Advertisement The Miss America Pageant has a long history of using celebrity judges. Doing this attracts a litle more attention when it comes time to promote the televised Miss America finale, but wouldn’t it make more sense to use the most experienced, astute pageant judges to make the final call?
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Sally Stinson, left, and Marna Holley, both former pageant directors in the La Crosse area, agree that the nice thing about having the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., as it was for most of its history, was all the attention was focused on Miss America that week. In Las Vegas, they say, there are so many distractions, such as shopping, gambling and other entertainment options. In Atlantic City, Miss America was the only show in town.
Photo by Randy Erickson |
Maybe so, say Sally Stinson and Marna Holley, who got involved in the La Crosse area pageant scene in the early 1980s, Stinson with Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest and Holley with Miss Holmen.
It’s hard to engrain the Miss America ideals and values in a group of celebrities the way they become etched in longtime pageant judges. Still, the celebrity judges keep coming up with good picks, say Holley and Stinson, in Las Vegas as part of the “Smaby Nation.”
“The system works,” Holley said.
And, they said, it probably works better now that they have celebrity judges throughout the preliminary competition rounds rather than having the celebrities only come in to judge only for the finale.
“I like that they get to know the contestants,” Stinson said.
The media got a chance Wednesday to get to know more about the experiences of this year’s Miss America judges during a press conference at Planet Hollywood, the pageant headquarters.
This year’s judges include The judges panel consists of conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh, actress Vivica A. Fox, jazz musician Dave Koz, recording artist and “American Idol” finalist Brooke White, Miss America 2002 Katie Harman and Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson, who at 18 is the youngest Miss America judge ever.
White said she’s looking for a contestant outside the box this year: "I’d like to see someone that’s a little unexpected, that might not necessarily fit the mold but bring something new to the face of Miss America."
Limbaugh said it was a little intimidating at first, but now he looks forward to a new round every day. From what he’s learned about the program, Limbaugh said he is going to be a big “rabblerouser” for the Miss America program after his work as judge is through Saturday night.
“My experience here has made me a lifetime supporter of the program,” he said.
See the video clips below for more of their comments at the press conference.
