TLW's Beauty Pageantscope™ (Beauty Pageant Historyscope) |
By T.L. Winslow (TLW), the Historyscoper™ |
© Copyright by T.L. Winslow. All Rights Reserved. |
Original Pub. Date: Oct. 7, 2015. Last Update: Dec. 19, 2021. |
Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to beauty pageant (contest) history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.
In 1880 the first modern beauty pageant takes place in Rehoboth Beach, Del., looking for "Miss United States"; winner is Myrtle Meriwether; the judges are Thomas A. Edison, Monsieur Banwart, and Del. Supreme Court Judge Samuel M. Harrington.
In 1880 the first modern beauty pageant takes place in Rehoboth Beach, Del., looking for "Miss United States"; winner is Myrtle Meriwethers; the judges are Thomas A. Edison, Monsieur Banwart, and Del. Supreme Court Judge Samuel M. Harrington.
On Sept. 19, 1888 the Concours de Beaute, the first-ever world beauty contest is held in Spa, Belgium; Bertha Soucaret, an 18-y.-o. Creole from Guadeloupe, West Indies wins the 5K franc first prize.
On Sept. 8, 1921 after the Fall Frolic last Sept. 25, consisting of 350 men pushing wicker chairs carrying young maidens and headed by Miss Ernestine Cremona wearing a white Peace robe is a hit, Miss America 1921, the first Miss America Pageant is held at the Million Dollar Pier at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J. in an effort to extend the tourist season beyond the summer, with 100K attending; the winner of the $100 Golden Mermaid crown is 5'1" 30-25-32 108 lb. 16-y.-o. Miss Washington, D.C. Margaret Gorman (Margaret G. Cahill) (1905-95), who also wins the Bathers' Review; the only judge is His Oceanic Majesty King Neptune Maxim Hudson (1853-1927), inventor of smokeless gunpowder, who also officiates the 1922 pageant.
On Sept. 7, 1922 the Miss America 1922 contest is held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J., with the Bathing Review of 57 beauty pageant contestants joined by the mayor and his entire police force in bathing atire; Miss Columbus, Ohio Mary Katherine Campbell (1905-90) edges out last year's winner Margaret Gorman; judges incl. Norman Rockwell, James Montgomery Flagg, and Howard Chandler Christy, who start out with a body part points system then switch to overall beauty; the last time that the Inter-City champ (Campbell) must compete against prof. (Dorothy Knapp) and amateur (Gladys Grenemeyer) winners.
On Sept. 7, 1923 the Miss America 1923 contest is held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.; 1922 winner Mary Katherine Campbell repeats, becoming the first (until ?).
On Sept. 6, 1924 the Miss America 1924 contest is held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.; the winner is Miss Philadelphia Ruth Malcomson (1906-88), last year's amateur winner; last year's winner Mary Katherine Campbell is runner-up; future actress Beatrice Roberts is a finalist.
On Sept. 11, 1925 the Miss America 1925 contest is held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.; after last year's winner Ruth Malcomson hears rumors that pros are going to enter because a Hollywood film is going to be shot there, she withdraws, causing pageant officials to cover-up by instituting a new rule that no Miss America winner can return to compete; the winners are Miss Calif. Fay Elinora Lanphier (1905-59) (runner-up in 1924, and 1925 Rose Queen) (first Miss America representing an entire state), and Miss Los Angeles Adrienne Dore; King Neptune, played by actor Ernst Torrence falls into the ocean and has to be rescued by lifeguards; actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays Neptune's son Triton.
On Sept. 10, 1926 the Miss America 1926 contest is held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.; the winner is Miss Tulsa Norma Des Cygne Smallwood (1909-66) (first Native Am. winner), winner of the evening gown competition, who is judged as having not only an excellent figure but a smile like Mona Lisa, going on make $100K as the poster girl for Westinghouse Electric and Meadows Washing Machines; future actress Joan "Rosebud" Blondell is a finalist.
