Pageants are a controversial topic—some love them, others believe competitors are judged wrongfully, and a different group of people believes it’s a misogynistic event with narrow beauty standards designed for the male gaze. The question-and-answer portion is a great way to get inside the minds of competitors, and while many of them are inspiring, there are also plenty of scandalous, cringe moments you won’t want to miss out on. Here are the top ones:
1. Miss Hispanic America had a drug scandal
Laura Zúñiga from Sinaloa, Mexico, had a big win in 2008 but became more famous as a smuggling gang suspect whose alleged boyfriend was believed to be associated with the Juarez Cartel. Police found assault rifles and tons of cash in her and her co-conspirators’ luxury cars, and the pageant cut ties with Zúñiga, the real-life “Miss Bala.”
2. Miss Nevada forgot her own state’s capital
When asked to name the capital of Nevada on “The Todd Show” after her win, she didn’t know the answer was Carson City and awkwardly said, “Thank you. I was gonna say that, I was like, that one DJ host on MTV, back in the day, his name, that’s how I always remembered it. … Carson Daly, that guy.” Apparently, she was originally a competitor for Miss California and failed to compete, so she instead set up a paper trail to make it look like she was from there!
3. Miss Teen USA contestant has a fall
Caitlin Upton first became known for going viral when she had difficulty answering a geography question in the pageant. When asked why Americans had trouble finding the U.S. on the map, her answer was, “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps.” She added in garbled words about South Africa and “the Iraq” and went viral.
4. A selfie that outraged the leaders of nations
Miss Israel Saly Greige and Miss Lebanon Doron Matalon took a selfie at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, but Miss Lebanon’s country threatened to disqualify her, saying there was conflict between Israel and Lebanon, and while Greige said she tried to avoid contact and communication, Matalon was dismayed by the “hostility” of the situation, saying you only get three weeks in a once-in-a-lifetime experience where you can meet girls from countries around the world.
5. Vanessa Williams was forced to resign
This famous actress was the first Black woman to win a Miss America pageant in 1983 at 21 years old, but she was nearly forced to give up her title due to the risqué photos that Penthouse magazine published of her. 32 years later, the organization apologized to her, but it looks like this tiny scandal didn’t affect Williams’ successful and long career.
6. Donald Trump bullies Alicia Machado, Miss Venezuela
In 1996, Machado won Miss Universe, but Trump bullied her by calling her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” after she gained weight following her victory. Trump also took her to a gym and called her an “eating machine” in front of many media members, leading to her depression and an eating disorder she would spend years fighting.
7. 2016 Miss Teen USA makes racial slurs
Texas native Karlie Hay might have won the crowd, but was cancelled after problematic tweets came to light, showing her using racial slurs. She apologized publicly and said she was ashamed, calling it a “careless mistake” that was made because she heard the word in music. She wasn’t dethroned, but many believed she should have been.
8. Steve Harvey announces the wrong winner
In this cringe “Moonlight” moment, Steve Harvey called out the wrong winner and admitted to misreading his card. He named the runner-up Miss Colombia Adriana Gutierrez before announcing the right winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines. He tweeted an apology for the “honest mistake,” but, wow, was this an awkward one!
9. Miss Utah drops jaws with equal pay question
At the 2013 Miss USA pageant, Marissa Powell, aka Miss Utah, answered a question about the wage gap and gave a confusing answer: “I think we can relate this back to education and how we are continuing to try to strive to [long pause] figure out how to create jobs right now,” ending with an even more vague response about how we need “to create better education.”
10. Miss Italy says she wishes she were alive for World War II
Alice Sabatini won Miss Italy in 2015, and in her Q&A, she was asked what era she wanted to live in. She awkwardly answered 1942—yup, when WWII and the holocaust were in full effect. She said she wanted to see it herself and added, “I know that women didn’t form part of the military, so I would just stay at home.”
