Miss Teen USA

Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant run by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. The reigning titleholder is Danielle Doty of Texas.

The pageant was first held in 1983 and has been broadcast live on a succession of channels, most recently on NBC from 2003-2007. In March 2007 it was announced that the broadcast of the Miss Teen USA pageant on NBC had not been renewed, and that Miss Teen USA 2007 would be the final televised event.^[1]

Notable pageant winners include actresses Kelly Hu (1985—Hawaii), Bridgette Wilson (1990—Oregon), Charlotte Lopez-Ayanna (1993—Vermont) and Vanessa Minnillo (1998—South Carolina).

History

The Miss Teen USA pageant was created in 1983 as a sister pageant to the Miss USA system. The first pageant was held in Lakeland, Florida in August, 1983 and was won by Ruth Zakarian of New York. The pageant moved to April the following year, and then was held in January the next two years. It was held in July from 1988–1990 and has been held in August since 1991. The most common host city was Biloxi, Mississippi which hosted the pageant from 1990–1994, which caused problems in 1992 when the conclusion of the live broadcast was delayed because of Hurricane Andrew. Other frequent host cities have been South Padre Island, Texas (1997, 2001–2002), Shreveport, Louisiana (1998–2000) and Palm Springs, California (2003–2004, 2006).

Competition rounds

Prior to the final telecast the delegates compete in the preliminary competition, which involves private interviews with the judges and a presentation show where they compete in swimsuit and evening gown.

During the final competition, the semi-finalists are announced and go on to compete in swimsuit and evening gown. From 1983 to 2002 all semi-finalists also competed in an interview competition as well as both swimsuit and evening gown, followed by one or two final interview questions. In 2003, a new format was introduced where the top fifteen competed in evening gown, the top ten competed in swimsuit and the top five competed in the final question. In 2006, the order of competition was changed where the top fifteen competed in swimsuit and the top ten in evening gown. The latest competition format was used since 2008 the final not broadcast on TV, where the top fifteen both competed in swimsuit and evening gown, and the top five competed in the final question who all signed up by a panel of judges.

Titleholders

Main article: List of Miss Teen USA titleholders

Year	Miss Teen USA	State represented	Age	Host city	Pageant date
2011	Danielle Doty	Texas	18	Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas	July 16
2010	Kamie Crawford	Maryland	17	Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas	July 24
2009	Stormi Henley	Tennessee	18	Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas	July 31
2008	Stevi Perry	Arkansas	18	Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas	August 16
2007	Hilary Cruz	Colorado	18	Pasadena, California	August 24
2006	Katie Blair	Montana	18	Palm Springs, California	August 15
2005	Allie LaForce	Ohio	16	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	August 8
2004	Shelley Hennig	Louisiana	17	Palm Springs, California	August 6
2003	Tami Farrell	Oregon	18	Palm Springs, California	August 12
2002	Vanessa Semrow	Wisconsin	17	South Padre Island, Texas	August 28
2001	Marissa Whitley	Missouri	18	South Padre Island, Texas	August 22

Winners gallery

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  Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford

• 

  Miss Teen USA 2009 Stormi Henley

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  Miss Teen USA 2008 Stevi Perry

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  Miss Teen USA 2007 Hilary Cruz

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  Miss Teen USA 2006 Katie Blair

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  Miss Teen USA 2004 Shelley Hennig

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  Miss Teen USA 2003 Tami Farrell in 2010 as Miss California USA.

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  Miss Teen USA 1985 Kelly Hu

Delegates

Map of Miss Teen USA-winning states as of 2007: red (3 titles) and blue (1).

