Kaitlyn Monte is your classic, over-achieving, go-getter of a girl!  She graduated college at the age of 19, she’s been performing with the USO as a Liberty Bell, was 1st runner up at Miss Sweetheart in 2008 and she finished as a preliminary swimsuit winner and 2nd runner up at Miss America.  Probably a first born child as well (lol!) 🙂

Miss New York has come a long way in a short time… There’s a sort of ‘momentum’ that’s created when you have girls from the same state finishing strong in successive years.  A girl who makes Top 10 helps the girl she crowns with her insight and ‘what i wish i would’ve known’ commentary, and the new girl finishes in the Top 5.  We’ve seen it happen again and again in state after state.  RARELY does a state come out of NOWHERE to win the crown… chances are, that state was at least a semi-finalist within a couple years of the state who wins it all.  Given this info, we wouldn’t be surprised if Miss New York finishes with a Miss America sometime in the next 3 years. 🙂

Miss New York History:  New York has had 3 Miss Americas… Bess Myerson in 45, Tawny Godin in ’76 and the infamous Vanessa Williams in ’84.

Items of Note:  Miss New York head-shots are always, ALWAYS the best!  Why?  Hello – it’s NYC!  Most of these girls have on-stage performance aspirations (be that acting, modeling or Broadway).  You get good head-shots as a product of the environment!

Best Junkie Research Tool:  Miss NY ’10 Claire Buffie has created a video series with each contestant called “What Do You Stand For?”  Don’t bother googling “Miss NY”… you won’t find it… Start with this link here… and then you can see group 2, 3 and 4 on the right hand side.  Group 5 hasn’t been released yet – so you can’t see all the contestants on video, but we’ll take what we can!

Who to Watch:

Maria DeSantis – Miss Americas Outstanding Teen (National Winner) in 07…Opera Singer

Mallorie Hagen – 1st runner up in ’11, tap dancer, 2nd time at Miss NY

Hannah Wright – 2nd runner up in ’11, ballet dancer, 3rd time at Miss NY

Desiree Wiley –  3rd runner up in ’11, lyrical dancer, 2nd time at Miss NY

Acacia Courtney – Connecticut MAOT contestant, interview winner, really long and tall 🙂

Shannon Oliver – extremely well spoken, 3rd runner up at Miss Virgina ’11

Whooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooo for the Empire State!  Good Luck Miss New York 2012!!! 🙂

MAJ

Maria Cahill is a hoot!  Ok, so we don’t know her personally at all, but from the outside looking in, she’s confident, witty and quirky!  We have a feeling she’s always been this way… from her love of Big Mac’s to supporting her siblings sporting events, Maria’s twitter account is alive and active with updates on who she is and how she lives!  We love it! 🙂

Maria was given a non-finalist talent award for her Irish Step Dancing routine at Miss America… and we think she should’ve received an award for ‘wearing the heaviest dress’ in evening gown!  Check out the full beading on this puppy!!!  I can’t imagine how much that thing must’ve weighed!!!

Delaware History:  Never had a Miss America… but Maria follows in a long line of Delaware contestants who’ve finished with a preliminary talent or non-finalist talent award… Not bad considering Miss America was only Maria’s 5th pageant ever!


Best Junkie Research Tool:  Headshots and details of the girls can be found here at the Miss Delaware site… Everyone has the same background, so we’re guessing these were taken during a recent orientation weekend specifically for the website. 🙂


Items of Note:  Although Miss Delaware is always exciting – a true Miss America Junkie doesn’t exist without knowledge of Mr. Delaware 2008. Chris Saltalamacchio was given the title in a male pageant designed to be a fund-rasier for Miss Delaware and the name just stuck!  He’s a pageant/dress consultant, entertainer, emcee and reality TV dude as well (as seen on Jersey Couture earlier this season!).  Check out his tweets as well and soon, you’ll be hooked too 🙂

Who to Watch:

Steffi Holmes – 2nd runner up in ’11, 1st runner up in ’10, 3rd time to Miss Delaware, opera singer

Erin Magnin – 3rd runner up in 11, 3rd time to Miss Delaware, vocalist

Chelsea Betts – Delaware’s Outstanding Teen in ’07, 4th runner up in ’10, 3rd time to Miss Delaware

Alyssa Murray – 4th runner up in ’11, 2nd time to Miss Delaware

Others to watch:
Becky Albini – Outstanding Teen contestant in Connecticut
Alix Gardner – Her talent is a comedic routine!
Tierra Fair – Did you get that?  Her name is Tierra (Tiara?) 

