ROAD TO MISS USA 2023 // UTAH IS MISS USA 2023

[yellowyam1]

The new miss usa is top 5 for sure at miss universe. The complete package

[manoypoe]

Utah's Natcos designer is a Filipino while she wore some of the gowns of another Filipina designer, Angela Taloza esp. the one during the sashing ceremony.

[Queen of the Clouds]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4pjaMo6I0

[itsrowdy801]

How To Fix was a great piece and I really enjoyed it. Upon reading the description, I was a little concerned that the coverage would be grandstand-y with an underlying anti-pageantry message, but I didn't find that to be the case at all. In fact, quite the opposite, it was very pro-pageantry of the modern era, and most of the interviewees were pageant girls themselves.

Obviously the coverage was anti-Crystle, but it's pretty hard to defend her behavior that is frankly indefensible. But she got the villain edit she deserved, and I'm here for it, but it'd be incredibly hard to portray that woman as anything other than a callous, lying monster, as much as she attempted to do so for herself with her crocodile tears. She said many things in her interview which we know to be completely false, and that makes every word of what she says completely uncredible.

For me, the biggest bombshell was the fact that the directors had a meeting about the alleged favoritism of R'Bonney long before Miss USA took place. Of course, Crystle pretended not to know anything about that in her interview. Most of what was said was already known to us, but that meeting was a big surprise. I do remember rumors of R'Bonney possibly being favored coming out after Miss USA posted her on-stage question answer from her state pageant on their Instagram, and I remember kind of shrugging it off because it was very timely at the time and seemed appropriate for an organization which seeks to empower women to speak on this issue crucial to women's health, but hindsight is 20/20 and also it's clear there were a number of other reasons beyond that post that led people to believe that she would have an unfair advantage, and they were right.

I agree that I wish Paula's role was more covered, it was pretty glossed over but that seems to be a big pattern with this coverage. Paula's behavior hasn't made the front pages, and is less immediately apparent and brazen as Crystle's, but she's every bit as shady and callous as Crystle and deserves a lot more scorn. Additionally, I wish they covered the leaked call with Crystle & the state directors Re: the Max situation. They mentioned that the call took place, but honestly listening to that call was the moment I knew that Crystle was as vile as she is. I mean, I knew it before, and some of us were aware of the Max situation before it became public knowledge while Crystle did little about it, but that moment was when it was all over for me with Crystle.

I am so glad Crystle is gone, and I hope this organization can recover from this. Crystle did a lot of fucking damage, and there's a lot to recover from. And we still have a ways to go.

[itsrowdy801]

The new miss usa is top 5 for sure at miss universe. The complete package

No she won't and no she isn't.

[yellowyam1]

The new miss usa is top 5 for sure at miss universe. The complete package

No she won't and no she isn't.

She is and she will. The girl owned that stage last night, she will be very competitive. If last’s year rep could win miss universe I don’t see why this girl can’t when she is miles ahead of the current miss universe

[itsrowdy801]

The new miss usa is top 5 for sure at miss universe. The complete package

No she won't and no she isn't.

She is and she will. The girl owned that stage last night, she will be very competitive. If last’s year rep could win miss universe I don’t see why this girl can’t when she is miles ahead of the current miss universe

Be serious. You guys know I am no fan of R'Bonney, but that's because she's a tramoya, and because of her behavior thereafter. She's still a Miss Universe-level beauty and a very talented performer, and so if you take all the controversy out of it, she would have been one of my favorites at Miss Universe and I would have been delighted to see her win and I've said that before. I know that's not everyone's opinion but it's mine.

Noelia showed up with some of the worst styling in the Top 20, she looked very unnatural. And her performance wasn't anything special, everything about it was just enough to advance and there were many other semifinalists who did it better. And this isn't just because I wanted Hawaii to win, although she was frankly the only one in the Top 5 I wanted to see win there were a lot more in the Top 20 who got should have been there instead of Utah, and instead of PA, TX, and WI too.

And this isn't just because of her carpetbagging. I don't think I'd be as bothered but even if she won with a Florida sash I would consider her one of the weaker Miss USAs in recent memory.

And, as QotC has touched on earlier, there's other shit about her that is not my story to tell that make me even less enthused about her.

[Neeva]

I think Noelia could surprise us at Universe, She needs a better stylist asap though.
She needs to do everything to appear taller, hair in bun etc.

If if were her I would get in contact with R’Bonney’s team because they gave her amazing fresh dresses. USA can’t have another boring grandma dress at Miss Universe evening gown segment like in 2020 and 2021.

