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Kristen Dalton Wins Miss USA 2009, Carrie Prejean Gets Spotlight

by Tina Kells | April 20, 2009 at 07:40 am

1175 views | 10 Recommendations | 1 comment

Kristen Dalton was crowned the Miss USA 2009 on the 58th Annual Miss USA Pageant which aired Sunday, April 19, 2009. The blonde haired blue eyed Miss North Carolina took home the crown and will now represent the USA in the Miss Universe Pageant to be held in August in the Bahamas.

In what some view to be a controversial upset Kristen Dalton beat out Miss California, Carrie Prejean to take home the Miss America 2009 title and associated goody bag. Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton will get a free New York City apartment, a unstated salary, a two-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy and her own PR manager.

Many felt Miss California Carrie Prejean, the sunny girl with a smile to match, would take home the title and blame a politically sensitive question by judge Perez Hilton for costing her the crown. Critics say the question was difficult and that Prejean was unfairly blindsided while supporters feel gay marriage is a topic Miss California should understand well, even if she doesn't support it.

Luckily Kristen Dalton's PR manager won't have to undo any pageant faux-pas or politically incorrect nightmares for Miss America 2009. Although much less controversial than Prejean's anti-gay marriage opinion, both Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart and Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith had pageant night nightmares of their own.

Both Crystel Stewart and Rachel Smith slipped on their evening gowns and fell on stage. Video footage of the slips went viral online and still live as popular clips on YouTube to this day.

Amid all the smiling perfection that was on display during the 58th annual Miss USA pageant Sunday night, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton managed to stand out from the crowd and snare the sparkly crown, passed on by outgoing Miss USA Crystle Stewart.

Miss West Virginia Jessi Pierson was named Miss Photogenic; Miss Wyoming Cynthia Pate landed the Miss Congeniality title.

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Jessi (not verified)

at 12:03 on May 13th, 2009

I think amidst any controversy there will be speculation on whether or not the crown went to the right person, but really, Prejean would have been scored the same regardless of the media coverage. And if they revoked the crown and gave it to Prejean, that would seem just as unfair.

And then there are those videos...

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