News
‘Miss America’ Rebrands In The #MeToo Era: Eliminates Swimsuit Competition & Wants To Be More “Inclusive”
The 97-year-old ‘Miss America’ pageant has made major changes, which will be seen on the upcoming September 9th broadcast of the competition on ABC. Gretchen Carlson, the current chairwoman of the organization, and the 1989 Miss America winner, and former news anchor, revealed the changes for ‘Miss America’ in the #MeToo era on Tuesday’s episode of Good Morning America.
The biggest being that the swimsuit competition has been axed. As well, according to Carlson, “We are no longer a pageant; we are a competition. We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance.” Instead of the swimsuit t competition, the contestants will take part in a “live interactive session with the judges” that will demonstrate their passion, intelligence, and overall understanding of the role of Miss America.
In addition, the evening gown competition will be revamped, where now women can wear an outfit of their choice. Something that makes them feel confident and expresses their personal style. The former Fox News anchor said, “It’s gonna be what comes out of their mouth that we’re interested in.“

Photo Credit: Getty Images
How this all came to pass: The Miss America Organization board of directors called upon former contestants to help recruit new leadership, after there was a scandal involving derogatory comments made against former contestants about their weight and looks.
Carlson also said, “We are now open, inclusive and transparent” and she wants to “inspire thousands of young people across this country to come and be a part of our program, because we want you, and we want to celebrate your accomplishments and your talents and then we want to hand you scholarships.”
As you know, Carlson settled a reported twenty-million dollar lawsuit against former Fox News chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes, after she accused him of sexual harassment. Thousands of women, according to Carlson, have been inspired to know they can stand up and speak and their voices will be heard since 22 months ago when she revealed her harassment by her employer.
Glad the swimsuits are gone from the ‘Miss America’ competition? Glad to know that the talent portion and what the contestants have to say about themselves and the issues of our time are most important, or are those staples also so dated? Do you think more young women will enter the program of different sizes, colors, and backgrounds, then the cookie-cutter look the old pageant-version has had for almost 10 decades? Do you think this is a positive step forward for young women to win scholarship money based on much more than their looks,? Comment below.
What does wearing a swimsuit have to do with the Me2 movement…i could care less if they remove that part or not…but whats it got to do with Me2…fully clothed women and even some men have been sexually harassed…why dont movies and some cable shows stop parading women in their all instead!!!
I’m glad! I cannot take the metoo movement too serious if we are trying to curtail sexual harassment in this country only to have women putting their assets out there on display! Take cover and show your intellectual talents. THATS sexy!
I am not too impress- these will still be beautiful physically fit young ladies competing — no matter how intelligent they are, they will be judged even unconsciously for their looks. I say when an brilliant 82 year old woman who is slightly overweight with facial hair and no teeth “wins” the competition” then the show has evolved.
As for eliminating the swimsuit competition, I think it will hurt ratings when shows like Victoria Secret Fashion Show and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue are highly consumed by the American public–no one tunes into these “competition” shows to see how smart these women are– so it is damn if you do and damn if you don’t–eventually these “competition” will go the way of the dinosaur –but all social change takes time and this is very small step toward that direction.
Can’t wait to watch them walk around in trench coats and try to put two words together. Gretchen Carlson is nothing but a air head isn’t she the fat leg one that wore the short skirts on camera with everything showing and then cried that she was being sexually harassed ? She received how many million from the law suit? Please ! Do away with it no one watches this stuff anymore.
It is a beauty pageant for gosh sakes not a IQ test please stop with I am woman hear me roar you sound stupid!
Amen, k/kay!!!!! I see this desperately grasping woman is still carrying that #MeToo chip on her shoulder despite making out like a bandit over her sexual harassment allegations which only miraculously surfaced when she discovered her contract with Fox had failed to be renewed. Now she’s spreading her feminist venom to the very Miss America organization which launched her so-so media presence in the first place! Rather ironic…as if parading around in a tasteful swimsuit is a big deal for an attractive woman, especially when you sadly see far more revealing stuff on the street each and every day!!! There is no such thing as personal modesty anymore…Additionally, nobody forced any of these femmes to take part in this pageant, hence if modeling certain fashions came as part of the bargain, so be it! Worked for decades on end and a lot of woman laughed all the way to the bank and on to successful careers because of such “exposure!”
Why is failed FAUX Noize host Gretchen Carlson trying to ruin the Miss America pageant? Is she still on the Cheeto payroll? (he still has a financial interest in the competing Miss Universe franchise as far as I know)
General Hospital
GH’s Dominic Zamprogna On How Dante Plans to Deal with Lulu and Rocco’s Cover-Up After Learning His Son Shot Cullum
By the end of the Friday May 8 episode of General Hospital, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) with the help of Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) put two and two and realized, that his son, Rocco (Finn Carr) is the person who shot WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) in the back, and was the person who Jason (Steve Burton) was protecting.
This revelation hits the police commissioner like a ton of bricks, especially when he realizes his ex-wife Lulu has been in on the secret and not telling him about it. So, where does Dante go from here? In a new conversation with Soap Opera Digest, multi-Daytime Emmy nominee, Dominic Zamprogna shared what viewers can expect.
Zamprogna expressed on Lulu and Rocco not coming to him for help, “He gets that the reason they probably didn’t want to tell him is because they’re worried that he’s too by the book, but this is his son! He has a lot of anger over them not telling him.”