She also shouldn’t mention she is half Venezuelan in every answer, just speak a little spanish before you answer to the crowd.

I am actually looking forward to see if she sinks or swims in 50 days.


But Hawaii won costume AND interview (according to her mom)!!! She was probably the US’s best chance tbh.

[Neeva]

As far as Noelia I am very surprised at how many girls don’t follow her on instagram, including Sophie B ,miss Alabama and NY. Hawaii Savannah followed her ONLY after Noelia was crowned.

[chorr]

Uhhhhhh... I thought she did great on EG round on the prelims but dazit for me. I even thought she is a Rbonney clone - do they have the same coaches??

Anyway, I don't know where the f-slurs in PH pageantry ig pages get their tea, but it seems its a hushed secret that whoever gets the MUSA crown this year is bound to clap. Doesnt matter if its Hawaii (the true winner) or New Mexico. Congratulations to the winner all the same.

Rachelle should bat for a different pageant system IMO. What a waste of beauty but that isnt surprising after that prelims mess she has shown.

[Thomas876]

Does someone have a link to watch it?

[ajsy0203]

63 is a magic number for some of them:
France ended 63 year title drought at Miss Universe 2016.
Nebraska ended 63 year Top 3 drought at Miss USA 2018.
Peru ended 63 year Top 5 drought at Miss Universe 2020.
Utah ended 63 title drought at Miss USA 2023.

[JoelR]

Oje if the most disappointing USA editions...... NY not making the cut was the thing we know was coming but didnt want to face it. Her styling was just wrong. She was styled so amazing leading up to Prelims. Consistency is something I can imagine the organization looks for. This was her moment to shine and then.... she dimmed. Maybe she did well in interview and her low prelim score brought her down.

Kirby!!!! I had a Tyra moment, I WAS ROOTIJG FOR YOU L, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!. She did amazing at Prelims but on finals, it felt like she was competing at teen. She was so safe and pageant patty. Her gown was close to what she wore at teen. Disappointed.

North Carolina, I thought she could win byt her evening gown perfomance was just no. Her smile was way to pageant patty. She is stunning so less is more. The gown was nice but her bun didnt go with it.

As for the winner, just another generic girl with a heavy sash that will place over a stunner with a weak sash. Gone are the days that we will have a stunning USA. Sarah Rose was out last stunner but that mouth.......

The swim suit reminded me of the ones from Universe 2021, the one with Andrea Meza. The "capes" were something out of the 80s. As were the evening gowns. I really want to know if there was an email sent to the state directors saying there was an 80s theme for evening gown because it was so 80s (in a bad way)

Speaking of evening gown, that music was so generic. What was that??? It was like they borrowed Miss Internationals EG soundtrack. The stage was nice but that was it. Biggest let down

[JoelR]

Ignore this post I accidentally hit respond instead of edit

[yellowyam1]

I don’t get the hype with New York . Not one bit, my earlier post stated this even before the pageant started that she was not a front runner and that there were better girls . Her clapping was no surprise, I just didn’t see it . I’m shocked at the outrage lol . Anyways I love this year’s edition. The stage was great, camera angles were awesome, 17 of the 20 girls were super beautiful, best top 16 faces we had in the longest .
I will great job new team for

[ab2]

I just wanna give a shoutout to my girl, Ms Samantha Gallia who represented us Washingtonians wonderfully last night. After years and years of disappointment, it was such a surreal moment to hear Washington called into the semifinals.
We love you girl!!
And congrats to Noelia! She will do great at Miss Universe.

[yellowyam1]

I just wanna give a shoutout to my girl, Ms Samantha Gallia who represented us Washingtonians wonderfully last night. After years and years of disappointment, it was such a surreal moment to hear Washington called into the semifinals.
We love you girl!!
And congrats to Noelia! She will do great at Miss Universe.

Had they did a top 15 or top 10 she would have made the cut a stunning performance she gave

[IanC062]

Awh, I remember the days when Miss USA used to bring to forum to life.
2014 when my love, Nia, won was a real highlight. Gone be the days.

The winner is fine, I didn't follow at all really, I liked Texas (and genuinely thought a B2B would be possible), NY, Washington (as my underdog), Hawaii and Virginia.

Noelia's answer is a perfect example of all flash and no substance. She started off really well and then it divulged into a repeated use of clichés. Honestly though, that's all it takes now adays to win pageants.