On Sept. 9, 1927 the Miss America 1927 contest is hald at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.; the winner is Miss Ill. Lois Eleanor Delander (191-85); no more Miss America pageants until 1933.
In 1928 the first Miss England beauty pageant is held in London.
In 1931 17-y.-o. Dorothy Lamour (1914-96) wins the Miss New Orleans title, after which she moves with her mother to Chicago, Ill., where she makes $17 a week as an elevator operator at the Marshall Field dept. store on State St., after which she tries out for the nat. radio show "The Yeast Foamers", sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast, and ends up singing at the El Morocco Club at 1 5th Ave. in New York City, where she meets Louis B. Mayer and gets a contract with Paramount in 1935.
In 1936 the Miss America contest introduces the talent award, which is given to Rose Veronica Coyle (1914-88) of Philly (first to receive an encore), who also wins the Miss America title, going on to marry Leonard Schlessinger, nat. gen. mgr. of the Warner Bros. Theatres.
In 1936 Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016) wins the Miss Hungary title, but is too young to compete in the Miss Europe contest, emigrating to the U.S. in 1941 to go Hollywood - she's been around the world more times than most 30s?
In 1939 Miss Michigan Patricia Donnelly (1919-2009) wins the 1939 Miss America title, becoming the last to be crowned at the Steel Pier, and becoming known as "the Long-Stemmed American Beauty"; the first Miss Congeniality title is awarded to Miss America contestant Doris Coggins (Miss Mississippi).
On Sept. 7, 1940 the Miss America contest in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. introduces the swimsuit award, which goes to Frances Marie Burke (1922-) of Philly, who also wins the Miss America title.
In 1941 Hollywood actress Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (1925-2003) wins the Miss Long Beach title, and is runner-up in the Miss America contest.
On Sept. 11, 1943 5'8" Los Angeles, Calif.-born Jean Bartel (nee Bartlemeh) (1923-2011) (36-23-35) of Calif. (Carole Lombard lookalike?) wins the Miss America 1943 (17th) pageant (tallest so far), refusing to pose in her swimsuit after the pageant, leading to Catalina Swimwear to start the Miss USA Pageant in 1952, and proposing the idea of awarding scholarships to competitors.
On Sept. 8, 1945 after refusing to change her name to Meredith or Merrick, 35.5-25-35 Bronx, N.Y.-born Bess Myerson (1924-2014) is crowned Miss America, becoming the first Jewish and first Miss New York contestant to win the title, and the second Queen Esther for the Jewish people; she entered after they offered a college scholarship to the winner for the first time; too bad, she experiences so much anti-Semitism during her tour that she resigns and travels with the Anti-Defamation League, giving the speech "You Can't Be Beautiful and Hate"; next Jewish Miss America in ? - who wants to think what her sisters in Europe look like?
In 1948 Okla.-born Miss Kansas Vera Miles (Vera June Ralston) (1929-) places 3rd in the 1948 Miss America Contest, moving to Hollywood in 1950 to become an actress; meanwhile Tex.-born Debbie (Mary Frances) Reynolds (1932-) wins the title of Miss Burbank, Calif., doing ditto.
On Sept. 9, 1950 the 1951 (24th) Miss America Pageant crowns the winner for 1951, not 1950, so that there never is a 1950 Miss America?; winner Miss Ala. Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox (1928-2016) refuses to pose in a swimsuit, which the pageant backs, changing the focus to scholarship over beauty, causing Catalina Swimwear to drop sponsorship in favor of its own brainless pageants Miss USA and Miss Universe starting next year; in 2006 Miss America moves its pageant to Jan. so that the year confusion can end.
On July 29, 1951 the 1951 (1st) Miss World beauty pageant is held in the Lyceum Ballroom in London, England as part of the Festival of Britain; the winner is 21-y.-o. Miss Sweden Kerstin "Kiki" Haakonsson (1929-2011), who is the first and last winner to wear a bikini for the crowning ritual, after which winners wear 1-piece bathing suits.
