The Conclusion Part 2
Delayed
Ok... so this is just a little late... but I've been massively busy. And it's basically just more of me complaining. Lets see... I was also about 15 minutes late to the press call time for the final show. Luckily... as usual... the Miss USA people didn't do anything with the press until about 15 minutes before the start of the pageant. Unlike last year, this year we were able to sit in the audience and watch the pageant live. Wow... my first live pageant. We didn't have the best seats... but considering they were free... it was pretty good.
Why is everyone here so annoying?
I was sitting next to a press member I had just met. Anyways, as we were waiting for the show to start, Scott Grossman came on stage to prep the crowd. The girl turned to me and said, "This guy is really annoying me." Which I found kind of funny because I thought only pageant fans didn't like him, turns out it's everyone. Also... while we were waiting for the Miss USA pageant to start a lot of the Miss Teen USA girls were running around. Do I ever want to cover the Miss Teen USA pageant? NO WAY! OK... so maybe some or all of the Miss USA contestants are stuck up or bitchy but at least they can fake it like they are nice. The Miss Teen USA girls were just walking around like they owned the place. The things coming out of their mouths were superficial... and basically what I saw was what the stereotypical pageant girl would be like. So would I ever want to do coverage on Miss Teen USA? No... (on second thought... I probably would because I'm a pageant fanatic :-P )
Top 15 Thoughts
Illinois - Surprised she make it into the top 15 although I did mark her down as good during both swimsuit and gown prelims. She's not really my favorite look and liked other girls more. I bet West Virginia now wishes she wore her VIP party gown.
Nevada - Pretty girl, I'm surprised she did not make it into the top 5 at least. She had great proportions, but needed to smile more.
Maine - Although not on my top 15 list, she was one of my alternates. She wasn't on my list after the prelims but was so pretty during the VIP Party in person.
Arizona - My sentimental favorite. It's too bad she couldn't of advanced. Such a cute girl and honestly when they were naming the top 10, I was chanting Arizona, Arizona, Arizona.
Tennessee - When Rafa asked me who I liked the most from the prelims, I told him I couldn't remember too many names since I didn't have my notes in front of me. The ONE girl I remembered was Tennessee. It's a shame she had NO spark during the swimsuit round on the final night.
Surprised - Colorado (Thought she would of made it in for sure), Hawaii (Lovely girl, but horrible interview during the dress rehearsal, so it's understandable why she didn't get in), Minnesota (My favorite girl that I interviewed), Maryland (Didn't really want her in the top 15, but thought she would make it since she's the hometown girl), Pennsylvania (After the Dress Rehearsal I can kind of understand. She has weird dimples or lines around her month. It's hard to describe) and West Virginia (Cute girl, too bad she couldn't rock that gown.
Top 10 Thoughts
South Carolina - Not much to say. She's plain to me but I can see how she made it to the top 10.
Texas - Typical Texas girl, not much to say.
Alabama - Cute girl with big hair.
District of Columbia - Basically the only one in the top 10 who I wished was in the top 5. Beautiful girl, and I'm glad she changed gowns. When they were naming top 5, she was who I was chanting for.
Rhode Island - I'm surprised she made it into the top 15, I was shocked she was named into the top 10. OK sure, she did really well in swimsuit, but in person she looks SO old.
Top 5 Thoughts
Actually here, they PR people told us to go back into the press room so that later on we can be escorted to where the press conference was going to be held. The press ended up watching the rest of the show on TV.
Florida (4th Runner Up) - Some people made fun of Florida's get to know. After her real interview everyone laughed as she came off ditzy. I think everyone in the press and PR knew she would and wanted her to be 4th Runner Up. From the impression I got from the PR people, they didn't like Florida too much.
Ohio (3rd Runner Up) - I did not have Ohio on my top 15 list as I thought she looked really plain. I still do. I was SO surprised that she made it into the top 5. It was nice however to see a girl there who didn't look like her chest was about to explode. Everyone thought that Ohio and California had the best answers. Everyone in the press room, (including me) thought that the crown would be between those two girls. She placed too low for the interview she gave.
