Pageant News Bureau

Veteran master of ceremonies Bob Barker was inducted into the Academy of Television and Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame on June 26, 2004. Barker, 80, is the longtime host of "The Price Is Right," a phenomenally successful game show that features many beautiful models from the pageant world. He was for several years the host of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, but broke with the organization over its refusal to boycott furs. He is a staunch animal rights activist.

Internationally known glamour fitness trainer Mike Fifrick married Jeniwati "Jeni" Ampualam on June 26, 2004. Fifrick is author of the book "Better Bodies for Beauties" and a former judge at the Miss World Pageant. The bride, a native of Indonesia, is in the computer field and has no known connection to the pageant business.

Actress and former Miss Illinois Jeri Ryan has unintentionally played a part in sinking the political ambitions of former husband Jack Ryan. Mr. Ryan, who was vying for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Illinois, dropped out on June 25, 2004, after a judge released details of allegations made during the couple's divorce. Ms. Ryan – who as Jeri Lynn Zimmerman was third runner-up to Miss America 1990, Debbye Turner – alleged in the documents that Mr. Ryan sought to be intimate with her in public at a "sex club." She apparently did not allege anything involving infidelity. Mr. Ryan denied the allegations, but said his reputation had been hurt too badly for him to continue. Polls had shown him running behind in the race before the disclosure. Ms. Ryan, like her former husband, had resisted the release of the divorce records, but a California judge refused to keep them secret.

Wendy Sledd, the reigning Mrs. District of Columbia (American International) was grand marshal at the D.C. Caribbean Carnival Parade on June 26, 2004.

Miss Honduras 2002, Ericka Ramirez, 19, has been found guilty of slandering former pageant director Eduardo Zablah. A court ordered community service, then suspended the sentence, but the conviction does deprive her of some civic privileges. Zablah took strong exception to her claims in 2002 that he had sexually harassed her and discriminated against her because of her African heritage. Her civil suit against him is pending.

Coronation, Inc. has announced that the "Spirit of India" group, producers of Mr. and Miss India America, Mr. and Miss India California, Mr. and Miss India East Coast and Mr. and Miss India West Coast, have joined the Galaxy Pageant family. The Miss India Galaxy Pageant will lead to the Miss Galaxy 2005 International Finals. Jinder Chohan is the creator of Mr. and Miss India Pageants.

Rechel Durham has been named director for the Mrs. Maryland United States Pageant. She also directs the Mrs. Delaware United States Pageant.

TV newscaster, beauty queen and pageant enthusiast Shawn Cunningham has started a "pageant service club" called the Ms America Ambassador Group. She emphasizes that it is not a competition but a chance for queens from various systems to work together to promote their platforms in their communities.

Former Miss Texas Teen USA and Miss Teen USA 1996 Christie Woods has been chosen for the summer 2004 edition of the reality show "Amazing Race." Also in the cast is Miss Texas USA 2003, Nicole O'Brien.

Singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, 34, and salsa singer Marc Anthony (Marco Antonio Muniz), 35, married on June 5, 2004, only four days after his divorce from Miss Universe 1993, Dayanara Torres Delgado. This is Ms. Lopez's third marriage, Anthony's second. Anthony and Ms. Torres wed in a civil ceremony on May 10, 2000, in Las Vegas. Early in 2002, they were reported to have separated, but they reconciled and had a lavish Catholic wedding in Puerto Rico, which both call home, on Dec. 7, 2002. They have two children. They appeared together as judges at the 2001 Miss Universe Pageant in Puerto Rico. Ms. Lopez's off-and-on engagement to actor Ben Affleck was the talk of the entertainment media for much of 2003.

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The May/June 2004 issue of Inventor's Digest contains a story titled "Mother Knows Best," which features Mrs. United States 1993, Melanie Patterson. She is the inventor of PIBS - The Disposable Bib on a Roll. She was selected in October 2003 to participate in Oprah's First Millionaire Idea Challenge.
Model and beauty queen Meredith Boyd, whose titles include Mrs. Georgia United States, appears on the cover of the 2004 annual fashion issue of Supermodels Unlimited magazine. She will be featured in the magazine modeling swimsuits, sunglasses and shoes. She also appears in the June 2004 issue of The Season magazine. In addition, the former PNB cover girl will soon be seen in a journalistic publication's article about Gerdeen Dyer, the newspaperman who is founding editor of PNB.

Pageant impresario Peter Elias has been awarded the Miss Universe franchise for Trinidad and Tobago. The CCN Group, which had owned the franchise, recently decided to relinquish it to pursue other enterprises. Elias' committee includes Alyson Brown, Adrian Raymond, Michelle Khan, Jacqueline Hadeed and Kama Maharaj.