On ?, 1952 the first black Miss District of Columbia USA pageant is held in Washington, D.C. in parallel with the white Miss District of Columbia pageant (founded 1921). On June 27, 1952 the Miss USA 1952 (1st) beauty pageant is held in the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, Calif.; the winner is Jacqueling "Jackie" Loughery (1930-) of N.Y.
On Sept. 11, 1954 the 1955 (28th) Miss America beauty pageant is televised for the first time, and after reciting a John Millington Synge monologue to show she's not a dumb blonde, wholesome straight white Los Angeles, Calif.-born Lee Ann Meriwether (1935-) (Miss Calif.) is crowned Miss America 1955 to the Bernie Wayne song There She Is, Miss America; on Aug. 1, 1956 a UPI wire photo of her and Joe DiMaggio falsely announces their engagement, later traced to Walter Winchell, but it works well enough to launch her acting career, and she goes on to reach the heights by starring in er, "Star Trek"?
On Sept. 10, 1955 the 1956 (29th) Miss America beauty pageant is held in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J and broadcast on ABC-TV; the winner is Miss Colo. Sharon Kay Ritchie (1937-); Bert Parks (Bertram Jacobson) (1914-92) becomes MC of the Miss America show (until 1979), first singing "There She Is..."
On July 24, 1959 5'7" 37-23-38 Akiko Kojima (1936-) of Japan becomes the first Miss Universe from Asia (#2 is Riyo Mori in 2007).
In 1959 Anita Jane Bryant (1940-) wins the Miss Oklahoma title, but is only runner-up in the Miss America contest, which is won by Mary Ann Mobley (1937-2014) of Miss. (first time for Miss.).
In 1961 brainy 5'8" blonde Marlene Schmidt (1937-) (masters degree in engineering) wins the 1961 Miss Germany and Miss Universe pageants, becoming the first German to be crowned Miss Universe (until ?); in 1962-6 she marries "Bronco" TV star Ty Hardin.
On Sept. 7, 1968 the Miss America 1969 (42nd) Pageant at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. features the No More Miss America Protest, attended by 400 feminists and more civil right activists, bringing mucho publicity, incl. an erroneous reference to bra-burning, turning it into a symbol of feminism; the Miss America winner is lily white blonde-blue Miss Ill. Judith Anne Ford (1949-); the same day New York Radical Women, founded by former child TV actress (Dagmar Hansen in "Mama") Robin Morgan (1941-) (founding member of the Yippies), Shulamith "Shulie" Firestone (1945-) et al. begin protesting the Miss America Beauty Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., succeeding in getting the term "bra-burning feminist" added to the lexicon, even though all they did was throw them into a "freedom trash can"?; on Sept. 8 19-y.-o. 5'4" Sandra (Saundra) Williams (1949-) from Philadelphia becomes the first Black Miss America in a pageant held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at the same time and city as the other one; "With my title, I can show black women that they, too, are beautiful"; meanwhile Socialist feminists Morgan et al. found W.I.T.C.H. (Women's Internat. Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell), which holds public "hexes" or "zaps" to diss sexism, starting in Dec. with HUAC and the Chicago Eight, which she claims makes the anti-war movement look like a pet project for males only; she soon splits from the male left completely, pub. the famous 1970 essay Goodbye to All That, then editing the 1970 anthology Sisterhood is Powerful, which becomes the radical feminist Bible; too bad, by next year the feminists also split with each other into a Socialist ("politico") faction around Morgan, and a radical faction around Firestone - Robin Hood and Her Merry Man-Haters?
On July 19, 1969 Gloria Maria Aspillera Diaz (1951-) wins the Miss Universe pageant, becoming the first win by the Philippines.
On Aug. 22, 1969 Gloria O. Smith of N.Y. is crowned the 2nd black Miss Am.
