Tori in Miss USA

[quote=Bacchus;9551]...and I assumed she could not win because she just is not as good looking as many of the other competitors. From my point of view I do not think she was even in the top 3 hottest women on the Gauntlet, let alone Miss USA! (I will not even get into inner beauty.) I guess to each their own. These days magazines love putting spaced out, gaunt 6'1" rails on magazine covers so maybe my perception of beauty is no longer with the mainstream...[/quote] Well, beauty is a very subjective thing. :) I've seen very disparate opinions on Tori's looks. I personally think she is extremely attractive, but that's just my taste. I also think Cara from RR: South Pacific is very attractive, and Svetlana from Key West. But, as I said, I think last year's Miss USA isn't even that pretty. So I 'm not sure how much of this is actually based on looks alone, because I'm sure other contestants last year (there were 50 of them!) were better-looking. That being said, I think the pictures Tori has taken for Miss USA so far are far from the best pictures I've seen of her. She has looked much better elsewhere.

Does anyone know how these pageants ARE judged? I'd be interested to know. It can't just be looks, because (and I'm not trying to be mean), I think some not-great-looking people have previously won. I have absolutely no idea. Bacchus, I think you and I will just have to agree to disagree about Tori and be united in our adoration for Johanna. ;) But I've got to stick up for her--because no one else is going to! Yup, still my lonely corner of Tori love. But I like it. It's cozy. [QUOTE]I think Tori is a pretty girl. It's just from what I have seen of her on television she still has a LOT of growing up to do. That's all.[/QUOTE] I would agree with that, based on the shows alone. But I think she's begun that process already, and the fact that she wants to move on with her life and finish her degree and get a job makes me think that she's in a good place. And I imagine that her relationship with Brad has been and will continue to be very good for her, because as sweet as he is, he has a low tolerance for bs. I thought his interaction with her when he told her not to quit demonstrated that well--he didn't humor her or baby her; he flat-out told her that quitting was stupid and to get over it. And she responded to that. Tori definitely needs a guy who can challenge her, and I think Brad fits that position well.

I would have been pretty shocked if Tori had made the cut so soon after her surgery. I'm thinking abdominal swelling, swimsuits, and heels don't go that well together. I do feel bad for her--I think she got dealt a pretty bad hand in terms of timing. I'm sure I'm the only one. But now she can finish her degree and move on with her life away from the cameras instead of having to move to NY and be in yet another reality show, and I think that's actually a pretty positive thing, in the end. I'm not sure that Tori needs more reality TV in her life. In any case, I hope she enjoyed her time in Vegas. From Myspace, it looks like Kenny, Paula, Derek, and obviously Brad are there with her. I'm sure they'll have a fun weekend.

[QUOTE]I don't think her surgery had anything to do with her not making top 15, but that is just me an my negativity. ;) [/QUOTE] Haha. Nah, it's possible. I don't know much about pageants, but my friends who do (who don't watch the MTV shows) had her on their list of the top competitors before the surgery--pageant people know her because she made the top ten in Miss Teen USA a couple of years ago, which is why people expected her to do well. After arrivals of the competitors in Vegas, she dropped off most people's lists, though she resurfaced again after prelims. The general feeling seemed to be that, whether due to the surgery or to something else, her heart wasn't in it. She was having a good time, but people didn't necessarily think she was there to win. A few people have suggested that the organization might have seen her as "difficult" because of MTV and the interview she did prior to the competition(which is posted here) and might have wanted to keep her as far from the crown as they could. That wouldn't surprise me, either. There are clips on certain sites of her in Miss Teen USA, and compared to her prelim videos on the Miss USA site, it looks like she dialed it way down in this one. For what reason, one doesn't know. But one can speculate.

[QUOTE]The truth is, nobody cares these days who won or lost. Miss USA is a relic of a bygone era.[/QUOTE] I think Tori actually hit it on the nose when she said that people can't identify with beauty queens they've never seen before for one night. I can see why things like Miss USA would be rewarding for the people involved--money, exposure, free trips to Vegas, and all kinds of other perks--but they haven't given the viewers a reason to care in a long time. When the thing your organization is most famous for is your former Miss USA's drug problem, that says something about the credibility of your quest to find someone to represent our country. It's sort of dumb, I think, to pretend that being beautiful has anything to do with being charitable or diplomatic. Celebrate beautiful people for being beautiful, but let's not pretend that makes you qualified to save the world any more than the next person. Trump had better start making this relevant if he expects people to tune in.