We have a new Miss America, Lauren Nelson. She should party with Miss USA, Tara Connor.
This is the second year in a row that a Miss Oklahoma has won the crown.
Nelson, 20, of Lawton, Oklahoma, is a student at the University of Central Oklahoma and wants to get her master’s degree in musical theatre.
‘Reality-TV twists’ enter the pageant
The pageant tossed in a few reality-TV twists on the way toward selecting its ideal American woman in a new time slot on the Las Vegas Strip.
Mario Lopez, of the TV dance competition Dancing with the Stars and the high school comedy series Saved by the Bell, hosted the show, its second year at the Aladdin Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
The pageant moved from Atlantic City, New Jersey, last year in an attempt to breathe new life into an institution that had fallen far from the forefront of American pop culture.
Although previous experiments with reality gimmicks fell flat, this year’s show included viewer voting and increased participation from the panel of celebrity judges, which included MSNBC political talk show host Chris Matthews.
In one of the new features, viewers were shown a glimpse of interviews between contestants and judges, something that previously was closed.
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