On Nov. 20, 1970 the 1970 Miss World Pageant in the Royal Albert Hall in London is won by black contestant Jennifer Josephine Hosten (1953-) of Grenada; black contestant Pearl Jansen from South Africa places 2nd; Irith Lavi from Israel places 3rd; too bad, judge Sir Eric Matthew Gairy (1920-97) (PM of Grenada since 1967) apparently rigs the results, making her the winner with only two firsts, while blonde white Swedish contestant Marjorie Christel Johansson, who received four firsts comes in #4, causing a protest outside the hall, after which dir. Julia Morley (1941-) resigns, and Johannsson later says she has been cheated; other judges incl. Glen Campbell, Joan Collins, and Nina.
In 1972 Phoenix, Ariz.-born future Wonder Woman (1975-9) Lynda Jean Cordova (Córdova) Carter (1951-) wins the Miss World USA title, reaching the semifinals in the 1972 Miss World pageant.
On July 21, 1973 Maria Margarita Roxas "Margie" Moran (1953-) wins the 22nd Miss Universe Pageant in soon-to-be-Polytechnic-bloodbath city Athens, Greece, becoming the 2nd won by a contestant from the Philippines after Gloria Diaz in 1969.
On July 16, 1977 Janelle Penny Commissiong (1953-) of Trinidad-Tobago becomes the first black woman to win the Miss Universe title.
She's a beautiful girl, no matter if she's black or white or black on white? On Sept. 17, 1983 after singing "Happy Days Are Here Again", Vanessa Lynn Williams (1963-) becomes the first African-Am. Miss America; too bad, she has to resign on July 23, 1984 after nude lezzie fun photos of her with a white woman are pub. 6 mo. later in the Sept. 1984 issue of Penthouse mag. (which sells 5.3M copies, the #2 selling issue of a mag. in history, #1 being the Nov. 1972 issue of Playboy at 7.1M); runner-up Suzette Charles (DeGaetano) (1963-) becomes the 2nd African-Am. Miss America, serving a record 7 weeks - a hundred years from now sexual athletics will be a required event?
In 1985 Cleveland, Ohio-born black beauty (class pres., prom queen, high school newspaper ed.) Halle Berry (1966-) wins the Miss America Pageant for Ohio, and next year is runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant, telling the audience she wants to become an entertainer, then begins a modeling career, which leads to a part in a TV series, and more - a Bond girl one day?
On May 23, 1989 Miss Universe 1989 sees Netherlands contestant Angela Visser (1966-) (first winner from that country) become the last true blonde Miss Universe of the millennium.
On Sept. 10, 1989 Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (1966-) of Minn. is crowned Miss America after playing Sarasate's violin composition "Zigeunerweisen".
On Mar. 2, 1990 20-y.-o. 5'11-3/4" Carole Ann-Marie Gist (1969-) of Mich. becomes the first African-Am. Miss USA, crowned at its 39th pageant in Wichita, Kan., then on Apr. 15 becomes runner-up to green-eyed white redhead ("the Beauty Queen from Hell") Mona Grudt (1971-) of Norway in the Miss Universe pageant; the first $10K Quality of Life Award (sponsored by Fruit of the Loom) is awarded by the Miss America Pageant to Michelle Kline of Penn. - now the ratings will tank for sure?
On Sept. 14, 1991 the Miss America 1992 (65th) Pageant at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. picks Carolyn Suzanne Sapp (1967-), who becomes the first Miss Hawaii to win, going on to admit that she's still in love with pro football running back Nuu Faaola (1964-), who battered her, starring in the autobio. film "Miss America: Behind the Crown" and becoming a spokesperson for domestic violence victims and founding Safe Places for Abused Women, and Children, and Give Back a Smile.
On Sept. 17, 1994 the Miss America 1995 (68th) Pageant at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. picks Heather Leigh Whitestone (1973-) as Miss America, becoming the first deaf queen and first with a disability.