Georgia (2nd Runner Up) - I had her in my top 15 but did not expect her to get this far. How did she make 2nd Runner Up with her interview? I was watching the TV and I thought she would jump out and attack me. Jeez... scary girl and ugly gown.
California (1st Runner Up) - "SHE WAS ROBBED!" That was what someone in the press room yelled out when she was named 1st Runner Up. Everyone was saying with Ohio gone California would win. It seemed like most of the PR people wanted her to win as well. I was shocked too because after naming the top 5, she was who I was rooting for. It's time for a minority winner don't you think?
Kentucky (Miss USA 2006) - My first thought when she was made it into the top 15 was that she might be too short to be named Miss USA. Well... she proved me wrong. I thought she did strut her stuff during the evening gown round.
Press Conference
I thought we were going to have a press conference with Miss USA 2006 and Donald Trump in a conference room. Instead we had it on stage without Trump. So much for a press conference since anyone in the audience who stayed behind could of listened in. Boo... but we got to learn that Tara thought that California was going to win. Tara does need to brush up on her interview skills. I was VERY disappointed at the press conference. It was disorganized and not much room. Not to mention that there were audience members trying to budge in to get a shot. Not very exclusive.
Some people have mentioned that a girl fell during the press conference. This is true. There was a big triangle shape cut out of the stage so that speakers could be placed there. Anyways, there's a hole between the speakers and the stage. One of the Miss Universe crew member, in a yellow dress, fell into it as she was walking backwards. This was a huge shock because I was right in front of her and was probably the closest press member to her. I was actually looking at her when she fell because I was waiting for her to get out of my shot. It happened so fast that I didn't really see how she fell. The lady next to me told me that she fell down and back and hit her head. Luckily she was fine and came out after about 5 minutes. When the press conference ended, someone else almost fell in again, but luckily there was a camera guy in front of her so she was able to hold on to a rod off his camera. I'm surprised that the Miss Universe Org didn't see that as a hazard early on. Although the whole isn't that big, it is enough for someone to fall through. Also, the shape of it (triangle as I said) people could easily misstep and fall in. I'm glad I wasn't up there.
Ending the Night
OK... so basically the MU Org does not offer coronation tickets to the press. What the?! And I wanted to PAY for it too, but they had limited space and only family members could. I ended up in the lobby. Miss Hawaii gave me one of her leis! How sweet! Sadly I think I was allergic to them, so I couldn't wear it all night (it was also REALLY heavy). She was really cute. I commented that she was really tall and she moved down a little to take a picture with me. Hehe... I'm SO glad I went. I was able to take picture with all 4 runner ups plus Hawaii, New York and Arizona (!!). It was raining a little out so my hair was a total mess by the end of the night. But it was super fun! Thanks Rafa!
~ Carmen
Monday, April 24th
The Conclusion Part 1
I was Tired, I Had a Headache and I Look Ugly in All My Pictures
OK... so the last one was a given since I was standing next to some of the most beautiful women in America. Nevertheless, it was ALL WORTH IT. I don't know if I'll ever be able to be on the inside (kinda) at events that are usually closed off to regular people like me again. It was fun, although sometimes I clueless, and a pageant fan's dream. Thank you so much to Rafa of Criticalbeauty.com, I am truely honored you allowed me to be your correspondent and hopefully I didn't tarnish your reputation with the Miss Universe Organization too much. Pictures from the finals will be up soon.
Rehearsal Results
The rehearsal ran through the program a few hours before the final with some mock results. Top 15 included, Arkansas, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, California, Hawaii, Wyoming, South Carolina, Arizona, West Virginia and Kansas. Top 10 was Arizona, Hawaii, New York, Ohio, Wyoming, Kansas, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Congeniality and Photogenic awards were awarded to staff members. 4th runner up was New York, 3rd Runner Up was Pennsylvania, 2nd Runner Up was Hawaii, 1st Runner Up was Wyoming and the winner was a staff member who replaced Kansas after she answered the top 5 questions.
