Miss USA 2007

Miss USA 2007
Date	March 23, 2007
Presenters	Nancy O'Dell Tim Vincent
Venue	Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, California
Broadcaster	NBC
Winner	Rachel Smith Tennessee
Congeniality	Stephanie Trudeau
Photogenic	Rebecca Moore

Miss USA 2007, the 56th Miss USA pageant, was held in Hollywood, California, on March 23, 2007, after two weeks of events and preliminary competition.^[1] The winner of the pageant was Rachel Smith, of Tennessee.^[2]

The pageant was broadcast live on NBC from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, one month earlier than the 2006 pageant.^[3] This was the second time that the pageant was held at this venue; it was previously held there in 2004, when Shandi Finnessey of Missouri was crowned Miss USA 2004.^[4] The host hotel was the Wilshire Grand.^[5]

Delegates arrived in Los Angeles on March 8, 2007, and were involved in two weeks of rehearsals and events prior to the final show.^[6] The preliminary competition were held on March 19, 2007, where all 51 contestants competed in swimsuit and evening gown, with the personal interview competition being held in private the previous day.^[7] This was the first time in recent years that the presentation show was held in the hotel ballroom, rather than at the location of the final competition.

During the final show on March 23, the fifteen delegates with the highest average score from the preliminary competition were announced. The top fifteen competed in the swimsuit competition, and the top ten competed in evening gown. The composite score was shown after each round of competition for the first time since 2002.

At the conclusion of the final night of competition, outgoing titleholder Tara Conner crowned Rachel Smith of Tennessee as the new Miss USA.^[1] Smith was the third consecutive former Miss Teen USA delegate to win the title and the second woman from Tennessee. Smith and Conner had competed together at Miss Teen USA 2002.^[8]

Results

Map showing placements by state

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss USA 2007	Tennessee - Rachel Smith[1]
1st runner-up	Rhode Island - Danielle Lacourse[9]
2nd runner-up	Kansas - Cara Gorges
3rd runner-up	California - Meagan Tandy
4th runner-up	Nevada - Helen Salas
Top 10	Virginia - Lauren Barnette Utah - Heather Anderson Hawaii - Chanel Wise Texas - Magen Ellis Missouri - Amber Seyer
Top 15	South Carolina - Ashley Zais Louisiana - Elizabeth McNulty Wisconsin - Caitlin Morrall Michigan - Kelly Best North Carolina - Erin O'Kelley

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Stephanie Trudeau (Montana)
• Miss Photogenic: Rebecca Moore (Alabama)

Final competition

State Swimsuit Evening Gown Tennessee 9.283(1) 9.522(1) Rhode Island 8.850(2) 9.158(2) Kansas 8.682(4) 8.983(3) California 8.507(8) 8.468(4) Nevada 8.783(3) * (?) Virginia 8.350(10) 8.437(6) Utah 8.628(5) 8.253(7) Hawaii 8.515(7) 8.200(8) Texas 8.567(6) 8.157(9) Missouri 8.400(9) 8.032(10) South Carolina 8.292(11) Louisiana 8.158(12) Wisconsin 8.115(13) Michigan 8.083(14) North Carolina 8.042(15)

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Third runner-up      Fourth runner-up      Top 10      Top 15

• Nevada's evening gown score was not shown

Selection of contestants

One delegate from each state was chosen in state pageants held from June to December 2006.^[10] The first state pageant was Texas, held on June 25, 2006, and the final pageants were Kansas and Hawaii, held on December 17, 2006.

Two contestants were replaced by their first runners-up:

• Helen Salas was awarded the Miss Nevada USA 2007 title on December 21, 2006, when the original winner, Katie Rees, was dethroned after the publication of racy photographs.^[11][12] Salas was originally the first runner-up to Ms. Rees in the Miss Nevada USA 2007 pageant which had taken place on October 8, 2006.^[13]
• Erin Abrahamson was awarded the Miss New Jersey USA 2007 title on January 15, 2007, when the original winner, Ashley Harder, resigned due to pregnancy.^[14] Pageant rules prohibit titleholders from competing while pregnant.^[15] Abrahamson was originally the first runner-up to Harder in the New Jersey pageant.