In early 1996 Donald Trump acquires the rights to the May Miss Universe +pageant for $10M; his wife Marla Maples hosts it in 1996 and 1997; too bad, its ratings are already in a slide, going from 35M in 1974 to 8M in 2002. On May 17, 1996 the Miss Universe 1996 Pageant in Las Vegas, Nev. is won by 5'7" Miss Venezuela Yoseph Alicia Machado Furjado (1976-); too bad, during her reign she gains 55 lbs., causing sponsors to drop support and pageant owner Donald Trump to stage a media event showing her working out and giving her a second chance, going on to call her "an eating machine", "Ms. Piggy", and "Ms. Housekeeping", pissing-off the PC press; she goes on to pose for the Feb. 2006 issue of Playboy, and be used by Hillary Clinton as ammo in her first debate with Trump on Sept. 26, 2016, causing dirt to be dug up on her incl. how she was the babe of a major narcotics trafficker and had his baby, how she threatened to kill a Venezuelan judge, and how a govt. witness who testified about their affair was shot to death.
On Sept. 14, 1996 the Miss America 1997 Pageant in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. (last aired by NBC-TV) is won by Overland Park, Kan.-born Tara Dawn Holland (1972-), who goes on to become a literacy advocate.
In 1996 after years of declining ratings, NBC-TV loses interest in the Miss America pageant, which it had sponsored for 30 years, and ABC-TV begins airing the pageant starting next year; they drop the contract after the Sept. 18, 2004 pageant brings in a record low 9.8M viewers - Sandra Bullock was better in "Miss Congeniality", and Patsy Ramsey gives them bad vibes?
On Dec. 1, 2000 Priyanka Chopra (1982-) of India wins the Miss World Pageant in the Millennium Dome in London, going on to become one of India's top actresses.
In 2005 Melissa Ann Young wins the Miss Wisc. USA beauty pageant; on Mar. 30, 2016 she tells Donald Trump that she is suffering from a terminal illness, causing Trump to set up a crowdfunding site through Fundanything.com for her Mexican-Am. son to go to college.
On Apr. 21, 2006 Dallas, Tex.-born Tara Elizabeth Conner (1985-) wins the Miss USA 2006 (55th) Pageant in 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Md. in front of 7.8M viewers (2nd lowest ever); hosts are Nancy O'Dell and Drew Lachey; "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" star Carson Kressley provides commentary for the first time; too bad, after reports that she had been engaging in underage drinking and taking cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth, and has kissed Miss Teen USA Katie Blair, the PC press calls for her to be decrowned, but Donald Trump announces that he's giving her a second chance because "I believe in second chances, and sometimes it works when you give somebody a second chance" in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, causing celeb and lesbian rights activist Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell (1962-) to criticize him on The View, with the soundbyte: "[Trump] left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America. Donald, sit and spin, my friend", mocking his comb-over, then calling him a "snake oil salesman" and bringing up his bankruptcies, pissing Trump off and causing him to appear on several TV shows, with the soundbytes: "Rosie is a bully. I hit her between the eyes, she's worried about being sued, and her response today was nothing. She's not a very smart person, if you look at her IQ I guarantee you it's not up there", and "I guarantee I'll have a lot of Rosie's money right out of her big fat pocket. I'll have a lot of Rosie's money coming into my pocket. That's my prediction""; in an interview with People mag., he utters the soundbyte: "You can't make false statements. Rosie will rue the words she said. I'll most likely sue her for making those false statements... and it'l be fun. Rosie's a loser, a real loser. I look forward to taking lots of money from my nice fat little Rosie"; in an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN, he utters the soundbyte: "If you looked like Rosie you'd be critical of beauty pageants, believe me. Rosie is a very unattractive woman, both inside and out. And as hard as it is to believe, inside is probably uglier than outside, and that's really saying something. But you have to understand, I know Rosie. Rosie's a loser. Rosie's been pulling the wool over people's eyes for a long time. She is a stone cold loser. What she is is a bully. Rosie says a lot of negative things about a lot of people. Nobody.. they don't do anything about it. I did something about it."
On May 28, 2007 the Miss Universe 2007 Pageant is held in Mexico City; Miss Tenn. USA Rachel Renee Smith (1985-) is booed by the anti-U.S. crowd, and slips and falls during her gown competition; ballet dancer Riyo Mori (1986-) becomes the 2nd Japanese contestant to win (first was Akiko Kojima in 1959); wasting no time, Mori lands a role on the NBC-TV sci-fi series "Heroes" as Yaeko, love interest for a main char.