I don't think a USA B2B is possible (or even desirable) but I think Top 10 is not out of the question. To be frank, R'Bonney's win has never sat with me, so I'll be glad to see her finish. It's not necessarily her fault, but it is what it is. Weird that she wasn't included here though. Like she should have been. She may not be Miss USA anymore but she technically is as she won it, so she should have been there. Bizarre.

[ManMeat]

Many online communities in my country praises Miss USA winners when winners just won Miss USA, about how Miss USA winners are amazing

But surprisingly nobody gives any comment on her

I don't know why.
Even facially less beautiful former Miss USA winners had good comments from them

[ManMeat]

I can't wait to get rid of Crystle era winners
welcoming the new Miss Universe and Miss USA winners and move the f**k on

Unfortunately, Miss Universe is not relevant anymore, like Miss Universe pageant flopped bcuz the COVID era was the reason
but I can't wait for Miss Universe 2023.
I don't want to see Crystle era's girls.


And Miss Cliché USA 2023 won Miss USA 2023,
Let's see how she'll do in Miss Universe 2023

[soledad]

Utah won to please and to appease the Latin community after the debacle on Miss USA and Universe last year. Congratulations anyway. Latin-Asian also won the Teen USA this year

[Queen of the Clouds]

A back-to-back is not going to happen regardless of who we send because the MUO is above all a business, and it is not a smart business move to give another crown to the USA when we are not a country that cares about pageants and an another American Miss Universe will not lead to increased revenue for JKN/MUO, especially when JKN is in debt. So hype Noelia all you want, but she's not winning Miss Universe for reasons that go even beyond herself.

[MOCHA]

Congratulations to the winner and the rest of the top 20.

Winner:
We have a winner that's a disingenuous STATE HOPPER, CROWN CHASER, and RACE BAITER. Honestly, she is not that impressive. No substance and depth at all. Her beauty reminded me of Miss Venezuela Universe 2011 and the ego-centric of Nana Meriwether's accomplishment and non-stop self-centeredness. If you ask the new winner about the color of apples... Her response will be.... Well, The color of an apple is red or green but we also have many apples in VENEZUELA. If Miss USA is still alive in the future, we will see more winner of Colombian/Nicaraguan/Thai/First Nation/Ghana American as first-timers etc. Top 5 was terrible!

The top two: Utah/Hawaii (bi racial beauties of Venezuelan and Filipino descent) and reminded of last year's top 2 at Miss Universe.

I was hoping a for an All-American blonde winner (South Carolina, Nevada) to go to El Salvador because the last time USA send a blonde to a Latin America nation hosting Miss Universe was in 2004 with Shandi (icon). Oh well...

South East Asian talent especially Filipino designers are taking the world of pageantry giving and offering their services to ladies competing in their respective national and international pageants.

[doce]

I didn't even have Utah (Noelia) in my Top 10 picks. That's how forgettable she was.

But once she made Top 5 (horrid Top 5, by the way), she gave the best answer and deserved to win. Hawaii should've expanded her answer more, could've won. This was the most predictable question in history, yet the girls really struggled to answer it. Shows how weak this batch really was.

At the end of the day, however, Noelia is a very generic Latina. We've seen her type over and over in pageants. Facially pretty, but not stunning. Good catwalk, but not excellent. Decent gown, but not outstanding. No it factor, no star power...just OK. The other girls at Miss Universe will eat her alive.

[itsrowdy801]

And here’s my full write up of all things Miss USA 2023

Host City & Experience – We all pretty much expected a return to Reno, due to the three-year contract, but also kind of hoped said contract would be null and void due to Crystle and the Miss Brand’s suspension. I am holding out hope that they went to Reno again due to the short timeframe between Laylah’s appointment and Miss USA, and we’ll be going elsewhere next year. It’s no secret that big cities are unwilling to shell out the dough to bring Miss USA to their cities because tourism there is doing just fine already, places like Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, etc. get millions of tourists every year and it’s not worth it to them, which is why Miss USA has been in cities that nobody wants to visit like Tulsa and Reno. But I think Dani Walker made a good point in her recent video, nobody really wants to go to Shreveport either but they still gave her class a good experience with appearances, a parade, activities like ziplining, etc. whereas every time they go to Reno they get a movie night, a bowling party, and a trip to the lake, activities that are more appropriate for a summer camp field trip than a major event like Miss USA. And, from the Reno CVB’s side, you would think they would want to showcase any of what Reno has to offer, but apparently Reno doesn’t offer that much so there’s only so much they can do.