Miss Royal Teen America 2004, Laura Corlin of Strafford, N.H., a junior at Coe Brown Northwood Academy, has been chosen as a member of the SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Student Leadership Council for the year 2004-2005. A panel of leaders in the field chose 14 youth from applicants from across the United States to service as council members. During the past year, she participated in the New Hampshire SADD Leadership Council with the New Hampshire Teen Institute of Concord, N.H.

Crowning Achievements has confirmed that J.D. Adams of "American Idol" fame will appear as the special guest at the 2004 National American Queen Pageant taking place on the Carnival ship "Pride" Aug. 1-8, 2004. He was one of the most popular "American Idol" finalists during Season Two of the show.

Ana Rosa Brito Suarez-Fuertes, Miss Puerto Rico 1996-1997, and Alberto Fuertes Bachman are the parents of a new baby girl. Ana Beatriz Fuerte Brito was born on May 18, 2004, in Santurce, Puerto Rico.

Teri (Bollinger) Aguiar, who was Miss Illinois Teen USA 1990 and Miss Missouri USA 1999, and her husband, veteran NFL punter Louie Aguiar welcomed their first child, Alexa Rae "Lexi" Aguiar, on Feb. 23, 2004.

Former Miss USA Ali Landry reportedly split with her husband, actor Mario Lopez, in May 2004 after only 18 days of marriage.

Olive May Davis Osmond, the matriarch of the famed Osmond singing and entertainment family, died on Mother's Day, May 9, 2004 in Provo, Utah. A family spokesman said she died from complications of a massive stroke from two years earlier. Among her nine children and 55 grandchildren are almost too many entertainers to count. Her son and daughter Donnie and Marie Osmond, who have had their own variety show and their own talk show, were hosts of the annual Miss America Pageant (1999-2000). Her granddaughter, Amy Kathlyn Osmond, was Utah's Junior Miss and America's Junior Miss in 1994. Mrs. Osmond, an Idaho-born fashion designer, leaves behind her husband of 60 years, George V. Osmond, and their children and grandchildren.

Former Miss America Kellye Cash, a well-known Christian singer, will perform "Kellye Cash in Concert" at 8 p.m. on May 14, 2004, at the Mainstage at the Playhouse in Cumberland County, Tenn. She is from Tennessee and is a member of the famous Cash family, which included the late Johnny Cash.

Latin pop star Jade Esteban Estrada and pop legend Brenda K. Starr will be honorary hosts of the 9th Annual Miss National Puerto Rican Day Parade Queen Pageant 2004 at 6:00 p.m. on May 15, 2004, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium at 122 Amsterdam Ave. in New York City. Estrada rose to fame in the Latin pop world with the hit single "Bella Morena" in 2001 and is currently featured on the award-winning police drama "The Shield." Genre Magazine has called him "the Prince of Pageantry" as a result of his hand in some of the most famous beauty pageants in the world.

TV alert

Gretchen Carlson, Miss America 1989, is scheduled to appear on the game show "Jeopardy" on May 13, 2004.
Former PNB cover girl Erika Valdez will be a "Price Is Right" hostess during parts of May 2004. Former Miss Teen USA and Miss USA Brandi Sherwood also will appear in that general time frame.

Miss Universe Inc. co-owner Donald Trump announced his engagement to his girlfriend, model Melanie Knauss, during the last week of April 2004. Trump, a flamboyant billionaire, was previously married to model Ivana Trump and one-time beauty queen Marla Maples.

Tori Carter, the reigning Miss Colorado Teen USA, broke the 3000-meter Steeplechase Freshman School record at the University of Southern California on May 1, 2004. The former PNB cover girl (and PNB correspondent) also met the qualifying standard for the Jr. World Championships in Grossetto, Italy, scheduled for late July 2004. She runs cross-country and middle distance in track and field for USC. She is finishing her freshman year there, majoring in Cinema/Television, and is soon to add broadcast journalism as a major. She is in for a busy summer in 2004.

Former Miss America Kate Shindle will play Helena in an Off-Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from May 20 to June 6, 2004, at the Storm Theatre in New York.

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The May 2004 issue of Maxim magazine has a story titled "Joe Mama," about Larissa Meek, the former Miss Missouri USA who was on "Average Joe II." A brief Q&A is included.

Final plans are being made for ABC-TV to film the upcoming New England Regional American Queen Pageant for a future episode of "Switched." The New England Regional American Queen Pageant will take place on May 16, 2004, in the Hartford, Conn., area.