On Dec. 13, 2008 Miss Russia Ksenia (Kseniya) Vladimirovna Sukhinova (1987-) of Siberia is crowned Miss World #58 in Johannesburg, South Africa - kiss ya and shiver all over?
On Jan. 30, 2010 the 2010 Miss Am. Pageant is won by Caressa Cameron (1987-) of Va.; conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is a judge.
On May 16, 2010 5'9" Lebanese Shiite Muslim (Miss Mich. USA) Rima Fakih (1985-) wins Miss USA 2010, becoming the first Muslim, first Mich. USA winner since 1993, and the first not from a Southern U.S. state since 2004; after numerous criticisms of her loose take on Islam, in Apr. 2016 she converts to Marionite Christianity for her wealthy Arab music producer fiance Wassim Salibi.
As smooth as a baby's behind? On Apr. 19, 2009 Donald Trump's Miss USA 2009 (58th) Pageant at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. (known for not promoting tons of non-whites over the heads of whites but being mostly fair, until now?) is won by blonde-blue Miss N.C. Kristen Jeannine Dalton (1986-) (not to be confused with the redheaded actress Kristen Dalton, b. 1966) after gorgeous blonde-blue Miss Calif. Caroline Michelle "Carrie" Prejean (1987-) (a Bible-believing Creationist) honestly answers a question about same-sex marriage by ugly bigmouth gay celeb Perez Hilton (1978-), saying "I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there", after which Hilton gives away that he voted her down for her beliefs, calling her answer "the worst answer in pageant history", and adding on his blog "She lost not because she doesn't believe in gay marriage, she lost because she's a dumb bitch" (duh, like him?); on Apr. 21 Repub. state rep. (since 2002) Jay Love (1968-) introduces a resolution to the Ala. legislature to praise Prejean for standing by her beliefs; the gays then begin a systematic harassment campaign, announcing that she had breast implants and dredging up old photos to use against her, but Donald Trump intervenes, allowing her to keep her crown; meanwhile the U.S. liberal media takes to calling her comments "controversial"; too bad, after the heat dies down, Trump fires her anyway on June 10 on er, trumped-up excuses.
On Aug. 23, 2010 Miss Mexico Jimena "Ximena" Navarrete Rosete (1988-) of Guadalajara wins the Miss Universe contest in Las Vegas Nev.; Miss USA Rima Faikh (first Muslim-Am. winner) doesn't make it to the final round; it was rigged because this is the centennial of Mexico's independence?
On June 19, 2011 Miss Calif. Alyssa Marie Campanella (1990-) of LA is crowned Miss USA, saying "I'm a huge history geek", as well as a "science geek".
On Sept. 13, 2013 Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola is crowned the first Muslimah World (Muslim alternative to Miss World) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
On Sept. 15, 2013 Nina Davuluri (1989-) of N.Y. becomes the first Miss America of Indian descent, spurring a racist backlash against "Miss Al-Qaida"; she becomes the first contestant to perform a Bollywood dance routine.
On Dec. 20, 2015 after Donald Trump sells-out in June amid controversy over his statements about Mexicans, the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant sees host Steve Harvey blunder and mistakenly name Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez instead of Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach (1989-), causing an awkward scene; meanwhile Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Velez is suspended for tweeting the truth that the "Islamic God is not the same God as Christians and Jews".
On June 5, 2016 Miss USA 2016 (65th) Pageant in Las Vegas, Nev. (first broadcast on Fox) is won by Deshauna Barber (1989-) of Washington, D.C. after social media decides the winner for the first time.
On May 14, 2017 the Miss USA 2017 (66th) Pageant is held at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev., hosted by Julianna Hough and Terrence J; the winner is Naples, Italy-born Miss Washington D.C., Kara Deidra McCullough (1991-), (runner-up in 2015 and 2016), becoming the first 2-peat for Washington, D.C. since 1988-9; she pisses-off the PC police by calling health care a privilege for the working and not a right, and for calling herself an equalist rather than a feminist; 7th winner born outside the U.S.
