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Miss America Pageant Tries But Fails To Humiliate Contestants

Nick Douglas · 01/25/08 01:44PM

To kick up falling ratings, the Miss America Pageant is running a four-part reality show leading up to the Saturday event as part of reinventing the brand as edgy and modern. The series includes a game show, "Are You Smarter Than a Miss USA Girl?" which the AP notes "failed to produce a YouTube moment." Lucky for the contestants, who worked their way up the pageant train only to be compared to Britney and Paris by their own judges and producers. At least any public failure by them will make us uglies feel better, but it ruins the fun to know that's what Miss America wants. Below, a clip of contestants failing at boring trivia questions and, as "punishment," jumping into a pool. And then some Project Runway for a cleanser, because if the Miss America people really want to compete with reality TV, maybe they should watch some.