TV host, producer and rock 'n' roll broadcasting legend Dick Clark, a former Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageant host (1990-1993), has announced that he has Type-2 diabetes. Clark broke the news to Larry King on CNN on April 16, 2004. Clark, 74, also hosted the Miss Teen USA Pageant in 1988, 1991 and 1992. He has been a major figure in American show business since the mid-1950s, when he became host of the nationwide rock 'n' roll program "American Bandstand" while still in his 20s. The program ran for decades and had enormous influence on American pop music. Clark is widely viewed as an informal rock historian, and since the 1980s has become something of a legend for his youthful appearance.

Miss USA 1996, Ali Landry, 30, plans to wed actor Mario Lopez, 30, in Mexico on April 24, 2004.

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Miss America 2004, Ericka Yolanda Dunlap, of Orlando, is featured on the cover and in a two-page story spread in the bi-monthly magazine "Young Money." The March-April 2004 issue contains a "question-and-answer" article telling of Ms. Dunlap's experiences as Miss America and her being the first black Miss Florida. It can be found in most campus newspapers and libraries in the United States.

TV alert

Miss Hawaii USA 2000, Michelle Jacqueline Kaplan, 27, formerly of Kona, Hawaii, will appear on "A Dating Story" on April 12, 2004, on The Learning Channel. The 30-minute program, in which she meets surfer "Chad," airs at 11:30 a.m, EDT / 10:30 a.m CDT. The former residential concierge official was named Miss Congeniality at the 2000 Miss USA Pageant in Branson, Mo.

Six Miss USA contestants will appear on NBC's "Fear Factor" just prior to the live telecast of the 2004 Miss USA Pageant. At 9 p.m. EDT, the live telecast of the 2004 Miss USA Pageant will air on NBC from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. This marks the first time in the history of the pageant that it will be staged in April. Miss South Carolina 1987, Nancy Evelyn Humphries O'Dell will co-host the pageant along with Billy Bush. The new Miss USA will advance to the 2004 Miss Universe Pageant in June in Quito, Ecuador.

The 2004 Miss USA Pageant will be featured on NBC's "Today" program on April 12, 2004. "Inside Edition," a syndicated entertainment program, will air highlights of the 53rd annual pageant during it's April 13, 2004, episode. The newly crowned Miss USA 2004 will be a guest on "The Best Damn Sports Show" on the Fox Sports Network. She will meet up with actress and former Miss USA 1985 Laura Elena Martinez-Herring (now Harring) along with race car driver Matthew Kenseth, and former Miss USA judge and football star Eric Dickerson. The hour-long program, which is co-hosted by 2004 Miss USA Pageant judge John Salley, airs April 14, 2004, at 10:30 p.m. EDT / 9:30 pm CDT, with re-airings at midnight EDT and 8 a.m. EDT on April 15. Check local listings for channels in your area. The new pageant winner will also appear on "Live with Regis & Kelly" in New York City on April 16. Check local listings.
The MTV "MADE" episode starring Miss Galaxy 2004, Gina Ferrer, will air on April 14, 2004, at 10 p.m. EDT (9 p.m. EDT).

Leslie Sale, Miss Pageant.com, has received her certification as a fitness instructor by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, and is now accepting individual clients. Based in Alabama, she is also a certified nutritional consultant. In addition, she is known as a skilled makeup artist, hairstylist and pageant judge. She can be contacted through www.pageant.com.

Actress Hilary Kennedy, a former beauty queen and PNB cover girl, has been hired as the Dallas Stars' first female Entertainment Host. At every one of the hockey team's home games, she can be seen on the Pro-Star giving important game night information, or on the ice facilitating audience participation games. She is one of the few female entertainment hosts in the National Hockey League, and the first woman to hold the Dallas job. PNB plans a feature on Ms. Kennedy in the near future.

Former Miss North Carolina Rebekah Revels has been awarded $11,000 in her suit against former boyfriend Tosh Welch, whose topless photos of her led pageant officials to take away her crown. Ms. Revels, who contended the pictures were taken without her cooperation, lost her right to compete at Miss America, though she later fought unsuccessfully to gain the right back. The same year, she competed at Miss World.

April Cowart, PNB photographer Benjamin Gibbs' "Face of Summer" for 2003, is the featured girl in the duo Blue County's video "Good Little Girls," now playing on GAC.

Holly Ernst, Mrs. Minnesota International 2003, announced on March 21, 2004, during the pageant in which she handed over her crown to her successor, that she and her husband, Matt, are expecting their first child in November 2004.

Angela Stevens, Mrs. Atlantic Coast Galaxy 2002, has been added to the list of hopefuls to appear on the new ABC-TV reality show "The Swap." Coronation, Inc. officials indicate that the producers were looking for additional pageant families to consider, especially African-American pageant families. Mrs. Stevens was recommended and has now passed the second level of screening by submitting a videotape of her home and family life.

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The April 2004 issue of Ebony magazine contains a feature on "Black College Queens."

PNB offstage archive