Courtesy/ABC
KEPT IN THE DARK – COMING INTO THE LIGHT
Armed with the truth, Dante’s caught between a rock and a hard place, “This puts him in a situation where he’s potentially going to do things that he wouldn’t normally do, and that’s a big deal for him. Dante having to confront these people for lying to him is going to be good drama and conflict. There is huge emotional fallout from all of this. It has a big effect on his relationships.”
Next week, look for Lulu (Alexa Havins) to be the first-person Dante confronts, “Alexa is so good in those scenes. She is such a powerful actress. But as far as Dante and Lulu go, I could see it taking them a very long time to heal from this, because of her lack of transparency.”
A THANK YOU TO JASON
As far as what Jason did for his son, and how Sonny’s enforcer was grabbed by the WSB and sent away, Zamprogna knows Dante will have a lot of thanking to do, if and when they connect on-screen when Steve Burton returns from his hiatus this summer.”
“Like we needed another reason to love Jason,” Zamprogna scoff, but acknowledging how Dante “definitely (is) going to be owing Jason big-time when he gets back to town!”
So, the once happy family of Dante, Rocco and Lulu is about to fall apart, but can they all work together to keep Rocco safe? Just wait till Dante finds out that his buddy “Nathan” is really Cassius Faison (Ryan Paevey) ! Something tells me in the end he is going to save Lulu from the guy.
Now, let us know are you looking forward to Dante confronting Lulu and Rocco? How can he protect his son in his position as police commissioner? Will he just look the other way? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.
News
Tamara Braun Marks 25 Years in Soaps and Speaks to ‘Choices We Makes In Our Lives That Lead Us to Where We Are Presently’
Two-time Daytime Emmy winner, and beloved soap opera vet, Tamara Braun is celebrating 25 years in daytime television this month. While she made her official soap opera debut on General Hospital as Carly Corinthos on May 2, 2001, here we are 25 years later. and she is tearing it up now on The Young and the Restless in her latest soap incarnation as Sienna Bacall.
Now on Friday, May 8, Braun took to her Instagram and posted a highly-anticipated video in honor of her 25th anniversary of her beginnings in soaps. Sharing that life got busy and she wasn’t able to personally address the milestone till now, Tamara expressed some key words of wisdom: “All the choices we make in our lives, whether we think they were the right ones, the wrong ones, we would do things differently. Today, if we had known then what we know now, all of those choices, they lead us to where we are presently.”
With that, Tamara said she is going to start, “where I am presently with some memories from The Young and the Restless.” From there, the accomplished star shared a a montage of moments with her cast members including: Lucas Adams, Matt Cohen, Sharon Case, Nathan Owens, Roger Howarth, plus series head writer, Josh Griffith, Y&R publicist, Matt Kane, and many more.

