Miss Delaware Teen USA has given up her crown over allegations of a sex video. See more scandalous moments in pageant history.
Melissa King, Miss Delaware Teen USA, relinquished her crown after reports surfaced that she had appeared in an amateur porn video. Although the 18-year-old beauty queen said she was "absolutely not" the woman in the video, she looks and sounds exactly like her. In the five-minute clip, the young woman is asked why she wanted to make an adult video and confesses, "I thought it'd be fun and it sounded like I needed the money. So I just decided to do it."
This sort of behavior is not appreciated by judges. In newly released photos, 2010's Miss USA, Rima Fakih, appears to be behind the wheel of a vehicle while drinking a half-empty bottle of Champagne. Police say the 26-year-old was seen speeding and weaving through traffic. She's been instructed to show up in court within 10 days. Fakih made history when she won the Miss USA crown; she is believed to be the first Muslim to earn the title.
Carrie Prejean was the first runner-up in the Miss USA 2009 pageant and made headlines during her question-and-answer portion when she took a strong stance opposing gay marriage on national television. The Prejean Media Tour just took off from there: After appearing in an anti-gay-marriage commercial, a partially nude photo of her surfaced on the Internet—and a few months later, TMZ revealed that the former Miss California USA, who was dethroned in June in a bloodless coup, had appeared in eight "solo" sex tapes. The outspoken Prejean went on to become one of only two people to attempt to walk out on Larry King, calling the talk-show host "inappropriate” for asking about her legal settlement.
Eric Jamison / AP Photo
Did you think threesomes only existed as the subject of Britney Spears’ songs and overhyped episodes of Gossip Girl? Think again: A sex tape surfaced last year purporting to show Miss Universe Japan 2008 Hiroko Mima and Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago 2008 Anya Ayoung Chee engaging in a ménage à trois with Chee's boyfriend. A Miss Universe rep said they have no involvement in this scandal, as the video was apparently shot eight months after the pageant. And after the tapes were made public, the man in this beauty queen sandwich came forward to defend Miss Japan's honor—she is not the second woman in the videos.
Last year the reigning Miss Mexico, Laura Zuniga, was stripped of her Miss Hispanoamerican Queen title after being detained along with seven men suspected of drug trafficking. They were found in a vehicle with $53,000, weapons, and ammunition. Her defense: She was going shopping.
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Lindsey Evans, Miss Teen Louisiana 2008, was dethroned (after placing third runner-up at Miss Teen USA) when she was arrested for theft and possession of marijuana. The bag of weed was found after she skipped out on a dinner check and accidentally left her purse behind.
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At the center of the most high-profile beauty-queen scandal, Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, was asked to step down in 1984 when a 10-page spread for Penthouse emerged 10 months into her reign. Five million copies of the magazine were sold, and the then-21-year-old Williams went on to a wildly successful career in Hollywood, including her role on Ugly Betty.
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Katie Rees was crowned Miss Nevada USA in 2007 but was relieved of her duties when scandalous photos of her cavorting with friends surfaced from her teen years. The pictures of Rees popped up, naturally, on MySpace. Later, Rees was arrested for a traffic violation and her rather unfortunate mugshot was posted all over the Internet.
Denise Truscello / Getty Images; AP Photo
Donald Trump had his hands full in 2007 when Kentucky native Tara Conner was crowned Miss USA in 2006. Controversy exploded a few months later when she tested positive for cocaine, kissed Miss Teen USA in public, and brought men into their joint apartment in Trump Place. She also reportedly got her 19-year-old roommate, Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera, drunk on her birthday. Trump, who owns the rights to the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, said he “believed in second chances” and that she could keep her crown. Conner headed to rehab for two months and embarked on a morning show mea culpa tour.
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Overseas scandals are much less salacious. Miss Vietnam 2008, Tran Thi Thuy Dung, lost her crown in November 2008 because pageant organizers learned she hadn’t completed high school. The nation was in an uproar, however, because the contest has no formal requirement for education, but those in charge thought it was important to discourage dropping out. Even in disgrace, Dung remained poised: “I wish Vietnam can still find the right candidate to send to Miss World, even if it isn’t me.”
Xinhua / Landov
Rebekah Revels resigned from her Miss North Carolina post after her ex-fiancé told pageant officials he had topless photographs of her which would violate the “dishonest, immoral, and indecent” behavior clause of her contract. The photos never turned up, and Revels sued to get the title back, but lost. She did, however, win a lawsuit against her former paramour for costing her the chance at the Miss America crown, and she was awarded punitive damages.
Scott Barbour / Getty Images; AP Photos
Laetitia Bleger was suspended as Miss France for six months after posing for the cover of French Playboy. The head of the pageant committee was “dismayed and appalled” by the photos and the organization even has a clause banning partially or fully nude photos or licentious behavior for six years after a title win.
Dolores Ochoa / AP Photo
California’s pageant had trouble, too. Queen Christina Silva’s crown was revoked overnight in 2007 due to a technical vote-counting error. Silva was even forced to call the second runner-up and hand over her title. She immediately launched a lawsuit citing negligence, racial prejudice (she was of Ecuadorian descent), and violations of her civil rights, but later changed her mind and dropped it.
Damian Dovarganes / AP Photo
Here’s a classic: After winning Miss USA in 1957, Mary Leona Gage was discovered to be 18, not 21 as she claimed, and had twice been married (once at age 14) with two kids, all violations of the ironclad rules of pageantry. After losing the crown, Gage made forays into the acting world and attempted a life as a Hollywood showgirl. Since then, her life has been marred with multiple divorces, accusations of child abuse, and attempted suicides.
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Danielle Lloyd competed and won Miss Great Britain 2006, but was stripped of the title after stripping for Playboy. It was also revealed that she was in a relationship with one of the judges of the competition. Lloyd persevered, however, and, three breast enlargements later, appeared on the U.K.’s Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, where she and Jade Goody got in trouble for making racist comments about housemate Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood star.
Guang Niu / Getty Images
Elyse Umemoto, the second runner-up in the 2008 Miss America pageant, was scandalized by photos posted on TMZ of her making oral sex gang signs and other charming finger salutes for the camera. The worst of it all? She was wearing her crown.
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Kumari Fulbright was a Tucson beauty queen whose scandals extended further than the typical half-nude photos that plague other girls. The law student was charged with kidnapping and torturing an ex-boyfriend in 2008. She and three men were arrested on charges of armed robbery, aggravated robbery, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and kidnapping. Fulbright and her accomplices allegedly tied up her ex with plastic cables, stuck a butcher knife in his ear, and held him captive for 10 hours. Presumably she didn’t win Miss Congeniality.
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