On the eve of Miss America, I finally decided to sit down and blog about my
Miss USA experience. It will be nice to cuddle up on the
couch tomorrow night with my Miss USA roommate, Ellie Holtman Miss
Missouri USA, and reminisce on our time at Miss USA. It’s also comforting
to know we don’t have to be the ones on tv in a swimsuit in front of millions
of viewers. You better believe there will be a lot of sweets and junk
food involved in our viewing party.
So many people have asked me what Miss USA was like, and to be honest, the only
people that will ever truly know what it was like are the girls who experienced
it with me. It was unlike anything I could have imagined and I feel
honored to be one of the select girls that really know what happens in Vegas,
and as they say… What happens in Vegas… stays in Vegas.
As comic relief through the experience as well as to provide a humorous insight
to how it felt sometimes, I describe it as a real life Hunger Games, of course
without the vicious killing. For those of you who are not familiar with the
Hunger Games series, this will make absolutely no sense to you. Here’s how the
story goes...
Fifty-one lucky tributes (and in my rendition of the story we actually are
extremely lucky) are chosen to represent their district (state) in the 2013
Hunger Games (Miss USA.) After preparing with my mentor, (my State Director and fabulous Vanbros team) I
was shipped off to the extravagant Capital (Vegas.) Once there, I began my
extensive training for the pageant (photo shoots, filming, rehearsals, etc.)
and just like in the book, I had Stylists, like Cinna, that helped make me look
my best and gave me support and encouragement along the way. I quickly
formed allies with other “Districts” in order to survive. These “allies”
became my support and family during the three long weeks in Vegas. During
long days of rehearsals and having cameras on us constantly, I couldn’t help
but hearing “Gale” in my head saying, “they just want a good show, that’s all
they want.” And having Guiliana Rancic and Nick Jonas with us at
rehearsals, I kept picturing them as the Caesar Flickerman character.
When it came closer to the telecast, I could feel the pressure and tension rise
as if people were watching me constantly. As I stood there onstage
the night of the telecast, waiting to hear the top 16, I felt as if it were the
reaping. While I stood there onstage, it felt like the final drop on the
emotional roller-coaster I had been on for the last three weeks. A bit of
terror, followed by a bit of relief, followed by a bit of sadness.
Being from Nebraska, I felt a
little bit like Katniss Everdeen. Nebraska is a lot like District 12, not
exactly what you would call a “career” state. However, I went to Miss USA
ready to represent the greatest state in the country. It was the greatest
experience of my life and I feel truly lucky be part of the class of 2013! As my year as Miss Nebraska USA
slowly comes to an end and the 2014 girls begin to take our places, I want to
give all the ladies competing for their state titles some advice, one of you
will be the next “girl on fire” and of course… “may the odds forever be in your
favor..”
