A deep dive Kate put together last minute about the controversy surrounding the Miss USA pageant late last week when contestants claimed the pageant was "rigged" and/or a product of overt favoritism toward Miss Texas. Insisting she was mostly disinterested, Kate dipped her toe in, then managed to spend the whole weekend researching history, and lore, thinking about her own memories watching, all while developing an incredibly lukewarm take on a topic she knows very little about and isn't totally sure if she should support.

Kate recalls covering the following:

A breakdown of the Miss USA drama

An appropriate reading from pop culture scripture: Chapter: Miss SC, Verse 2007

Kate asks questions about the ethics of favoritism, while clearly implying favoritism almost the entire episode

Tugboat eats a cup of Ranch by accident

Research about the historical context of women’s exploitation for sport that she kind of hates but would’ve wholeheartedly done for validation

An overview of the history of pageants in the U.S. and all the many ways we never stood a chance

Greg interrupts for more IVF shots, Kate gets in bad mood

Then maybe blames Molly McIntyre’s performance in the only pageant that matters (Miss Victory) for the downfall of women

Somehow Pretty Pretty Princess gets dragged into it

There’s still some leftover anger toward children doing a little too much food prep under age 3 on Tiktok

Various catchphrases for influencer pipelines that are the hottest launchpads to stardom

Kate imagines (hallucinates?) a Jovani insurrection if the Miss USA vote was stolen

And so much more!

Fortunately, a much more informative second episode featuring an interview with an incredible BTI5 listener/former pageant participant/former employee (Cori Wallace) in the corporate pageant system will be released in the coming days, likely early released on Patreon, this was a last-minute topic choice so thanks for your patience as we align it with the broadcast calendar! patreon.com/bethereinfive

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