Miss Teen USA did away with the swimwear round in the year 2016, and that had everyone wondering if the same would happen to Miss America as well. The CEO, Sam Haskell, had made a confident statement that said, "I don't think Miss America will ever do away with the swimsuit competition," he told ET. "It's something that we love to show -- how physically fit our contestants are. It's part of the tradition of the organization."
Well looks like Sam was really wrong about the future of the pageant, as the latest news points to a good chance of Miss America Organization retracting the swimsuit round for the popular pageant.
Late last year, Sam Haskell along with a few others was exposed for exchanging demeaning emails demeaning the appearance, intellect and personal lives of former pageant winners, including Miss American 1989 Gretchen Carlson. Carlson was specifically targeted in correspondence among Haskell and others, in which he wrote of tactics he hoped would drive her insane.
(Courtesy Cara Mund Instagram Official)
He later resigned and handed over the reigns to Gretchen Carlson as the new head of the board of directors. New board members include three other past Miss Americas: 2012 winner Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss, 2000 winner Heather French Henry and 1998 winner Kate Shindle.
In one of her interviews at the beginning of her term, Carlson said, “I have so many great ideas for this organization.”
“Please stay tuned because I plan to make this organization 100 percent about empowering women,” she concluded.
Now after almost three months, Carlson seems to be sticking to her promise and is ready to make big reforms at the pageant, which might also include the elimination of the Swimsuit round.
"I would not have agreed to bring my movement to the organization unless we would turn it into a 100 percent empowerment and leadership organization," she said. "We have more elephants in the room: I have a board, and we vote on things. So just be confident that I wouldn't put my name and face on an organization unless I knew it was gonna be 100 percent empowerment and leadership."
Some changes Carlson has in mind include a willingness to reevaluate some of the pageant's restrictions, such as age, marital status and pregnancy.
After Miss Armenia 2018 pageant organizers and Czech Republic 2018 organizers ditched the swimwear round earlier this year, Carlson’s decision can easily hint at the turn of an era in the world of beauty pageants.