The Miss USA contestants were grilled on Sunday night about various pressing societal issues ranging from sexual assault to the controversy surrounding Bowe Bergdahl, because that’s what beauty pageants are all about.
While these questions would be tricky for average Americans to answer, the contestants were at least semi-prepared for the barrage of topical inquiries and awkward prompts.
Here are five of the most challenging questions during the Q&A segment of the competition.
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1. Melissa Peterman questioned Miss Iowa, Carlyn Bradarich, about narcissism in today’s youth.
“A recent story in the New York Times said that narcissism is an epidemic, suggesting that America’s youth is turning into a hyper-entitled, self-absorbed generation,” she said sweetly. “Do you agree? Why or why not?”
“I actually do agree with that,” Miss Iowa replied. “I think social media and technology has allowed the youth to post pictures of themselves and videos of themselves. That kinda, to me, seems narcissistic.”
2. Miss North Dakota, Audra Mari, was asked by Allie LaForce about the importance of higher education.
“It’s so challenging these days to get a job whether you have a college degree or not, so in light of this and the soaring costs of higher education, do you think going to college is relevant?” asked LaForce.
“I do think that going to college is relevant at this point,” Mari replied. “I know my parents’ generation — there’s a lot of people who are extremely successful who never did get a college degree, but in this day and age I know it’s extremely hard to get a job even after four years of college, so I do think it is extremely to go an get your education and I guess further your education after high school.”
3. Rumer Willis asked Miss Nevada, Nia Sanchez, why sexual assaults on college campuses have been swept under the rug for so long.
“I believe that some colleges may potentially be afraid of having a bad reputation and that would be a reason it could be swept under the rug, because they don’t want that to come out into the public,” Sanchez said. “But I think more awareness is very important so women can learn how to protect themselves. Myself, as a fourth-degree black belt, I learned from a young age that you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself. And I think that’s something that we should start to really implement for a lot of women.”
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4. “Sharknado” star Ian Ziering asked Miss Louisiana, Brittany Guidry, about the recent Bowe Bergdahl controversy.
“In recent weeks the U.S. has released five detainees from Guantanamo in exchange for one U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan,” Ziering helpfully informed the nation. “The U.S. policy is to leave no soldier behind. Do you think its fair to sacrifice or swap lives in order to uphold this policy?”
“I am glad that we got our guy back,” she said. “However, I do not feel it is right that we subject ourself to these acts of terrorism. I do agree with our guy being back but, however, I do not think that we should subject ourselves.”
5. Karl Malone asked Miss Georgia, Tiana Griggs, if she had 30 seconds to say anything to our political leaders, what would she say.
“I say that we should lead our country by faith,” Griggs replied. “For me, I know that when I go to bed at night I pray for my family as well as the leaders of the country. I think if we pull together and work together, we are able to make more of a difference than setting ourselves apart. That’s what I would say.”
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