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Hooters -- the pageant juggernaut

All photos courtesy of Jim Gibson

From left, Chiann Fan Gibson, Miss Hooters International Michelle Nunes and Dovie Damen
From left, Chiann Fan Gibson, Miss Hooters International Michelle Nunes and Dovie Damen

Hooters, the casual restaurant company that became a global empire, has been involved in beauty contests for years. Since it is legendary for its waitresses in eye-popping outfits, pageants were a natural fit.

As readers know, we at PNB have covered the Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant numerous times. We've profiled some of the winners. And we've always celebrated the laidback attitude of the company, which doesn't mind making fun of itself.

And of course we knew that the pageant was big. We knew that the hour before the 2006 competition, Fox Sports Net's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" aired live from the pageant stage. We knew that the contest was televised live to every Hooters restaurant in the world. We had heard that a series of rebroadcasts of the 2005 pageant set ratings records.

The pageantThe pageantThe crowning

But frankly, we didn't realize what a phenomenon the Hooters pageant system was becoming --- not until a recent conversation with our friend Jim Gibson. He emceed, wrote and produced the 2006 finals in Las Vegas, and he told us it was the most impressive such event he had ever been associated with. He said it even brought him to tears. To tears?

The pageantThe pageantThe pageant
Gibson is not easily wowed. Over the past three decades he has emceed in every major pageant system. He knows everybody who is anybody in the worlds of pageants and modeling -- including us. He also happens to be married to one of the world's most gorgeous women, Dr. Chiann Fan Gibson, who until recently was Mrs. United States. When he started speaking in superlatives, we knew something was up.

So we talked to Hooters Vice President of Marketing Mike McNeil, one of the modest geniuses behind this extravaganza. He gave us a little history of the contest. It started, he said, as a way to glorify and reward the chain's famous purveyors of good cheer, the Hooters girls. Every one of Hooters' far-flung restaurants has a bevy of them -- smiling waitresses clad in low-cut T-shirts and bright orange short-shorts.
Emcee Jim Gibson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Emcee Jim Gibson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
rooke Burke (left) and Leeanne Tweeden
Above, Brooke Burke (left) and Leeann Tweeden were among the judges. At right, that Hooters image
 
That Hooters image
The pageant, McNeil said, has grown with the chain, which is now in 20 countries and recently opened a Las Vegas casino, the site of the 2006 pageant. But some things have not changed. Preliminaries are still held at local restaurants, and they are still open only to Hooters girls. No free-lance contestants, regardless of how beautiful they are or how much pageant experience they have.

And that's not the only way the Hooters people look after their own. McNeil explained why the contestants at the international finals don't parade onstage in their Hooters uniforms. "It would require another costume change," he said, noting that they already compete in gowns and swimsuits. With so many girls in the contest, another change would be too much of a hassle. Caring about the girls, what a novel concept! This is a champagne pageant with working-class values.

Hooters has another feature that pageant purists will applaud: The winner is crowned in a swimsuit. It sounds simple, but it's in the finest tradition of pageantry. And McNeil says it's a tradition that will continue.

Jim Gibson believes Hooters will be the next big thing in the pageant world. It may someday dominate the business, he said. As producer of the 2006 show, Gibson raved that he had never seen an organization so willing to do what it takes to put on a great show. "Anything I asked for, I got it," he said. "There were more celebrities than I've ever been around." (For Gibson, that's a remarkable statement.)

We agree with him that the fun-loving attitude and commitment to tradition are a powerful combination. There's something charmingly retro about seeing a beauty queen on a menu, as is the case with Michelle Nunes, Miss Hooters International 2006.

But what about the tears? What was it that made him cry?

"The incredible generosity," he told us. At the pageant in Vegas, Hooters presented a check for $135, 000 to former Hooters Calendar Cover Girl Kelly Jo Dowd, locked in an all-out battle with breast cancer. It also announced a $1 million breast cancer research grant in her name through the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Ms. Dowd was one of the first Hooters girls, and the magic of Hooters is that it's an empire that is still a family

"There wasn't a dry eye in the house" during the presentation, Gibson told us, "including mine." Maybe Hooters will rule the pageant world someday. Or maybe it just deserves to do so.

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