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27/08/2018
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Posted August 26, 2018 at 10:30 AM | Updated August 27, 2018 at 07:43 AM
By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A sign outside a liquor store in Wildwood cheers a local's recent win at the Miss New Jersey pageant.
"CONGRATS JAMIE GIACLORETO."
Close, but no cigar.
"It's probably not the best thing that it's on a liquor store — and it's spelled wrong," says the pageant queen, making her way down the sun-drenched street.
Jaime Gialloreto: that's how you spell her name.
But Gialloreto, 19, who became Miss New Jersey 2018 in June, appreciates the gesture all the same, along with the constant stream of people who, when they see her white pageant sash, feel compelled to shout things like "the actual Miss New Jersey!" "beautiful!" "gorgeous!" and "is Miss America here?"
What doesn't she appreciate? The sudden disposal of the Miss America swimsuit competition. In June, the pageant announced it would dispense with the time-honored tradition — the suits, the heels and the runway strut. But that's not the only reason why this is no ordinary year for the Atlantic City event, set for Sept. 9 at Boardwalk Hall.
Gialloreto now finds herself in the middle of a pageant civil war, with former titleholders, volunteers, state organizations and even Miss America herself squaring off against pageant executives as the future of Miss America hangs in the balance.
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
A pageant in crisis
The Woolwich Township resident, whose pageant-grade smile is framed by honey blond highlights, helps to maintain the long-running tradition of Miss Americas from South Jersey. She calls herself a "shlocal," a mix between a shoobie and a local. When she's not home in Gloucester County this summer, Gialloreto, a rising sophomore at Loyola University Maryland, resides in Wildwood Crest, where her family has owned a Shore house for more than 60 years.
But the break with swimsuit tradition has Gialloreto and other Miss America hopefuls anxious about this year's competition, which comes at a time of divisive unrest for the nearly century-old New Jersey institution.
Just days before she won the state crown, Gialloreto learned that the upcoming 2019 Miss America competition would do away with swimsuits.
"I was initially really disappointed," she says. So were many others involved in the pageant. The discord only worsened.
On August 17, the conflict escalated when Cara Mund, the reigning Miss America, spoke out against pageant leaders in a long, scathing letter in which she accused Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Miss America board of trustees, and pageant CEO Regina Hopper of various misdeeds. Chief among them:
"Our chair and CEO have systematically silenced me, reduced me, marginalized me, and essentially erased me in my role as Miss America in subtle and not-so-subtle ways on a daily basis," wrote Mund, 24.
For example, when Carlson announced the swimsuit decision on "Good Morning America," Mund was there, but she says pageant leaders did not allow her to be in front of the camera. She also says that her farewell during the forthcoming pageant broadcast has been cut down to 30 seconds as payback for briefly speaking her mind in an earlier interview.
The situation grew more contentious when Carlson issued a reply to Miss America, denying that she had bullied Mund.
"In fact, I have acknowledged to you and your parents many times that the organization understands the frustrations of serving during such a change-filled and stressful year," Carlson said in a statement. She also said Mund's decision to publicly criticize the leadership had caused the pageant to lose out on a $75,000 increase in scholarship money.
Carlson's statement didn't sit well with many former titleholders. Some even compared her to former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, who she sued for sexual harassment in 2016.
Supporting Miss America in her fight
Gialloreto found it disheartening to read Mund's account of alleged mistreatment. She recently spent time with the titleholder at a local fundraiser and at Miss America orientation in Florida.
"I have nothing but respect for her for standing up to the organization," she says.
But Gialloreto is in a tricky spot — she both commiserates with Mund and wants the job of Miss America, despite the numerous ways in which Mund says she was ignored and bullied.
"It definitely shifts the mood going into the pageant," she says of Mund's letter. Gialloreto took note when the Miss America Organization told Mund she could no longer use the Miss America Instagram account (she now uses a personal account).
"It's almost petty," she says. "Why would they do that? Why would they take it away from her?" (Mund said she was told that she was "bad at social media" and to blame for sponsors dropping the pageant.)