My Thoughts So Far
I thought there was some technical problem because the audience couldn't hear Carson or Chelsea, turns out it happened in the finals too. Although I was seated in one of the high rised seats, I had a good view because of the 2 HUGE screens and 3 TVs that were on the side by the band. I liked Hawaii, but during the rehearsal Q and A she tanked the question, which made me take her off my top 15 list, but she was still on my favorites list.
Chatting with Rafa
I called Rafa (or did he call me? Well I probably called him because I do that more often) and talked to him a bit about my favs. He asked me a few things and this is basically what I told him.
- Utah will not make it into the top 15.
- Hawaii was once a contestant at Miss World 2001 and was at Miss Hawaii (America) 4 times.
- Although he mentioned that Louisana was gaining popularity in the message boards, I didn't find anything special about her. Her dress looked ugly on stage in person, and not as pretty as it is in video and pictures. She also didn't work it very well during the Presentation Show.
- I didn't like Texas at first. However after the presentation show, she impressed me and I thought that if she made it into the top 15, I wouldn't cry sash factor.
- I don't favor Ohio because her look is too plain. I once told Rafa that I thought Ohio was a plain looking girl but I kept staring at her.
- I like Alabama, but I LOVE Arizona. If I had to pick a contestant from the A states it would be Arizona, she's so pretty in person.
- I like D.C. a lot but thought that California was good too.
- I didn't think New York was going to make it into the top 15 because I find her look too young.
- Of the girls I interviewed I liked Minnesota the most, she was real in her interview and I enjoyed our conversation.
- Although I'm from Maryland, I don't really like the contestant that much. She's not an amazing contestant and I don't care if she makes it into the top 15 or not.
My experience at my first pageant, thoughts on the results and pictures coming soon.
~ Carmen
Wednesday, April 19th
VIP Party
The VIP Party I attended was cool. I met and talked to 2 other media outlets who were very nice to me. I got to eat a ton of food, and a lot of desserts. The media call was suppose to be at 7pm. I made the wrong turn and was lost in the world of one ways that is Baltimore. So I finally got there at 7:30pm, thinking I'm late. However, the event didn't start until 8:50pm or so. Why was the media call so early? I have no clue, maybe to allow us enough time to eat?
After about 20 minutes of talking from the hosts and government people, the girls came one by one down a long staircase. I has a front row view! Some girls were so pretty in person. Utah and West Virgina (as pointed by most people on the forums) wore amazing gowns that I thought they should of worn for the preliminaries. Especially Utah because the dark blue/black gown fit her amazingly. By the way, one of the local media outlets I talked to has been covering the pageant from the start. He said his favorite is Miss Hawaii. Two girls that wowed me at the VIP Party, who I never considered a favorite of mine were Indiana and Maine. I also got a chance to take a picture with Miss USA 2005 Chelsea Cooley. But since this skinny pageant girl decided to stand BEHIND me... haha that photo will never be seen because I take up half the picture. :-P
Whining
Me and another media guy didn't like the fact that the contestants left Baltimore for New York. Although it seems like they are only leaving for 2 days, there are no more activities scheduled in Baltimore from Sunday to Thursday. The next chance we get will be during the open dress rehearsal on Friday, the day of the pageant. I'm a little POed about the Preliminaries. I got a ticket and it turns out that they had seating for media and we didn't need to buy it! 60 hard earned dollars down the drain!! From what was stated in the media guildline it seemed as though we had to get our own tickets. But I was the only loser who didn't know we didn't need to. HELLO PR PEOPLE! Let us know about these things ok? Hopefully I can get into the coronation ball for free... or even at all... if I can than I wouldn't be as pissed off, since I'll pretend I paid for the Ball. Somehow I'm not enjoying this as much as Rafa did last year...
