Miss Carolina 2007’s response to question at Miss Teen USA is leaving people gobsmacked
A beauty pageant contestant's response to a question at Miss Teen USA 2007 is leaving people gobsmacked.
The woman in question is Caitlin Upton, who represented Miss Carolina in the competition all those years ago.
After making it to the top five frontrunners, she was shocked – but unfortunately nerves got the better of her, and she gave a truly baffling answer to a question that should've been relatively simple. Take a look:
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As is shown in the now-viral clip, the question was made by a guest judge, Friday Night Lights star Aimee Teegarden.
She asks: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?"
After a brief moment, Caitlin replies: "I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps."
She then goes into a word salad about 'education', 'the Iraq', 'South Africa' and 'Asian countries'.
In short, it was a bit of a disaster, and one that would launch Caitlin into online infamy for years to come.
Every year, the clip does the rounds on social media and once again drags up the embarrassing moment the beauty pageant contestant would most likely rather forget.
And 2022 is no different. Twitter page Historic Vids shared the answer on Twitter today (13 December), and it's safe to say people are gobsmacked.
"What???? Why did the audience clap to that nonsense?" wrote one, while another said, "I’m from South Carolina, and that was hard to watch. Wow."
A third quipped: "She’s a Republican in Congress now right? She must be? If she’s not, she will be shortly."
Others pointed to the apparent randomness to the countries she mentioned, including this person who said: "Iraq got caught in the crossfire lmao."
Another wrote: "Why did she drag South Africa into it?"
Not everyone joined in on the banter, however, with many pointing out that the now 33-year-old was only a teenager when she took part in the pageant and was under immense pressure.
As said by one Twitter user: "I know it’s easy to make fun of this and I got a chuckle out of a lot of these comments, but she’s probably close to 30 now and I hope she’s over that humiliation and is happy where she is today."
A second chimed in: "Imagine being judged for life for your worst 30 seconds under pressure. Hope she's doing alright now."
Thankfully, Caitlin had the opportunity to share her piece in a 2021 interview with Access Daily, where she spoke about the experience alongside Mario Lopez, who hosted the event in 2007.
"I got to the Top 5 and I was surprised, out of all those beautiful women," she said.
"You [Mario] and I were conversating beforehand and you asked me a question, so I actually assumed that the question you asked me, which was ‘what’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken or something like that’, which I nailed by the way.
"And then you were like reach in here and pull out a name, and I’m like 'OK', and so I go and do that.
"And I’m just aloof and kind of confused as to what was going on, because none of that was practiced in rehearsal.
"I wasn’t told of it... no one ever talked about it, and so I was just completely caught off-guard."
Daisy Phillipson