Four of the Most Cringe-Worthy Pageant Moments Ever

If there was a Miss America Pageant Handbook (which, lets be real, there probably already is) - after hair spraying the soles of your shoes and making sure to always coat your teeth in Vaseline - the next most important rule of order would be to study up on current events for the question and answer segment.

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While many contestants excel in this area, like this years' winner who blew the judges away with her answer about women in combat. Unfortunately, some contestants miss that memo which becomes apparent as a look of sheer bewilderment shadows their faces when asked about anything apart from world peace.

Of course, last year it was the host who made the biggest blunder, when he crowned the wrong Miss Universe contestant and had to decrown her on the spot. But, these questionable pageant moments come startlingly close in the blunder stakes.

So if you’re doubting your intelligence today and need a quick pick-me-up, read on (save the girl who’s bikini came off, that’s just sheer bad luck).

Beauty > Brains

Jeanie Anderson did herself no favours in 2001 when asked the age old question (with a seemingly straightforward PC answer) whether it would be better to be beautiful or smart. Jeannie, of course, chose beautiful, because it's, like, totally natural.

Her answer ironically didn’t really make sense, but who needs brains when you look like that (well, if you’re asking Jeanie, anyway)?

“Because to be beautiful, it’s natural,” she answered. “But being smart, you can learn, um, a lot of things, you can learn from a lot things to be smart.”

Dug your own grave there, mate.

Miss Guarico’s Crotchgate

Sure we’ve seen nip slips aplenty, everywhere from the Superbowl to the Milan fashion week, but vay-jay-jay slips – not so common.

Unfortunately for Miss Guarico, a Miss Venezuela hopeful, she was on the receiving end of the unusual wardrobe malfunction. Fortunately for Miss Guarico, she’d had a pre-pageant wax.

And thanks to that little invention called the Internet, her private places have been viewed across the globe nearly two million times.

If that’s not a lesson to double tie your bikini bottoms next time ladies, we don’t know what is.

Miss California Invents A New Vaccine

It’s called Euthanasia. Confused? Yeah, we were too. In a pre-pageant interview Miss California 2012 was asked about her view on euthanasia. Her answer? Priceless.

"That’s one of the things I’m not educated on so I need to look up on what that means … but I do know that’s a vaccine.”

The temptation to say something very harsh is just too strong so we’re gonna back away slowly.

Hawaii = America… Right?

Hopefully, anyone who’s made it past the age of ten knows that the country of America is made up of a vast amount of states. New York, California, Hawaii – these all ring a bell, right? Yep, thought so.

Now, you might not know the exact amount of states (it’s 50), which is fine. But, one would think, if you were American and lived in the United States, surely you’d know that your country isn’t solely made up of the islands of Hawaii?

Apparently not, when Miss Hawaii 1992 was asked about why she’s proud to be American she had this pearler to say; "We are truly the land of the great. From the rocky shores of ... Hawaii...to the beautiful sandy beaches of ... Hawaii ... America is our home."

Now, we’re not sure if Nadine’s simply a genius giving her home state an extra plug or if she genuinely believes Hawaii = America.