Pageant Press: Queen 4 a Day

QUEEN 4 A DAY - A pageant-winning NBC4 reporter allows others to bask in her reflected glory

At this moment, somewhere in America, a young woman prepares for her shining moment in the local beauty pageant. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, she will parlay pageant success into her dream job as a TV reporter. It seems that just about every beauty pageant contestant aspires to a job in television news. Channel 4’s Monica Day went the opposite direction. As of Saturday night, she’s your new Miss Ohio USA.

Already an on-air reporter, Day was crowned in Portsmouth on Saturday and will go on to compete in the Miss USA pageant...

“Anything you can do promote yourself, maybe to a higher position or a larger market—if you can do something that’s going to give you that extra push, go for it,” she said.

That’s not to say Day’s motives are entirely selfish. After all, Saturday night’s crowning achievement was good not just for her, she believes, but the entire Channel 4 family. “How great is it for my colleagues in the station that I’m doing this?” she said. “It’s exposure for them as well.”

At last Saturday’s pageant, Day forgot to bring her all-important swimsuit adhesive, which keeps the fabric stuck to skin in strategic places. Another contestant, sensing her own prospects in the pageant were limited, offered her adhesive to Day. “We’re not all bad,” Day said.

A lack of bikini tape isn’t the only crisis Day has faced. A few years ago, when preparing for another Miss Ohio USA pageant, she attempted to obtain that bronze tan that got her noticed as a teen by applying sunless tanning lotion before going to bed. “I woke up to go compete and somehow—from putting it on at night, getting out of bed and going into the shower—large patches of this sunless tanner had come off my body,” she said. “I looked like a cow.”

There’s a great debate among pageant fanatics about which circuit is better. Miss America is a scholarship-based pageant that features a talent portion. Miss USA is about prizes and sponsorships, and it doesn’t have a talent competition. Both pageants hang their hats on the vast charity and volunteer projects undertaken by contestants. Day prefers the Miss USA system because of the brighter spotlight and professional format. “It’s highly televised on NBC and has great ratings,” she said. “There’s a focus on business, and it’s geared toward people who are really looking to promote themselves.”

“As far as going to the local supermarket and signing autographs, that’s not required,” Day said. “You wear the crown. The crown does not wear you.”

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