A deep dive Kate put together last minute about the controversy surrounding the Miss USA pageant late last week when contestants claimed the pageant was "rigged" and/or a product of overt favoritism toward Miss Texas. Insisting she was mostly disinterested, Kate dipped her toe in, then managed to spend the whole weekend researching history, and lore, thinking about her own memories watching, all while developing an incredibly lukewarm take on a topic she knows very little about and isn't totally sure if she should support.
In this chaotic episode Kate recalls covering the following:
A breakdown of the Miss USA drama
An appropriate reading from pop culture scripture: Chapter: Miss SC, Verse 2007
Kate asks questions about the ethics of favoritism, while clearly implying favoritism almost the entire episode
Tugboat eats a cup of Ranch by accident
Research about the historical context of women’s exploitation for sport that she kind of hates but would’ve wholeheartedly done for validation
An overview of the history of pageants in the U.S. and all the many ways we never stood a chance
Greg interrupts for more IVF shots, Kate gets in bad mood
Then maybe blames Molly McIntyre’s performance in the only pageant that matters (Miss Victory) for the downfall of women
Somehow Pretty Pretty Princess gets dragged into it
There’s still some leftover anger toward children doing a little too much food prep under age 3 on Tiktok
Various catchphrases for influencer pipelines that are the hottest launchpads to stardom
Kate imagines (hallucinates?) a Jovani insurrection if the vote was stolen
And so much more!
Fortunately, a second episode featuring an interview with a BTI5 listener/former pageant participant/former employee in the corporate pageant system will be released in the coming days, likely early released on Patreon, this was a last-minute topic choice so thanks for your patience as we align it with the broadcast calendar!
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