Carrie
First, pageant peeps paid for Carrie Prejean’s boob job. Then there’s news that they’d have covered up her topless photos—if they’d known. What else do pageant officials do behind the scenes—and how can they afford it?
—Marcus, Las Vegas
Most pageants are just businesses, like tire manufacturers or real estate developers, or pimps. The one exception is Miss America, a scholarship organization, but that tidbit is boring, and the dish I have for you is interesting, so let’s forget about that.
Turns out that boob jobs are just the tip of the nipple when it comes to what pageant bosses will provide to ensure their princess wins it all.
Like what, exactly?
Well, let’s make a list.
1. Everything: If the beauty queen has a busted-looking haircut, or a snaggletooth, or a bubble butt, or an ingrown toenail, the pageant people send in a SWAT team of glamorizers to take care of it all. For free.
Boob jobs. Veneers or tooth whitening. Gym workouts. Highlights. Swarovski-studded bikinis. A new talent for the talent portion of the competition. Yes, really. The pageant people only pay for this stuff if they have to, however.
“Oftentimes pageants will get sponsors to pay for things,” pageant coach Justin Rudd tells me.
So does that mean Boobs by Pepsi?
Probably not, Rudd tells me. “I would guess the doctor had in-kind donation of services to the contestant, and then he can boast, ‘I did her boob job’; ‘I did the teeth whitening.’ “
2. A Mom: Homesickness is not an option for a pageant queen. Most pageant franchises provide full-time substitute “moms” for groups of contestants to make sure they don’t annoy judges by breaking down and crying. “At one pageant, even in Long Beach,” Rudd recalls, “there were about 10 moms for the 50 contestants.”
3. Self-Esteem: If the beauty queen starts to lose confidence, pageant bosses can step in and buy her a new one. Beauty queens are known to attend pageant-related self-esteem camps or stay in the homes of coaches for up to a year to build up enough yes-I-can to compete for the crown.
One of the most popular confidence camps is in North Carolina, run by a former pageant champion.
As for quashing skanky photos, well, Rudd says he’s sure that must go down, though he’s never seen it personally. I have no doubt we’ll learn more as the Prejean photos continue to emerge, one by one.
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