Production Quality – This was an improvement from the past three years, a massive improvement. It still wasn’t the quality of the Trump era, or even (hot take) IMG, but it’s been an improvement from what we’ve seen the past three editions. I appreciate that it’s back on broadcast TV and that means we get better production values, but I am NOT HAPPY about the delayed telecasts for the West Coast. It’s frankly unacceptable that an event that Is meant to be live has a 3 hour delay for half the country. If you want to tape delay a tv show, fine, but live events like this, absolutely fucking not, don’t even try. Never do this again.

Hosts – I thought the finals hosts did a good job, although they weren’t as involved as some other hosts we’ve had and we didn’t hear much from them, that’s okay with me as the focus should be on the girls. I think they were competent and had some degree of chemistry, and while they weren’t the best hosts we’ve ever seen, they did well. I wouldn’t mind a musical guest even if it is a D-list musician or someone who hasn’t been relevant in 20 years, but maybe next year. It’s a foregone conclusion we aren’t getting A-list musicians anymore, but there are some performers who could use the paycheck that could do a good job.

Format – To start, the opening number was really underwhelming and I felt like I was watching prelims, so already strike one right off the bat. The 20 to 5 cut was frankly ridiculous. I wasn’t super enthused by the originally announced 20 to 13 to 5 format they announced originally, I thought it was too many semifinalists, but I could live with it. But the 20 to 5 cut was insane, and they got rid of all the wrong girls there, but more on that later in the results section. The past three years have each had a ridiculous format. In 2021, don’t even get me started on their confusing “four runners-up out of 8 finalists” thing. Then last year, they had that 16 to 12 cut based off of basically nothing. Now we had 20 who compete in both swim and gown, then cut all the way to 5? I know that Crystle had this fixation on having everyone compete in SS & EG and I was hopeful that died with her career, but sadly no luck. What is wrong with just being normal and having 16 compete in swim, 10 in gown, 5 in question? I just don’t get it. And as for the question, I actually don’t have a problem at all with all finalists getting the same question, although I prefer a Top 5 round with unique questions and then a second cut to three where they all get the same one. Is what it is. But having them hold their own headphones is tomfoolery, and the question they got was ridiculously easy and open-ended. These questions should be difficult and have the potential to be impactful. The question they got is the first question literally every pageant girl should have an answer for on day one. Fire the dumbass in charge of writing your questions.

The Prelims/State Cos situation – This is where my gloves really come off. What happened with state costume and prelims was absolutely ridiculous beyond words. I know they eventually came to their senses and decided to air Miss prelims, but only after hundreds of people complained. This is something that we shouldn’t even need to ask for, and I am still flabbergasted that we had to. And to receive NO communication from Laylah or anyone in charge of the organization, and with only one contestant even talking about it – that makes me feel like they asked them not to and Candace just said f**k it and told us anyway. We spent a day panicking til they wised up at the last second. I don’t know what the situation was behind the scenes, why they weren’t going to air them in the first place and why we received no communication about it from the national organization, and I guess we never will, but hopefully going forward it will never, ever be an issue again. And that’s not to mention the fact that we still never got to see Teen prelims before the show, nor did we get to see State Costume.

Results – The Top 20 was pretty decent. There were a couple changes I would have made, Arkansas and New Jersey had no business there, and New Mexico didn’t belong there either at all but there’s not much we can do about fan vote recipients. But still, girl was a disaster – she wasn’t my 51st place dead-last contestant, Wyoming was, but she was damn near close and I am starting to sour on the idea of fan votes at all since the winner is seldom someone liked by fans or deserving and we haven't had a good one since Madison Nipe. But that being said, when the Top 20 was announced, I was overall pretty optimistic about things. By the time the Top 5 was announced, my optimism waned. Hawaii was the only one who belonged there, MAYBE Texas if I’m being generous, certainly not any of the other mid-tier contestants they called. As far as the winner, I’ve made my opinion clear already. Yet another result I am completely unexcited by.

[doce]

What is wrong with just being normal and having 16 compete in swim, 10 in gown, 5 in question?

I'm not joking...it's because they're scared of being canceled. If they have a cut after swimsuit, people could say they're objectifying women and judging women's bodies. You'll notice they're trying so hard to avoid a cut after swim at Miss Universe and Miss USA. I personally think it's ridiculous.

[itsrowdy801]

What is wrong with just being normal and having 16 compete in swim, 10 in gown, 5 in question?

