attraction of shows such as Miss USA perfectly. The seats, she said, were filled with little girls and their mothers, the sort of "dreamers" who would love to someday share in the spotlights. She seemed to validate the Miss USA decision to move the event to an example of smaller-town America when she said: "This is where the dreamers come from."
Watching a three-hour live television broadcast is fascinating ... for about an hour. The young women had to just stand around on their high heels during commercials. People appeared from the wings to spray their hair. Between takes, the announcers cajoled the crowd to react strongly to each contestant uniformly out of fairness. Most audience members did their best to oblige. Still, Miss Louisiana USA always got the lion's share of applause.
Lance Bass of NSYNC was the most popular of the judges.
The Miss USA 2014 pageant celebrity judges arrived via red carpet earlier in the afternoon, posing for photos and providing insights into their selection criteria.
CBS sports reporter and former Miss Teen USA 2005 Allie LaForce said she'd be looking for an immediate "hit factor" that would tell her a contestant is "someone we'd like to hang" out with. NBA superstar Karl Malone seemed to agree that there's a difficult-to-define quality that would separate the next Miss USA from the pack. "It's a beauty pageant," he pointed out; they're all beautiful." Television fitness expert Dolvett Quince concurred, saying, "It's more than aesthetics."
Soft-spoken actress Rumer Willis seemed to take it all quite seriously. She feared there wasn't really enough time to get to know the contestants sufficiently. Comedienne Melissa Peterman took a less sensitive route when she said she would recognize the winner because she'd be somebody who, on account of her infuriating perfection, "you just want to punch." Bass planned to call on occult powers to help pick a winner. "You always can tell a girl's soul through her eyes," he said.
Donald Trump described the contestants as a group of "very accomplished people," though he seemed more interested in the rating contest between the Miss USA broadcast, the Tony Awards Broadcast and game two of the NBA finals.
The 51 original contestants were swiftly whittled down to 20, who were introduced by short video autobiographies. As mentioned earlier, Miss Nevada USA is a martial arts expert. She also hates softball. Miss Virginia USA is a wrestler. Miss Maryland USA aspires to be a veterinarian. Miss Minnesota USA is taking pre-med classes. Miss Iowa USA's sister was a former Miss USA. Miss Wisconsin already has a job as a television broadcaster. Miss Oklahoma USA is a home schooling devotee. Miss Tennessee is able to fly through the air with the greatest of ease on a trapeze. Miss Georgia is a flight attendant. Miss Arizona USA has gone gluten free.
New Orleans was represented. The contestants arrived onstage in a crown-shaped Carnival float. They danced with Mardi Gras Indians as the Dirty Dozen brass band played on. New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton had a front row seat, not far from Donald Trump.
During the swimsuit part of the competition all the young woman wear practically the same bathing suit. In the evening gown competition they wore much more distinct outfits. Miss Florida USA's shimmering silver number was the best gown by far.
Over the hours, the number of contestants was reduced to 10 and then 6.
Audience member Allison Stiel pointed out that, remarkably, the final six were all non-blonds. Stiel was not a non-blond. Musical performers Florida Georgia Line, Nelly, Camila and Marc Broussard enlivened the sometimes-tedious proceedings. Then came the most crucial and most interesting moment, when the judges posed important questions to the young women to compare their poise and thoughtfulness.
Miss Iowa USA felt that social media has led to wide spread narcissism. Miss North Dakota USA felt that attending college was still worthwhile, despite the economic challenge. Miss Florida USA would like to bring attention to the chronic disease that took her father. Miss Nevada USA agreed that sexual assault in universities requires more attention. Miss Louisiana USA is in favor of prisoner swaps to return American soldiers home, but she cautioned, it's a treacherous business. Miss Georgia felt that American leaders should be guided by faith. The questions were tough. The answers were credible enough. How would the judges decide?
In the end, it all seemed so subjective.
Chloe, Alexandra, Macie and Sophie, ages 9 to 11 stood against a rail, drinking in the spectacle. Two wore glittery bows. Yes, they eagerly agreed, they would like to be on that stage someday. Dreamers.
Source:- http://www.nola.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment