Topic: Swimsuit Competition

The Miss America organization announced it is dropping its swimsuit competition to focus on talent and substance. In other news, activists in San Jose are protesting Google's plans for a "mega-campus," fearing it will exacerbate the city's homelessness and eviction crises. The protesters are demanding that Google commit to protecting local residents from tech-driven gentrification.

Gretchen Carlson, the new chairman of the Miss America Organization, discussed the future of the pageant on PBS following the resignation of the previous CEO. Carlson emphasized the program's role as a scholarship provider but remained vague on whether the swimsuit competition would be eliminated. The hosts speculate that the organization will struggle to maintain viewership if it moves away from its traditional format.

Miss New Mexico delivers a "loud and take up space" rant during the pageant, which the hosts compare to Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" philosophy. They critique the swimsuit competition, describing the contestants as "chunky" and the bikini designs as having excessive "butt cover." The segment highlights the awkwardness of the pageant's attempts at modern messaging.

Miss Texas suggests that a "Mr. America" competition should include a swimsuit portion. The hosts discuss the "cruel" nature of the pageant's elimination process, where contestants are left on stage in performance gear only to be cut before they can perform. They note the panel of judges included figure skater Tara Lipinski.

A clip from the Miss America pageant features a backstage announcer encouraging a contestant from Oregon to "rip off her dress" for the swimsuit competition. The hosts describe the event as sounding like a cattle show. They criticize the production quality and the weird atmosphere of the televised pageant.

The production quality of the Miss Universe pageant, owned by Donald Trump, is criticized for its "jerky" camera work and repetitive editing during the swimsuit competition. The hosts claim the voting is structurally rigged because contestants appearing later in the sequence naturally receive higher scores from judges. They observe that the camera angles seemed intentionally designed to avoid certain shots.