By: Meagan Bilodeau | Staff Writer
On Monday, October 3, the Miss USA final competition aired on the cable channel FYI and Hulu Live TV. R’Bonney Gabriel, now former Miss Texas USA, was crowned the successor to Elle Smith. However, the crowning moment looked a little different this year. If one were to look at the background during the time that she was announced the winner, they would see the other candidates quickly leaving the stage and R’Bonney only walking back to a small crowd of USA directors. This never happens as pageantry is historically rooted in sisterhood and support of one another. Here’s why this was the case according to one of the contestants participating this year.
Miss Montana USA, Heather Lee O’Keefe, posted a livestream yesterday risking her own title over speaking out. She was a voice for the voiceless other Miss USA state titleholders afraid to lose their position over speaking their truth. She starts out her live stream by saying it’s important to note that none of the contestants are bitter about R’Bonney winning. However, they’re bitter about being strung along by an organization that never considered their best interests. They’re “disappointed, not pissed off. Disappointed.” They love R’Bonney and support her, but they don’t support the organizations unethical choices. Heather was asked early on in her live video if she could lose her title for speaking out to. She replied, “yes, but like I said speaking out about this is more important to me.” Furthermore, she goes on to say many of the candidates said they would “relinquish” their titles to take this stand because that’s how strongly they feel about this.
As the live stream progresses, Heather goes on to discuss Lexi Glover, currently Miss Colorado USA, and the fact that she had to pay out of pocket to fly to Houston to get her headshots taken, when all the other contestants had a complimentary four day trip to NIZUC resort in Cancun where they got theirs done. Both Lexi and R’Bonney were the only contestants that missed the Cancun trip due to a mistake on the organizations part, but they only flew R’Bonney to NIZUC post the actual “class of 2022” trip where she did a promotional shoot along with receiving other national sponsor gifts. Lexi never got invited to this. You can view the promotional video here.
In the live stream, Miss USA’s new ownership under Crystle Stewart is analyzed. Crystle Stewart is a former Miss USA ‘08. She became the owner and operator of the Miss USA Organization this past year, along with Miss Academy (a coaching service) and Miss Brand which the girls had to represent throughout their week in Reno, Nevada. 70% of the girls who placed top 16 at Miss USA worked with Miss Academy. Many of the girls were under the impression that they had to work with Miss Academy in order to do well on a national level. This truly isn’t fair because one, Miss Academy is based out of Houston, Texas, so who really has the advantage of winning in this case? Additionally, Texas was awarded with the biggest Miss Academy package of $10,000 when she won her state title. It’s possible that the girls could’ve flown in, but this quickly racks up financially. Additionally, even if the girls did choose to do online services with the company, a walking lesson isn’t nearly as effective as it would be if done in person. Secondly, there are many regional coaching services that brand themselves as national sponsors for Miss USA such as KP Consulting for the Northeast. An immense part of their year is spent prepping the girls throughout New England for nationals, however, now that is being depleted because of this “new need” to work for Miss Academy. If this seems coincidental, there are many more receipts coming to light with this turmoil.
Moreover, regarding the Miss Brand, the entire week of Miss USA is known for being an extravagant fashion show. However, this year the girls had to wear flimsy white t-shirts with black bottoms every day. They were given one t-shirt with the Miss Brand on it, but if they got that one dirty or wanted to switch shirts throughout the week, they had to pay $25 per shirt. That quickly adds up to almost $200 a week in shirts alone. It’s important to remember that each of these girls is representing their state and are influencers, thus nobody would want to be represented in a bad light. Contestants were told to bring one evening gown as was stated in their bi-weekly newsletters leading up to the competition. However, R’Bonney brought two which she wore to the preliminary and final shows. I personally could never understand why they would let this slide considering this makes it even more obvious the organization is fixed.
There’s been an issue with national sponsors as well considering they judged the state costume competition and Texas won that. The Miss USA Organization can be looked at as equivalent to a pyramid scheme. Whoever is paying more to sponsors, places higher, if not wins. There are so many consistent loopholes that the Miss USA system has gotten away with that it’s not coincidental at this point anymore.
On another token, the girls were asked to brand Reno with each of their posts on social media; however, they were never allowed to leave their hotel vicinity at any point throughout the week. They felt as though they were prisoners as they had to be escorted everywhere by security guards and couldn’t leave their room unless they were with a group of people. A lot of them had wished they could actually experience the city they were in, but instead they couldn’t even leave the resort if they wanted a “breath of fresh air.” Additionally, their families were there to support them multiple times throughout the week, and the contestants couldn’t go greet them even though they were directly outside of the conference room. Heather explained it as, “we felt like we were being held hostage inside a dark room with no windows.” “We couldn’t greet our families even if we tried to.”
Competing for pageants, especially the Miss USA Organization, is seriously financially and time consuming. Some of the girls on the stage spent up to 10 years to get to that place and in the organization alone. That equals to about $50,000 and 10 and more years of hard-earned work. This is the first time in history that multiple members of the national’s class have stated to other competitors vying for their state title that they need to “know what they’re getting into with this organization” and that this “was not the Miss USA experience (they) had envisioned.” Technically with all this evidence, there’s grounds for suing based on exploitation. If you want to read about this further, you can check out Miss Montana’s Instagram Live here.
In my personal opinion, if you’re looking to get involved with a pageant, I think there are healthier ways of doing so. As a previous contestant in the Miss USA Organization, I can definitely see that even on a state level there’s a minuscule hierarchy system, that eventually will get more problematic with nationals. It’s a highly recommended system if you’re looking to grow in community service, build a platform on social issues that are incredibly important to you, earn thousands of dollars of scholarship money and showcase your talent that you’ve worked extremely hard for. There are many organizations that have your best interest so keep in mind there are multiple other ways to get involved.
Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with R’Bonney Gabriel as I fully support her win. It’s rather bringing awareness to an overall issue that’s been swept under the rug too many times with the Miss USA Organization in general.