This map shows the number of times a state has placed as a finalist in Miss Teen USA pageants as of 2006

• Seven Miss Teen USA delegates have appeared on reality television and two have been Game Show models. A sixth delegate is now cohost of a motorsports television program. A seventh is a reporter for Access Hollywood.
  • Brandi Sherwood (Miss Teen USA 1989), Ashley Coleman (Miss Teen USA 1999) and Claudia Jordan, Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1990 have been "Barker's Beauties" on The Price is Right.
  • Jordan has also been a suitcase model on Deal or No Deal.
  • Delegates who have appeared on The Amazing Race are Erika Shay (Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA 1995, season 5), Christie Lee Woods (Miss Teen USA 1996, season 5), Nicole O'Brian (Miss Texas Teen USA 2000, season 5)
  • Delegate who appeared on "America's Prom Queen is Macy Erwin (Miss Tennessee Teen USA) 2007
  • Delegates who have appeared on Survivor are Misty Giles (Miss Texas Teen USA 1999, Panama) and Danni Boatwright (Miss Kansas Teen USA 1992, Guatemala)
• Danielle Boatwright represented Kansas at Miss Teen USA in 1992 and was 2nd runner-up to Jamie Solinger. Four years later, she represented Kansas again at Miss USA in 1996, and was 1st runner-up to Ali Landry. In 2005, she appeared on Survivor: Guatemala and won the $1 million first-place prize, beating out Stephenie LaGrossa at the final tribal council.
• Nicole Manske (Miss Illinois Teen USA 1998) became host of The Speed Report in July 2006 when it was known as Speed News.
• Maria Menounos (Miss Massachusetts Teen USA 1996) became a reporter for Entertainment Tonight (2002–2004) before going to Access Hollywood in 2006.
• Cerina Vincent (Miss Nevada Teen USA 1996) went on to become a successful model and actress, with many film and television credits to her name. Her most notable role being Maya, the Yellow Ranger in the television series Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1999).
• Shelley Hennig (Miss Teen USA 2004) is now an actress on Days of our Lives on NBC

General

• The pageant's viewership peak was hit in 1988, when the pageant averaged over 22 million viewers on CBS. Even as recently as 1999, the show managed to bring in over 10 million viewers. The 2006 airing was the second lowest rated in the pageant's 23-year history, with only 5.6 million viewers watching the live broadcast (the lowest: 2004, with 5.34 million).^[2] It is rumored that the 2007 telecast (25th Anniversary, scheduled for August 24, 2007) will be the last time Miss Teen USA is aired live on TV, at least on NBC. Since 2009, it has been broadcast over the internet on Ustream. While the 2008 pageant was held, untelevised, on August 16, 2008, one factor that prevented NBC from participating was its prime time commitment to the 2008 Summer Olympics. More information regarding the status of the national pageant, as well as the direction state pageants may choose to take, should be forthcoming.^{[citation needed]}
• The 1984 pageant was held so close to the 1983 pageant that not every state had time to hold its 1984 state pageant. As a result, a disclaimer appeared at the end of the telecast stating that each of the contestants had been "a winner or a runner-up" in her state pageant.

Crossovers with Miss USA

Miss Teen USA 1985 Kelly Hu became a model and a TV and film actress.
(Photo taken April 17, 2002.)

Miss Teen USA at Miss USA

In the early years of Miss Teen USA, three winners represented the title "Miss Teen USA" at Miss USA. The three queens were: Ruth Zakarian (1983), Cherise Haugen (1984), and Allison Brown (1986). This also made history because the Miss USA 1984 pageant had 53 delegates, the most ever in a Miss USA pageant. In 1987, Miss Teen USA 1986, Allison Brown participated in the 1987 Miss USA pageant. All three failed to make the cut at their respective Miss USA pageants.

Only in the three years mentioned above did Miss Teen USAs automatically gain representation at Miss USA. From 1988, if the Miss Teen USA winners want to compete at Miss USA, they first must win a Miss USA state crown. A total of seven Miss Teen USA winners have participated at Miss USA, with four winning their state Miss USA crowns first. The first of these was Kelly Hu, Miss Teen USA 1985, who won the Miss Hawaii USA 1993 title and represented Hawaii at Miss USA 1993. She finished as a finalist. The next was Jamie Solinger, Miss Teen USA 1992. She took the Miss Iowa USA 1998 title but failed to make the cut at the Miss USA pageant. Only two Miss Teen USAs have made the top 3 of Miss USA. Brandi Sherwood, Miss Teen USA 1989 won the Miss Idaho USA 1997 title. Succeeding Kelly, she took 1st runner up and later inherited the Miss USA crown, when Brook Mahealani Lee of Hawaii won Miss Universe 1997. She is the only Miss Teen USA winner to hold the title Miss USA. Shauna Gambill was close in winning the Miss USA 1998 title, but placed 1st runner up to Shawnae Jebbia, Miss Massachusetts USA 1998. However, to date is has never happened that the same woman had won the 2 separate pageants oficially.