All the Best to everyone at Miss Delaware!!!  Can’t wait to see who the winner is on June 16!!! 🙂

MAJ

Because the Junkies didn’t make it to the first night of preliminary competition at Miss America this year, I’m afraid we missed something spectacular… Danica Olsen, Miss Utah in her swimsuit…

Several people who were there, told us it might’ve been the best swimsuit body they’ve EVER seen on the Miss America stage since moving to Vegas.  Danica didn’t have a 6-pack, she had an 8-pack!  And she was blessed with broad shoulders and a perfectly proportionate body.  She was the very first swimsuit the judges saw at Miss America 2012 and obviously, they didn’t like anything else better.  Wowzers!!! 🙂

Miss Utah History:  Two Miss Americas hail from Utah… Colleen Hutchins in ’52 and Sharlene Wells in 85 (known as ‘Clean Sharlene’ because she was crowned the year after Vanessa Williams gave up her crown).

Items of Note:  Miss Utah is known for getting “new” and “fresh” contestants each and every year.  Very few girls come back year after year, because more often than not, Utah crowns a rookie.  Also, it’s a bit of a down year for Miss Utah… there are only 44 girls competing for the crown this year (ONLY – lol!)

Best Research Tool:  The Miss Utah site has oodles of pictures, including last year’s preliminary winners (which oddly enough, 3 dancers won all 3 talent prelims last year).

Who to Watch:  Really tough for us to do a good job on this one… considering the fact that there are zillions of newbies… here’s our best shot..

Alicia Lee – first time at Miss Utah, Jazz Dancer with lots of personality

Ciera Pekarick – 2nd runner up in 11, prelim swimsuit, will be her 3rd time at Miss Utah

Lauren Tucker – second time at Miss Utah, vocalist, won a tough local

Brooke Christensen – former Miss Utah USA competitor, a registered nurse working in neurology/trauma and intensive care

Meredith Gaufin – Miss Utah Outstanding Teen ’09 where she made Top 10, harpist, first time at Miss Utah

Seriously – this might have been the hardest pageant to research out of all of our posts thus far… Apologies in advance if we don’t even come close on this one!!!

Junkies LOVE Utah —- we just don’t have a clue who’s going to win!?!  LOL!!! 🙂

MAJ

Diana Dreman made history on the Miss America stage earlier this year… She is the only daughter of a Miss America to compete on the Miss America stage herself.  The year was also special to Diana and her mom, as Rebecca King Dreman (Miss America 1974) was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma cancer more than a year ago.  Over the past year, Diana cared for her mother half the time while preparing for Miss America the other half of the time.

There’s obviously a special link between moms and daughters… And while Rebecca’s cancer is currently being treated with experimental procedures, Diana and Rebecca will always have this year of incredible memories and nobody can take it away from them.

Miss Colorado History:  The Rocky Mountain State has had 3 Miss Americas… Sharon Ritchie in ’56, Marilyn Van Debur in ’58 and Rebecca King in ’74.  Colorado had a string of Top 5 finishes at Miss America 88, 89 and 90, but the only recent semi-finalist was Katie Lehman at Miss America 2010.

Items of Note:  Colorado isn’t exactly what you’d call a ‘pageant state’… Especially since Jon Benet Ramsey was found dead in her home in ’96 (she would’ve been 22 this year).  Climbing 14’ers is more popular than pageants… shopping at REI is more prestigious than buying a Tony Bowls gown.

Best Junkie Research Tool:  The Miss Colorado site is fancy-dancy… Just make sure you have enough bandwidth to get all the flash graphics!  Plus their Facebook page gives you the chance to vote for your favorite contestant (along with their Talent and Platform information). 

Who to Watch:

Hanna Jo Porter – 1st runner up in 10 and in 11, prelim swimsuit, evening gown and interview winner at Miss Sweetheart where she made the Top 10.  A tap dancer, she’s the favorite to win this year (although we all know, there’s no guarantees)

Janelle Osborn – 3rd runner up in 11 and CO Outstanding Teen in 09, she radiates confidence on stage

Stacey Cook – 2nd runner up in 11 and a Tahitian dancer… great body

Kayla Brahn – Her 4th time at Miss CO, 4th runner up in ’10

Ashley Reichert – Musical Theater major, NAM CO 1st runner up, CO Outstanding Teen contestant, Top 10 in ’11

The Junkies will enjoy watching the new Miss Colorado crowned live and in person on June 16!!!  Looking forward to it!!!  Junkies Love Colorado!!! 🙂

MAJ