Photo: JPI
GH FOUND THEIR NEXT CARLY
Before she came to Genoa City, Braun played GH’s Carly from 2001-2005. That was followed by a stint three years later in 2008 as Days of our Lives Ava Vitali, in which she won her first Daytime Emmy Award. Then later in 2008, she moved to New York City and joined the cast of All My Children in the role of Reese Williams and was a part of the groundbreaking same sex wedding between Reese and Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) and stayed with the show until 2009.
Later, in 2011, she came back to Days of our Lives in the short-lived role of Taylor Walker, Nicole’s sister. However, Braun was not done with DAYS when in fact she returned in 2015-2016 to reprise the role of Ava Vitali.
Tamara even made a return trip to General Hospital in 2017, but this time as a Dr. Kim Nero, since Carly was being played by Laura Wright for many years since Braun’s exit. She won her second Daytime Emmy for the final part of her run as Kim dealing with the aftermath of the death of her son, Oscar Nero. Tamara exited the show again in 2019.

Photo: JPI
GRATEFUL FOR ALL HER ROLES
Then, in 2020, it was the third go-round for Tamara as she returned once again to Salem and Days of our Lives, reprising Ava Vitali. She stayed with the show until 2024, and then it all lead to where we are today when it was announced in 2025 that Tamara was joining the A-list cast of the top-rated The Young and the Restless.
Accompanying her video post on the milestone, Braun wrote, “Happy Friday everyone! In honor of my 25 year anniversary of my start in daytime TV I thought I would begin with where my choice to say YES 25 years ago has brought me today. Having so much fun on The Young and the Restless. Grateful, Love Be Kind.”
Many of Tamara’s current Y&R co-stars jumped in her comment thread including: Courtney Hope, Nathan Owens, Sharon Case, Zuleyka Silver, and others in the daytime community including DAYS Paul Telfer, GH’s Cameron Mathison and more.
Share your congratulations to Tamara for her 25 years in daytime soaps in the comment section below, and then let us know, through all her various soap roles, which has been your favorite of hers through the years.
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News
Y&R Stars to Participate in Dramatic Reading of Romantic Novel, ‘She Wrote, He Wrote: A New York Love Story’
Authors, Ashley Wren Collins and Jordan Rockwell, have taken to the soaps to make the characters in their romance novel come to life in a dramatic reading featuring four stars from The Young and the Restless.
In their novel She Wrote, He Wrote: A New York Love Story, it follows the story of aspiring writer Joanna Peterson-Mills and finance scion Logan Thurgood when they meet a dinner party one autumn night in New York. A sidesplitting romp through their “Not-so Meet Cute” under the Manhattan skyline ensues as they navigate career and dating hijinks in the modern world.
Participating in the reading will be: Mark Grossman (Adam, Y&R) as Logan, Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea, Y&R) as Joanna with Michael Grazaidei (Daniel, Y&R) and Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe, Y&R) playing various other comedic roles in the story. In addition, Fritz Brekeller, the 2019 Daytime Emmy winner for Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series on One Life to Live and 2014 Daytime Emmy winner for Outstanding Directing Team for a Drama Series on The Young and the Restless directs.

Courtesy/Barnes&Noble
If you are in the Los Angeles area, circle Wednesday, May 20 for this unique dramatic reading followed by a Q&A and book signing at 7pm at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles.
This new romantic comedy is told from alternating perspectives features a lovable cast of characters: Joanna who’s balancing her flourishing writing career with her creepy boss and big city dreams from the cramped East Village walk-up she shares with two eccentric roommates, while Logan is determined to break away from the labels of his wealthy Connecticut family and forge a name for himself on Wall Street. As Joanna and Logan’s paths keep crossing and their stories unfold, one question remains: Can these two get out of their own way and find a happy ending together? Find out!
For those interested in attending you can purchase your tickets here
So, if you are in the Southern California area, might you want to check out the reading starring Mark Grossman, Melissa Claire Egan, Michael Graziadei, and Elizabeth Hendrickson? Let us know in the comment section.
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