Miss America's survival may
hinge on getting down, dirty

updated 12:27 p.m. ET April 24, 2005

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - How about Miss Arkansas in a cat fight with Miss Texas? Or Miss Alaska plotting with Miss Tennessee to get Miss Maine voted off the runway? Or a swimsuit contest featuring bikini-clad women walking the runway while covered in leeches?

For Miss America, such scenarios would’ve been unthinkable once — when all it took to win was a fetching smile, a modicum of talent and a tight swimsuit.

But Miss America’s in for an extreme makeover.

Dropped by two networks as a ratings loser, the pageant is desperately in need of a lifeline of its own, apparently ready to shuck its squeaky-clean demeanor in favor of the snarky negativity that fuels reality TV.

The pageant has reluctantly embraced the craze in recent years, tweaking its age-old formula by adding a pop quiz, curtailing the talent competition and interviewing contestants backstage — to no avail.

There is more urgency now, though. Cast off by ABC after a record-low 9.8 million people tuned in for last September’s pageant, Miss America is without a TV outlet for the first time in 50 years and is facing the prospect of having no pageant at all in 2005.

Miss America officials, who have hired talent agency William Morris and made several trips to California to pitch TV producers and executives in recent months, declined repeated requests for comment on the status of their hunt for a new spot on the dial.

“What we are proposing out in Los Angeles is that we open up the sacred doors of Miss America,” Miss America Organization CEO Art McMaster recently told The New York Times.

Strong stomachs and poise and grace
Whether the pageant is ready to resort to “Fear Factor”-inspired gross-outs, “Survivor”-style conniving or week-to-week eliminations a la “American Idol” remains to be seen. If the fates of rival Miss USA are any indication, though, future contestants may need strong stomachs more than singing ability.

In a “Fear Factor Miss USA” that aired before the Miss USA pageant earlier this month, five bikini-wearing contestants had 55-gallon drums of live worms, fish and fish oil dumped on them during one stunt.

Is that the future of Miss America?

“Oh, God, I hope not,” said Bob Arnhym, who runs the Miss California Scholarship Pageant.

“I think the audience that watches reality TV has a coliseum mentality. They are cheering for the lion, not the gladiator. I don’t know at what price we’re prepared to pander to that audience. But anything that is degrading to them, or humiliating, or holds them up to public ridicule, none of those things are going to be acceptable,” he said.