There have been two years when two Miss Teen USAs participated at Miss USA. The first was 1984, when Miss Teen USA 1983 and Miss Teen USA 1984 participated, the second was 1998, when Jamie Solinger competed as Miss Iowa USA but went unplaced, and Shauna Gambill competed as Miss California USA and placed first runner-up.

The first Miss Teen USA not to win a Miss USA state pageant on her first attempt was Christie Lee Woods, Miss Teen USA 1996, of Texas, who placed third runner-up in the Miss Texas USA 2002 pageant. She would also become the first Miss Teen USA to compete for, but never win a Miss USA state title (she also placed as a semi-finalist in 2003 and 2004). The second Miss Teen USA who did not win a Miss USA state title on her first attempt was Ashley Coleman, Miss Teen USA 1999, of Delaware, who competed in the Miss California USA 2006 pageant and finished third runner-up. She is the first Miss Teen USA winner to compete in a different state from that where she won her Miss Teen USA crown. Tami Farrell, Miss Teen USA 2003, competed at Miss California USA 2009 as Miss Malibu USA, but failed to win the crown, placing first runner-up to Carrie Prejean. Farrell competed at Miss Teen USA as Miss Oregon Teen USA, and was one of the only Miss Teen USA's to try for the state crown outside of the state she represented for Miss Teen USA. In a span of only two years later, Miss Teen USA 2006, Katie Blair also competed at Miss California USA 2011. Representing the state of Montana at Miss Teen USA 2006, Blair is only the third Miss Teen USA to compete in a state other than the state she competed in Teen. Similarly to Coleman and Farrell, Blair placed 1st runner up in the pageant, to Alyssa Campanella, who also competed in Miss Teen USA representing another state. Campanella went on to win Miss USA 2011.

Miss Teen USA state delegates at Miss USA

A large number of Miss Teen USA state delegates have won Miss USA state titles and competed at Miss USA. Most held both titles in the same state, but a number have held titles from two states. From 1996, many former Miss Teen USA delegates have gone on to win the Miss USA crown. Out of the eight former teens which won the crown outright, seven competed for Miss USA in the state they won their Teen title and one represented a different state.

They are:

• Ali Landry, Miss USA 1996 (Miss Louisiana Teen USA 1990, Miss Louisiana USA 1996)
• Kimberly Pressler, Miss USA 1999 (Miss New York Teen USA 1994, Miss New York USA 1999)
• Lynnette Cole, Miss USA 2000 (Miss Tennessee Teen USA 1995, Miss Tennessee USA 2000)
• Susie Castillo, Miss USA 2003 (Miss Massachusetts Teen USA 1998, Miss Massachusetts USA 2003)
• Chelsea Cooley, Miss USA 2005 (Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2000, Miss North Carolina USA 2005)
• Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006 (Miss Kentucky Teen USA 2002, Miss Kentucky USA 2006)
• Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007 (Miss Tennessee Teen USA 2002, Miss Tennessee USA 2007)
• Alyssa Campanella, Miss USA 2011 (Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2007, Miss California USA 2011)

Miss USA 2009 was the first Miss USA pageant since 1994 where no former Miss Teen USA state titleholders made the semi-finals.

See also

• Miss Teenage America
• Miss America's Outstanding Teen

References

1. ^ Hall, Sarah (2007-03-29). "Trump and Miss Universe Stay in Bed with NBC". http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=63afa419-d386-455b-8c0c-20490ea6c318. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 
2. ^ http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_6698.asp

External links

• Miss Teen USA official website