For the first time in the history of the pageant, eleven former Miss Teen USA delegates competed in the pageant. Initially only nine held titles, but the number increased to eleven after two titleholders resigned and former Teen USA delegates succeeded them.

Delegates

The Miss USA 2007 delegates are:

Alabama - Rebecca Moore Alaska - Blair Chenoweth Arizona - Courtney Barnas[16] Arkansas - Kelly George[17] California - Meagan Tandy Colorado - Keena Bonella[18] Connecticut - Melanie Mudry Delaware - Nicole Bosso[19] District of Columbia - Mercedes Lindsay Florida - Jenna Edwards Georgia - Brittany Swann Hawaii - Chanel Wise Idaho - Amanda Rammell[5] Illinois - Mia Heaston Indiana - Jami Stallings[20] Iowa - Dani Reeves Kansas - Cara Gorges[21] Kentucky - Michelle Banzer Louisiana - Elizabeth McNulty Maine - Erin Good Maryland - Michaé Holloman Massachusetts - Despina Delios Michigan - Kelly Best Minnesota - Alla Ilushka Mississippi - Jalin Wood Missouri - Amber Seyer

Montana - Stephanie Trudeau Nebraska - Geneice Wilcher Nevada - Helen Salas New Hampshire - Laura Silva New Jersey - Erin Abrahamson New Mexico - Casey Messer New York - Gloria Almonte North Carolina - Erin O'Kelley North Dakota - Rachel Mathson[22] Ohio - Anna Melomud[23] Oklahoma - Caitlin Simmons Oregon - Sharitha McKenzie[6] Pennsylvania - Samantha Johnson Rhode Island - Danielle Lacourse[9] South Carolina - Ashley Zais South Dakota - Suzie Heffernan Tennessee - Rachel Smith Texas - Magen Ellis Utah - Heather Anderson Vermont - Jessica Comolli Virginia - Lauren Barnette Washington - LeiLani Jones West Virginia - Kasey Montgomery Wisconsin - Caitlin Morrall Wyoming - Robyn Johnson

Crossovers

• Three former Miss Teen USA 2001 titleholders, three from 2002, three from 2003 and two from 2004 competed in the Miss USA 2007 competition totaling eleven teen titleholders. It broke the former record from Miss USA 2003 with the most Miss Teen titleholders of ten. The record for the most crossovers is still Miss USA 2003 though with ten former Miss Teen USA state titleholders and 5 Miss America state holders. Below is a list of crossovers:
  • Gloria Almonte (New York) - previously Miss New York Teen USA 2001, 1st runner up at Miss Teen USA 2001.
  • Erin O' Kelley (North Carolina) - previously Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2001, non-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2001.
  • Erin Abrahamson (New Jersey) - previously Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2001, non-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2001.
  • Alla Ilushka (Minnesota) - previously Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2002, semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2002.
  • Rachel Smith (Tennessee) - previously Miss Tennessee Teen USA 2002, semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2002.
  • Lauren Barnette (Virginia) - previously Miss Virginia Teen USA 2002, non-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2002.
  • Jami Stallings (Indiana) - previously Miss Indiana Teen USA 2003, top 15 at Miss Teen USA 2003.
  • Amanda Rammell (Idaho) - previously Miss Idaho Teen USA 2003, non-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2003.
  • Amber Seyer (Missouri) - previously Miss Missouri Teen USA 2003, non-finalist at Miss Teen USA 2003.
  • Helen Salas (Nevada) - previously Miss Nevada Teen USA 2004, second runner-up at Miss Teen USA 2004.
  • Magen Ellis (Texas) - previously Miss Texas Teen USA 2004, top 15 at Miss Teen USA 2004

• The single Miss America 2004 delegate and two 2005 delegates are:
  • Blair Chenoweth (Alaska) - previously Miss Alaska 2003
  • Jenna Edwards (Florida) - previously Miss Florida 2004, preliminary swimsuit award at Miss America 2005.
  • Jalin Wood (Mississippi) - previously Miss Mississippi 2004

