Pageants gone wild!

Mary-n-Texas, my self-flagellating friend to whom this site is dedicated, asked for more salaciousness and skin. (By the way, is it "self-flagellation" if you hit yourself in the head with a hammer, Monty Python-style? Seems a bit more hardcore than that.) In particular, Mary brought up the shenanigans that recently got Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, stripped of her title. (Article here. More importantly, photos here. Even more interesting photos here.)

But this is what I don't get. From what I understand, the Miss USA/Miss Universe and Miss America pageants' ratings have been in decline for years. They are quaint, silly, sexist, anachronistic... whatever you want. More importantly, they generally are very boring, even after the introduction of two-piece bathing suits. So, from a purely marketing perspective, what's less boring than Miss Nevada topless, kissing other hot girls? Huh? Sure as hell beats international financial regulation, I can tell you that.

If you don't believe me, name one former Miss America or Miss USA whose name you remember and who later went on to bigger and better things? You can only think of one, can't you? Vanessa Williams.

Quod erat demonstrandum.