Monday, September 24, 2007

Best of Luck To Miss Ohio, Roberta Camp, Tonight As She Selects Her Miss America Contestant Number!


CLICK HERE to watch the live, online contestant lottery starting at 6 p.m.

How it works: The website randomly selects one state at a time, and once selected that state’s titleholder will have an allotted amount of time to decide which contestant number she would like to have at Miss America. State contestants will obviously be logged in somehow, whereas fans can simply watch.

At Miss Ohio this happens in person at the Spring Forum; someone pulls the contestants names from a bowl, and then the contestant has a minute to decide what contestant number she wants. It is extremely tense!

What do contestants consider when selecting their position in a pageant?

Flights
: At Miss State and Miss America there are usually three preliminary nights, so contestants are divided into “flights” and each flight has a different preliminary competition schedule. So, contestants consider what order they want to perform the different areas of competition in, in order to know which flight they want. Some women like to make sure they do their best phase on the first preliminary night, or maybe they hide their worst phase until the last night. Other women select their flight depending on when the Private Interview will be.

Number Placement: It’s risky, but some women actually like to be first. Most often though, contestants prefer to be near the end of the contestant order.

Other Contestants: A competitive contestant needs to consider which other contestants she wants to avoid, and who she wouldn’t mind having in her flight, and near her in the order.

* Avoidance: In the interest of winning a preliminary award it’s best NOT to have your biggest competition in your flight. You also might want to try to avoid women who are similar to you, so the judges don’t confuse the two of you. (By similar I mean in looks and talent type.) Likewise, some women try to have a contestant with a different type talent before them, so the judges aren’t getting bored with the same thing, or directly comparing them.

* Seek out: If a “weak” or inexperienced contestant is right in front of you, then you’ll look even stronger when you grace the stage. On the other hand, I have seen extremely strong contestants put themselves beside one another to “one up” the other. It’s a gutsy move, but it makes for an entertaining pageant!

Contestants need to think about their strategy so they can easily adjust in accordance to what numbers other women pick and when their name is called. Obviously, you need to think in terms of both overall competition and specific phases.

In these lotteries, I always felt it was best to have your name pulled near the middle. If you’re pulled early you can get the flight and position you want, but you have no idea how your competition will stack up. Of course, if you’re pulled too late you don’t have many options.

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