I'm not joking...it's because they're scared of being canceled. If they have a cut after swimsuit, people could say they're objectifying women and judging women's bodies. You'll notice they're trying so hard to avoid a cut after swim at Miss Universe and Miss USA. I personally think it's ridiculous.

This is actually of an interesting point. It leads me back to my underlying belief that "the people who don't like pageants are going to bitch about them either way, so give the fans what they want and expect", but pageant leadership has appeared to not get the memo on that, and you raise a really great possible reason as to why they keep doing this.

[kurtij]

Utah's Natcos designer is a Filipino while she wore some of the gowns of another Filipina designer, Angela Taloza esp. the one during the sashing ceremony.

I AM NOT IMPRESSED BY HIS NATCOS CREATIONS.
IT IS NOT INTRICATELY DONE.
HE NEEDS TO LEARN FROM INDONESIA, VIETNAM AND THAILAND.

[Queen of the Clouds]

What is wrong with just being normal and having 16 compete in swim, 10 in gown, 5 in question?

I'm not joking...it's because they're scared of being canceled. If they have a cut after swimsuit, people could say they're objectifying women and judging women's bodies. You'll notice they're trying so hard to avoid a cut after swim at Miss Universe and Miss USA. I personally think it's ridiculous.

I had the same exact thought actually. They don't want to cut girls after swimsuit because they don't want to imply they are being cut because of their bodies. Which I think is just ridiculous because every girl competing in a pageant knows cuts after swimsuit happen and why they happen, and nobody who would be offended by this sort of cut is watching pageants in the first place. I'm tired of pageants making changes that fans are not asking for to appease people that are not watching pageants anyways.

[itsrowdy801]

The following message is not mine but sent to me by someone who wishes to remain anonymous. I know QotC and I were dancing around these details without sharing them yet, but at this point I have received the blessing of two individuals involved to post.

Hi all, I have been watching this forum for a minute and have permission from contestants and titleholders to present information I believe may be related to the “story” told about Noelia in US pageantry. I was intrigued to learn people in this forum even knew about and alluded to the gossip last night. Here’s what I have questions about regarding Noelia…