Judges

• Jonathan Antin - Bravo's Blowout star
• Dr. Jerry Buss - Los Angeles Lakers owner, real estate tycoon
• Giuliana DePandi - E! News Co–Host
• Vanessa Minnillo - Miss Teen USA 1998, MTV's Total Request Live VJ and Entertainment Tonight correspondent
• Kimora Lee Simmons - President and Creative Director of Baby Phat
• Jerry Springer - host of NBC show America's Got Talent and host of his own talk show The Jerry Springer Show
• Vince Young - Tennessee Titans quarterback
• Corinne Nicolas - President of Trump Model Management

Hosts

• Nancy O'Dell - Access Hollywood Correspondent
• Tim Vincent - Access Hollywood Correspondent

See also

• Miss USA 2006
• Miss Teen USA 2007
• Miss Universe 2007

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Fallen Miss USA to hand over pageant crown". Reuters. 2007-03-23. 
2. ^ Veiga, Alex (2007-03-23). "21-year-old journalism graduate from Tennessee crowned Miss USA". Associated Press. 
3. ^ Castro, Tony (2007-03-23). "Miss USA Event's Kodak Moment: 51 entrants share hopes, hard work and beauty secrets". Los Angeles Daily News. p. N1. 
4. ^ "Miss USA pageant scheduled in Hollywood". Xinhua News Agency. 2007-03-23. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Martinez, Michael (2007-03-24). "Idahoan plays up good girls". Deseret Morning News. p. A01. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "U. Oregon student gets ready for Miss USA pageant". UWIRE. 2007-03-07. 
7. ^ Associated Press (2007-03-21). "Miss USA's tearful reign draws to an end". The Star-Ledger. p. 25. 
8. ^ "Miss Teen USA 2002 crown goes to Wisconsin native". Associated Press. 2002-08-29. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "R.I. woman Miss USA runner-up". The Providence Journal. 2007-03-24. p. A-5. 
10. ^ Veiga, Alex (2007-03-23). "Beauty queens vie for title at 56th annual Miss USA Pageant". Associated Press. 
11. ^ Goldman, Adam (2006-12-21). "Miss Nevada USA Loses Shirt Then Title". Associated Press. 
12. ^ Sedensky, Matt (2006-12-23). "Former Miss Nevada apologizes for racy photos, asks for 2nd chance". Associated Press. 
13. ^ "Sexy pictures lose Miss Nevada her crown". Agence France-Press. 2006-12-22. 
14. ^ Associated Press (2007-01-16). "Miss N.J. USA steps down over pregnancy - Troubled contest tabs Essex Fells runner-up". The Star-Ledger. p. 16. 
15. ^ Gross, Dan (2006-01-15). "Preggers Beauty Resigns". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16462915.htm. Retrieved 2006-01-15. ^{[dead link]}
16. ^ Falkenhagen, Andrea (2007-03-20). "Miss USA contestant of East Valley variety: Mesa woman, ASU student has shot at big time". The Tribune. 
17. ^ "Airman competes for Miss USA crown". Department of Defense U.S. Air Force Releases. 2007-03-23. 
18. ^ Husted, Bill (2007-02-22). "Miss Colorado USA taking high road to national pageant". Denver Post. p. B2. 
19. ^ "Junior Nicole Bosso Chosen Miss Delaware USA". US Fed News. 2006-12-05. 
20. ^ Davis, Rich (2007-03-02). "Evansville native counting down to Miss USA pageant". The Evansville Courier. p. D1. 
21. ^ "Clearwater woman crowned Miss Kansas USA". Associated Press. 2006-12-18. 
22. ^ Frank, Tracy (2007-02-23). "North Dakota Miss USA gearing up for pageant". Associated Press. 
23. ^ Heaton, Michael (2007-03-20). "Beauty's a science geek Richmond Heights contestant wants future in medicine". The Plain Dealer. p. E1. 

External links

• Miss USA official website