Congratulations to Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt from Utah!

Commentary

Wisconsin equalled their previous highest placement from 1974, and recorded their first top five finish since then – and indeed only their third placement in those almost fifty years.   Pennsylvania’s third runner-up placement is their first top five spot since 2008 and their highest finish since Michele McDonald’s win in 1971.

Dr Samantha Gallia’s top 20 placement for Washington is the Evergreen state’s first placement since 2004. Washington also made the top 20 at Miss Teen USA, making this a record year for Washington. North Carolina has made the cut three years in a row, a first for them.  Connecticut placed back to back for the first time since the 1960s and Illinois has placed for four years in a row, for the first time since the 1980s.

Mackenzie Hinderberger and Kirby Elizabeth Self are both former Miss Teen USA contestants who competed alongside Alexis Loomans at Miss Teen USA 2018. Kirby was first runner-up at Miss USA and has now added a Miss USA semi-finalist spot to her resume. Josie Stephens and Jordyn McKey both competed together at Miss Louisiana USA before moving to North Carolina and Nevada respectively, and Mackenzie Hinderberger also has Louisiana roots and competed there as a Teen.

D & D Productions had two of their titleholders make the top 20 – Savena Mushinge and Derby Chuckwudi. Savena was raised in Zambia and Derby in Nigeria. There was some impressive diversity among the entire group of 51 contestants, not just in terms of diversity but in terms of where they were born and raised and having been fans of theirs since they were crowned I was thrilled to see Savena and Derby make the cut.

In addition to Texas and Pennsylvania both making the top five, California, District of Columbia, Illinois, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin placed at both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA this year.  This was the first time that DC made the cut at both pageants since 2001, and the first time for Washington since 1983, the very first year that Miss Teen USA was held!

Some other thoughts

The top 20 cut

There has been a lot of talk about the decision to run with a top 20-top five cut this year but I don’t mind it and honestly I’ve always thought that having all the semi-finalists competing in evening gown and swimsuit makes for a fairer competition. Some are stronger in evening gown, others are stronger in swimsuit and I think it’s better not to make an arbitrary cut after one section of competition. I recall at Miss USA 2014 feeling sad that 10 contestants got cut after swimsuit and didn’t get a chance to show off their gowns. Either way, you’re going to cut all but five contestants, but this way the judges get to see more of each of them. Let me know what you thought in the comments!

Wardrobe

The swimsuits themselves – I can see them being a little bit too much for some people but honestly, after last year I truly admire the vision to go a little Victoria’s Secret with the competition. I haven’t heard who sponsored them but again, I think Laylah has done well to pull this off with the tight timeframe and I can’t wait to see what happens over the next year. I also loved the opening number dresses for both the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contestants (but wish we’d seen a more elaborate opener and that the contestants got to shout out their names!).

Miss USA history

Oh and the Miss USA creed – from talking to Laylah shortly after she took over I was hoping to see more nods to the history of the Miss USA pageant but again, there’s only so much that can be done in seven weeks. The resurrection of the Creed was a simple throwback that had me feeling teary. Great move. I also loved seeing Ruth Zakarian invited to judge the Teen pageant for her 40th anniversary. We know from the contestants that there was a group swimsuit photo taken at the pool this year, I hope we get to see it! Another great bit of history that’s great to see (well, hopefully) resurrected.

Final thoughts

Finally, did anyone else feel like it was weird that Miss USA turned Miss Universe R’Bonney Gabriel wasn’t there? I can imagine it might have been a bit awkward but I’d kind of hoped people had moved past that after she won Miss Universe. I thought it was strange enough that she wasn’t at Miss Texas USA but I was expecting her Miss Universe win to be celebrated at Miss USA. Morgan Romano was gorgeous though – as always! – and it was great to see her highlighted so much. She’s done amazing things in the last six or so months.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the pageants properly yet – Australian problems (but shoutout to Brooke for the insta streaming!) – but from what I’ve seen, with the exception of one or two not-so-great comments the hosts for both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA appeared to actually know what they were doing this year which is a huge improvement over the cringe-fest that was the 2022 pageants.

All in all this felt like a pageant run by someone who cares (not to mention someone with the connections to pull this off so quickly) and that’s huge going forward. I’m really excited for this new era of Miss USA.