1. Isn’t Noelia’s platform re: anti-bullying lifted directly from the required platform “B.R.A.V.E.” in the Miss Collegiate America system? Noelia is a former Miss Connecticut Collegiate and ostensibly wrote the book during her reign in that system in order to meet competing requirements. Does Miss Collegiate America have the BRAVE name, likeness, and initiative trademarked? Is it its own nonprofit trademark or an acronym that Noelia has the right to use?
2. Noelia’s book is based on a child who tragically died of suicide in Alabama. News outlets claim the proceeds of Noelia’s book go to “The Maddie Foundation” for anti bullying awareness. I invite you to Google the Maddie Foundation… everything myself and others have found is related to a 501c3 in California dedicated to early childhood illnesses and pediatric cancer. This begs the question — where are the proceeds going?
3. Noelia got permission from this family to write the book about Maddie but profits off of this mourning family by exaggerating her relationship to the deceased and bringing up a story she has absolutely zero right to bring up during her interviews.
4. Why does Noelia’s wikipedia page have her name listed under her mother’s maiden name when she has never competed with her mother’s maiden name? Is this to strengthen her likability among Venezuelan pageant fans? Or is it just race baiting? Public relations tactic?
5. Her father is a professional athlete with ample connections to ensure his daughter has every chance to succeed and win in pageantry. This decimates the equity of opportunity for other contestants who cannot afford to sway competition. While other Utah competitors funneled money into people’s choice and ad pages — a way to “buy” their way into placing — Noelia did not as emphatically encourage her followers to vote for her and did not purchase ad space, yet had a plethora of online, generated “hype” around her announcement to compete in Utah. I believe that her family could potentially be paying out bloggers to generate fake online hype or creating bot accounts to “hype” Noelia, something other contestants do not have the means to do. This is a known celebrity public relations tactic, and Noelia knows these tactics because it is exactly what other nepotism babies in the industry do in order to rehabilitate their perception by the public. Noelia’s team may have used this and altered these age-old tactics to build pageant hype.
6. Her team has threatened unfounded legal action against a UT contestant after the contestant raised concerns about being uncomfortable due to Noelia’s staff and male family members being in the dressing room as the last of the contestants changed. Is this not bullying? Isn’t Noelia an anti bullying advocate?
7. Members of Noelia’s team reached out to pageant fan blogs alleging that they knew the results of Utah prior to crowning, had spoken with members of the judging panel, and that quote “they are going with Noelia bc 1) she’s prettier [than Mariluz] and 2) if they send her to Miss USA this year with the black girls she will get eaten alive.” This individual implied that the only other Latina titleholder at the time of Noelia’s crowning was Florida, Caroline Dixon, in order to reinforce Noelia’s competitive edge at Miss USA compared to Mariluz, who is actually Cuban. Screenshots of this exchange can be provided if necessary.
8. Members of the pageant community continue to bully Miss Alabama USA’s directors and titleholder because of Noelia’s two losses — despite Noelia supposedly being an “anti bullying” advocate. These illustrate ample opportunities for Noelia to apply her platform in real life, which she failed to do.
9. Other Miss USA contestants do not follow Noelia on social media which, compounded with the above info, raises concern about Noelia’s behavior in person toward other contestants. I fear some titleholders may be scared of Noelia’s team encouraging threatening behavior while Noelia serves as an active bystander.
10. Utah judges are posting their private conversations with Shanna Moakler online in order to build integrity for the Miss UT USA results - judges in other states have never posted text conversations discussing Miss USA winners pre-RBonney, which brings forth the question of the validity of Noelia’s win from the state level. All this drama between judges and sponsors contextualizes why Shanna said “crown whoever, I truly do not care” (paraphrasing here).
11. Members of Noelia’s coaching team were seen assisting production staff at utah by way of handing out promotional goods for Sherri Hill. Noelia’s coaching staff were given “staff” badges despite the fact that they were not assisting other contestants in any way.
12. Members of Noelia’s coaching staff allegedly got a member of Utah’s judging panel thrown for liking another contestant’s Instagram pictures. However, another judge was seen and documented as being in the audience and cheering for Noelia during Miss Alabama USA 2021 and 2022. After Shanna announced the judging panel, members of Noelia’s team stalked contestants and reached out to ensure that the judge they were unhappy with got thrown but did not do their due diligence to alert Shanna of the conflict of interest regarding the judge that had a pre-existing relationship with Noelia.
13. During Miss USA, Noelia held the headphones from her ears during Wisconsin’s OSQ so she could ruminate over the answer to the question… which shows she does not possess strong speaking capabilities. But we knew that. She isn’t a meat scientist, either.
14. Noelia’s team actively seeks out sponsors, designers, and coaches who supported contestants during Noelia’s run for Miss Utah USA and have gone so far as to post private text messages in an effort to bully and undermine those who supported Noelia’s competition in state pageants even after she won the Miss USA crown. This demonstrates another amazing opportunity for Noelia to act on the message spread in her platform and be BRAVE, but instead, she has ignored relentless bullying by members of her coaching staff on social media towards other members of the pageant community for her own benefit.
15. Members of Noelia’s coaching team are followed by Laylah Rose, which represents a conflict of interest and implies a pre-existing relationship between Miss USA leadership and members of Noelia’s team. The dissolution of Miss Brand and introduction of new leadership should have paved a new era of pageantry with ethics, morals, and integrity; Laylah Rose had the obligation to unfollow all coaches, sponsors, staff, and contestants on social media and recuse herself in order to avoid favoritism concerns. Last night’s documentary illuminated the lax standards for conflict of interest regarding relationships between sponsors and directorships as specifically compared to trump era pageantry. Laylah must hold herself and her organization to a higher standard in order to elevate pageantry and should have led by example and ensured she did not associate with anyone related to the eventual winner.


Overall, I am greatly concerned about the leadership vacuum evident in the Miss USA system -- creating top-down corruption that leaves state directors with minimal direction, allowing for individuals seeking to profit off of young women competing in this system to have a leg up through tampering with or otherwise altering the results. I am concerned that those listed above have an undue amount of influence over state competitions and intend to find ways to infiltrate systems to ensure that their clients win. Additionally, I am concerned that individuals like those listed above -- including coaches, sponsors, and production team members — have intimate knowledge of results ahead of time; influence over the judging staff and criteria; influence over sponsor relationships with contestants; and may be able to predetermine or otherwise "fix" the results due to their relationships with judges. As someone who truly loves the mission and intention of pageantry, I write all of this with a deep amount of sorrow and regret. I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong. So please prove me wrong… I hope those involved with getting Noelia from Alabama to Utah to the Miss USA stage can show that this was done ethically, because if it was, they would be spending today celebrating and not airing out dirty laundry on social media.