The only pageants that have ever caught my attention are the Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant (aka, Drop Dead Gorgeous) and RuPaul’s Drag Race (and All Stars). Otherwise, the closest I’ve ever come to watching a beauty pageant has been through retrospective clips of famous former competitors (Diane Sawyer, Vanessa Williams, Michelle Pfeifer) or when a pageant makes news headlines for the wrong reasons. Such is the case with the latest special from The New York Times Presents, which kicks off its third season on FX this Friday, September 29th, with “How to Fix a Pageant.”
(FX)
Was the 2022 Miss USA pageant rigged? Contestants were so sure of it that they took to social media a day after R'Bonney Gabriel of Texas was crowned to accuse the organization of playing favorites. As reporters began to dig, a lot of suspicious activity was uncovered, a timeline of which is presented in this documentary.
The New York Times reporter Lauren Herstik leads the reporting on this hour-long special, which was directed by Nicole Rittenmeyer. One of the elements that I found most interesting was a brief overview of the history of beauty pageants in the United States. Miss America was first held in 1921 at the height of the women’s suffrage movement, borrowing the sashes worn by marchers as a way to identify each contestant’s state of origin. Miss USA was a midcentury offshoot that changed hands over the years, ultimately becoming a licensed operation by former Texas contestant and 2008 Miss USA winner Crystal Stewart. And as a part of the Miss Universe program, the winner of the pageant goes on to compete on the global stage.
While these types of pageants may seem frivolous at first glance, they provide a unique opportunity for women who otherwise aren’t given a platform. Oprah Winfrey is a perfect example, using the notoriety she attained from winning Miss Black Tennessee in 1972 to land her first reporting job, which opened the doors to endless possibilities. So if you came to “How to Fix a Pageant” thinking this would be a potentially frivolous true-crime story, the narrative quickly shuts those thoughts down.
(FX)
The big jaw-dropping interview featured in the special is with former Miss USA President Crystle Stewart, who finds herself at the center of the chaos surrounding the 2022 pageant. It’s her first time publicly taking questions about what happened, and it’s reserved for the end of the hour as the well-deserved climax. One former contestant under Crystle’s leadership, 2021’s Miss Michigan USA Taylor Hale, speaks to her experience the year prior as a direct comparison to two 2022 contestants – Miss Delaware USA Grace Lange and Miss District of Columbia USA Faith Porter. One of the judges, Kheylee Sanders, who also served as the pageant’s State Director under previous ownership from 2005 to 2013, also provides insight to what made 2022 so much different from the years before it.
The New York Times Presents has covered some really heavy material in the past about some truly serious crimes (“The Killing of Breonna Taylor," “Sin Eater: The Crimes Of Anthony Pellicano”). “How to Fix a Pageant” contains serious allegations, but it comes across as lighter in its tone in comparison. If you were a fan of episodes like "Who Gets to Be an Influencer?” and "Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson," this one’s for you. While entertaining and thought-provoking, it ultimately is unable to answer the question it poses: Was the 2022 Miss USA pageant rigged? “How to Fix a Pageant” presents the evidence, but you decide what to believe in the end.
The New York Times Presents “How to Fix a Pageant” premieres Friday, September 29th, at 10/9c on FX. The special will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.