Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Secrets Of Miss America is a four-part docuseries that examines the dark side of the Miss America Pageant and organization, which has been in operation for over 100 years. Over 20 former winners are interviewed for the series, along with former members of the organization.
SECRETS OF MISS AMERICA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “Miss America has always represented the American dream,” a voice says as we see various scenes of contestants at the iconic pageant.
The Gist: The first episode dives into the scandal that caused the 2017 resignation of CEO Sam Haskell and other members of the board. Interviews with Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013, and other winners that came after her paint a complex picture of Haskell. He is credited with bringing the pageant back into relevance in the early 2000s, especially after ratings tanked and its last network home at ABC dropped the ceremony. But the winners that were interviewed also showed that Haskell was extraordinarily controlling and spoke poorly of various winners behind their backs.
In Hagan’s case, she felt that she was a member of Haskell’s family, that’s how close she had gotten to the CEO during her reign. But when she started a relationship with Brent Adams, Haskell’s assistant, Adams started hearing from Haskell that Hagan was “trash” and other things that were much worse. It got to the point where Adams had to choose between his job and his relationship, as Hagan needed to get away from Haskell’s toxicity. Hagan also found out that Haskell had sunk her chances to host shows like Dancing With The Stars and killed the burgeoning pageant coaching business she started with fellow former Miss New York Claire Buffie.
After Adams left the Miss America organization (he returned in 2018 as a VP of marketing, leaving again in 2022), he leaked emails Haskell sent that body-shamed and slut-shamed Haskell as well as other former winners, among other denigrations.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Secrets Of Miss America is made by the same producers as Secrets Of Playboy, which will soon enter its second season. There will also be a series called Secrets Of Penthouse.
Our Take: We’re certainly not pageant-heads of any sort; we can’t even remember the last time we watched even a moment of Miss America or any other televised pageant. But we’re still fascinated by how cruel and controlling the pageant-industrial complex can be, and how its participants — and especially its winners — suffer from mental health issues, eating disorders, and other problems. Secrets Of Miss America brings that dark side to the forefront, and shows that things are even worse than any casual observer of the pageant system may have imagined.
The four parts do seem like they’ll concentrate on the more recent years of the pageant, with episodes focusing on how they’ve dealt with contestants’ mental health issues, the controversy over the swimsuit competition, and racism throughout the pageant’s history. The racism episode may reach back a bit farther than the past 20 years, given how the whole Vanessa Williams controversy defined the pageant in the 1980s, but the other three do feel like they’ll be about more recent history.
Either way, it’s amazing to us that a system that has felt antiquated and misogynistic for at least the last 40 years can still operate in the same antiquated, controlling and misogynistic ways in the 21st century, only to be called on it in the past decade. That’s the takeaway from the first episode; for all the good he did for the pageant to bring it back to relevance, Haskell seemed to wield too much control and inflated the importance of Miss America way too much. Instead of treating the contestants and the winners like the ambassadors they were, he treated them like an abusive spouse. The fact that he was able to get away with it for so long is what blew our minds more than anything else.
What the swimsuit episode is going to reveal is the tough time Gretchen Carlson, a former winner who took over as chairman after the resignations of Haskell and others, had trying to reform the pageant beyond the traditional elements that have been in place for over a century. Given that she only lasted a year in the role, it’ll be an interesting picture of an organization that is extremely resistant to change, no matter how desperately it needs to evolve in order to stay relevant.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Susan Powell, Miss America 1981, says about Carlson’s tumultuous time as chairman, “If I had known what was to come, I would have thrown my phone into the Hudson River.”
Sleeper Star: Molly Hagan is definitely the standout in this episode, if only because of the strength she shows in striking back at what seemed like an impossible situation with Haskell.
Most Pilot-y Line: There seemed to be a bit of repetition with the clips and photos used, but that is always a possibility when it comes to docuseries like this.
Our Call: STREAM IT. You may have had an idea that Miss America and other major pageants had big problems, but Secrets Of Miss America will make you realize that the problems these pageants have are way worse than you might have imagined.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
