Former Miss America 'hopeful' as competition scraps swimsuit portion

The Miss America Organization says it is no longer judging contestants by their looks. 

Today, the organization's chairwoman, Gretchen Carlson, announced that the swimsuit part of the competition will be scrapped. The focus will turn to contestants' achievements and goals. And the event's evening gown competition will also be revamped. 

Organizers say Miss America will now be a competition, not a pageant. 

Mallory Hagan won the Miss America title in 2013. She spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about why she's hopeful for the new changes made to the competition. 

Ms. Hagan, what do you think of these changes as a former Miss America?

I'm really excited about these changes. I don't think a lot of people realize that contractually, as Miss America throughout your year of service, you're not allowed to appear in a swimsuit in advertisements in any modelling sense. [It] just makes a whole lot of sense to not require the young women participating to wear a swimsuit on stage if it's not something that they can do throughout the year with the job that they're applying for. 

Why does it exist at all or why has it? You were Miss New York in 2012, you were Miss America in 2013. When you had to do the walk wearing a bikini and a pair of high heels, how did you feel about that? 

Miss America started out as a swimsuit competition on the boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1921. And initially, it was a gimmick to get people to continue travelling to Atlantic City a couple of weeks after Labour Day. It of course evolved over the years.

I personally struggled with the swimsuit portion of the competition and it was a means to getting the job that I wanted. But it didn't make a whole lot of sense for that to be a means to the job that I wanted, if I wasn't going to wear a swimsuit while doing the job. 

Did you find it demeaning to do this swimsuit portion of the show?

I never did, actually. I found that to be a lot of fun while I was on stage and I did feel very empowered by learning how to eat and exercise effectively. I just don't think you need to be in a swimsuit in order to see that someone is physically fit or healthy. 

Senior people in the Miss America Organization were forced to leave the organization last year because of a Huffington Post article showing emails they had written, some of them about you ... very vulgar, body-shaming things. When you learned that the CEO of Miss America and other people were talking about you in that way, how did you react?

Well, it wasn't surprising to me. They have been doing that behind the scenes for the last four years or so. They sort of weaponized the Miss America Organization against me and ostracized me from it and threatened to ostracize other people if they had interactions or contact with me. So, it didn't surprise me ... but it was really validating for other people to know and be able to see with their own eyes in black and white that I wasn't lying. 

There's a new chairperson, Gretchen Carlson, whom people remember as the woman who took on Fox News chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment and won. She's a spokesperson for the #MeToo movement as well. What impact do you think that she and others who've replaced the previous leadership will have on the Miss America pageant?

I think the way that it's going to change the most is that the decisions being made for the contestants and the people participating will be by people who have actually done the job that they're trying to get. So, the people who are on the board of directors are former state title holders, they are former Miss Americas and therefore they understand the experience from a holistic standpoint.

It is far more empowering to see young women leaders than it is to see young women in bikinis.- Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013

We now see that there will be no swimsuits and they're even changing the requirement for the gown. How different will the Miss America pageant look in the next iteration?

I think it's going to be really different.

It's time for Miss America to evolve. I genuinely hope that before people freak out about it, they'll give it a chance, that they really tune in and they check out what these young women do in their communities ... because to me, it is far more empowering to see young women leaders than it is to see young women in bikinis.

There are people who'll be freaking out about these changes because they seem to be breaking with tradition. Are there not a lot of people who wonder if the Miss America pageant is in itself an anachronism? I mean, there are things about it that are quite outdated in general.

We have to balance public perception with our internal perception of what this organization is and what it stands for. 

Since we have added a 10-minute long interview — the press conference style interview — Miss America is won in the interview room. And that's what's wrong with public perception. People outside, the people who watch the telecast, they don't see that. We work very hard for that title and we work very hard for that interview. So we got to do a better job of showing people that that's really what counts. 

This Q&A has been edited and condensed. Written by Samantha Lui and Donya Ziaee. Interview was produced by Donya Ziaee.