~ Carmen
Friday, April 14th
Preliminaries
I went to the preliminaries tonight. I've uploaded pictures from the competition. I'll give my thoughts tomorrow because I'm too tired now. The stage is A LOT bigger than last year. Went I went to the preliminaries last year, I thought the girls looked crowded, now they have a lot of space. Also, there is SO much room for the audience now. Also wanted to note a few girls had different gowns on than the photos on the official website. District of Columbia, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota had apparent gown changes.
~ Carmen
Wednesday, April 12th
Lost In Transcription
I've transcribed and uploaded the first three interviews I did with Miss Utah USA, Miss District of Columbia USA and Miss Minnesota USA. The interviews were A LOT longer than I had planned them to be. Since Rafa last year only had 3 minutes to interview the girls. I had at least 10 minutes with Miss Utah USA. I feel a bit sorry for her because she was the very first girl I interviewed and I basically gave her a lot of crappy questions. Anyways, I was waiting for the staff members to come and tell me to end the interviews but they waited a long time in the beginning. I guess next time I need to just say, "Well that's it, Thank you very much" instead of waiting for the signal.
Transcribing is a lot harder than I thought. I have taken out a lot of, "Um", "You know" and other stuff you hear when you're talking one on one. There was one girl (who will remain nameless) who at times slurs her words and it was a little hard to understand. I don't know if I was tired or if the contestants were tired (maybe both) but I was a little bored during the interviews. Some contestants became SO LONG winded that I lost interest in what they were saying.
Out of Money
I got the preliminary tickets today. $60 USD!!! OMG! I'm going to be so poor after this. Especially since I want to go to the Coronation Ball. I can't wait for that! I will not be attending any other events this week.
Lack of Direction
As I had mentioned before there was only 1 other press outlet with me at the Maryland Science Center. During the Round Robin Interviews, I was one of 3. Maybe it is because I'm new to this media thing, but I have no clue where I'm suppose to be going. I feel a little out of place. Well, there is a week and a half left in the competition. Hopefully I'll have time to tone my Media skills. :-)
No Favorites
Well... I do have favorites... but I'm not going to list them because I have not seen all of the contestants in person yet. Maybe after the presentation show.
~ Carmen
Monday, April 10th
Media Pass
I went on Saturday to get my media pass, but it turns out everyone was already gone for the night. I went again on Sunday to find out they closed early. I than called Erin Cooney, one of the Miss USA PR peeps... and she told me someone would be there shortly to get me my credientials. Short and painlessly I got my Miss USA on location media pass and the events list for the week.
My first event at the Maryland Science Center
On Sunday night, I went to the Maryland Science Center to cover my first event as an official member of the press. I've covered the Miss Hong Kong Pageant live during events before but only for public events. Covering the Miss USA pageant is totally different. When I arrived there was only 1 camera guy from NBC there. I never saw another non Miss USA media there. In Hong Kong, the pageant is all the rage and you have a hard time getting a good shot. Here, you feel a little ackward taking pictures of the contestants because no one else is.
Feeling a bit self conscious I called Rafa "my boss" since he was the lovely man who provided me with the credentials to get the pass. I talked to him as the delegates arrived and started to get dinner. The 51 delegates, Miss USA 2005 Chelsea Cooley and Carson Kressley (Commentator for the finals) were joined by 53 members of the Best Buddies Program. The delegates and their best buddies were allowed to tour the Maryland Science Center (the whole place was closed for Miss USA people only). When the IMAX movie started, most of the contestants went in to watch the movie while some stayed outside to play around. Coincidentally that was also where the Miss USA camera guy was shooting his video...
Miss USA Interviews
I interviewed 7 girls this morning, Utah, DC, Minnesota, New York, Hawaii, North Carolina and
~ Carmen