On Sept. 10, 2017 the Miss America 2018 (91st) Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. is won by Miss N.D. Cara Mund (1933-).
On Nov. 26, 2017 the Miss Universe 2017 (66th) Pageant, held at the AXIS at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nev. is won by 5'7" Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (1995-) of South Africa, 2nd winner after Margaret Gardiner in 1978.
On Dec. 22, 2017 after the Huffington Post pub. an expose, and 49 former Miss American call on them to resign, Miss America Org. CEO Sam Haskell is suspended for exchanging crude sexist emails about the contestants, causing pres. Josh Randall and board member Tammy Haddad to resign and Dick Clark Productions to cut ties; their careers were hanging on the words "cunt", "huge", and "gross"?
On May 17, 2018 after an email scandal involving male officials, the Miss America Org. and Miss America Foundation announce an all-women top leadership team; Regina (Blakely) Hopper becomes pres. and CEO of the Miss Am. Org., and Marjorie-Vincent Tripp becomes the first chair of the Miss Am. Foundation, becoming the first time women lead both orgs. On May 21, 2018 the Miss USA 2018 (67th) Pageant in Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, La., hosted by Vanessa and Nick Lachey is won by Miss Neb. Sarah Rose Summers (1994-) (first winner from Neb.).
On June 5, 2018 (a.m.) Miss America Org. chmn. Gretchen Carlson gives an interview on "Good Morning America", announcing the end of the swimsuit competition, with the soundbyte: "We are no longer a pageant. We are a competition. We wil no longer judge candidates on their outward physical appearance. That's huge."
On Sept. 5, 2018 Pakistan-born Miss Huddersfield Sara Iftekhar (1998-) from West Yorkshire becomes the first Miss England contestant to wear a a hijab in the finals; the winner is Alisha Cowie.
In Aug., 2018 19 former Miss America winners request that chmn. Gretchen Carlson and pres.-CEO Regina Hopper step down along with the entire board of trustees after titleholder Cara Mund accuses Carlson and Hopper of bullying, manipulation and intimidation. On Sept. 9, 2018 the Miss America 2019 (98th) Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., billed as Miss America 2.0 because contestants will no longer be judged based on their physical appearance and the swimsuit competition is cancelled is aired by ABC-TV; the winner is Nia Imani Franklin of N.H.; on Sept. 6 Miss W. Va. Virginia Madeline Collins tells the judges during her onstage interview: "Donald Trump is the biggest issue our country faces. Unfortunately, he has caused a lot of division in our country."
On Dec. 8, 2018 the 2018 Miss World Pageant in Sanya, China is won by 5'9" Siliva Vanessa Ponce de Leon Sanchez (1992-) of Mexico (first Mexican winner).
On Dec. 16, 2018 the 2018 (67th) Miss Universe Pageant at IMPACT Arena in Muang Thong Thani, Thailand, hosted by Steve Harvey and Ashley Graham features the first-ever transgender contestant 6'0" Angela Maria (Angel Mario) Ponce Camacho (1991-) of Spain; the winner is 5'10" Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray (1994-) of Philippines.
On July 20, 2019 Repub. U. of Mich. student Kathy Zhu has her new Miss Mich. title revoked by the Miss World Am. competition for tweets criticizing the wearing of hijabs.
On Dec. 8, 2019 the 2019 (68th) Miss Universe Pageant in Atlanta, Ga. is won by Zozibini Tunzi (1993-) of South Africa, who becomes the first black Miss Universe since 2011; the first year that all four major U.S.-based beauty pageants are won by black women, incl. Miss America 2019 (Nia Franklin), Miss Teen USA 2019 (Kaliegh Garris), and Miss USA 2019 (heslie Kryst).
On Sept. 21, 2021 Punjab-born Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (2000-) wins the 70th Miss Universe pageant.