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
Swimsuit for fitness, fitness for strength
For now, Gialloreto is trying to stay focused on flexing her pageant muscle in competition. But all of those hours of strength training in a boutique fitness studio? All of those days spent engaging her core? Despite nearly a century of swimsuit struts since the pageant's founding, none of it will mean Gialloreto can wear her bikini onstage at Boardwalk Hall come September.
"You're kidding," she says. "I've gone to the gym every day for a year for what?"
Gialloreto is one of many contestants and titleholders (including the former Miss New Jersey, Kaitlyn Schoeffel) who have defended the swimsuit competition from the criticism that it sexualizes, objectifies or demeans women. They call the runway walk itself, and the work it takes to get there, empowering.
If getting fit is empowering, they ask, then why cut the swimsuits? Gialloreto credits pageant competition with helping her find her own definition of "healthy." At first, the 5-foot-1-inch Miss America hopeful, a runner, embraced a strategy of eating less and doing "a lot of cardio."
"That wasn't it," says Gialloreto, who is also a dancer and a member of the Loyola University Maryland dance team. "I was underweight. I didn't look healthy."
For the pageant's talent portion, Gialloreto will perform a contemporary jazz dance routine set to the late Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." But she credits strength training with helping her gain 15 pounds of muscle.
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
The origins of pageant strife
Now, Gialloreto has had to recalibrate her approach. Talent will count for more at the pageant, and instead of just parading around in evening gowns, contestants are being encouraged to choose from a wider variety of outfits. They'll wear them while speaking about their social impact initiatives, formerly called "platforms."
The rebranded event, dubbed "Miss America 2.0," is a competition (organizers frown upon "pageant") still characterized by sashes and crowns that does not claim to judge its "candidates" (not contestants, Carlson says) on physical appearance.
After Carlson, a former Fox News host and Miss America 1989, announced in June that the swimsuits would be no more (state and local pageants still included them this year), contestants, former Miss Americas and state pageant directors panned the change.
For years, the swimsuit competition had been the most prominent example of the pageant's status as an anachronism in modern American culture ("that still goes on?" is a frequent question that rolls around each September). Carlson hopes the swimsuit edit will update the event, make it more inclusive and draw more young women to compete for scholarships, since a shrinking contestant pool has been another problem.
But critics say the decision was the result of underhanded tactics from pageant leaders.
Following a scandal last year involving leaked emails from the former Miss America CEO that contained misogynistic language about former titleholders, the newly rebuilt Miss America board experienced fresh upheaval.
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Four board members departed in the post-swimsuit conflict. Later, a group of 22 state pageant directors — including Sally Johnston, executive director of the New Jersey pageant — signed a letter calling for the resignation of Carlson, Hopper (a former Miss Arkansas) and the board. Since then, several more states have joined the petition. (The New Jersey pageant's board withdrew, but Johnston remains.)
"'Miss America 2.0' is simply a title for the same old tactics of obfuscation and fear-based governance," the petition reads.
Critics charge that Carlson and Hopper claimed Miss America would lose its broadcast network, ABC, if the board didn't vote to drop the swimsuits. Miss America officials denied this, but did say that certain (unnamed) creative partners did not favor the swimsuit contest.
Carlson and Hopper called those who objected to the swimsuit decision resistant to change and ultimately a minority — a group of 30 former Miss Americas had signed a letter supporting the pageant leaders and board. But many pageant stakeholders say a lack of transparency is the issue.
On August 9, 11 other former Miss Americas — including Marjorie Vincent-Tripp (1991) who recently resigned as chairwoman of the Miss America Foundation board of trustees (the pageant's scholarship arm), Mays Landing's Suzette Charles (who briefly took over for Vanessa Williams in 1984) and Brigantine and Moorestown's Kate Shindle (1998), who recently resigned from the board — signed a letter calling for the immediate resignation of Carlson and Hopper. They started an online petition urging the exit of the pair and the whole board.
Eight more Miss Americas have signed their names to the effort, which currently claims more than 21,500 signatures.
"They shook up the wrong people," Gialloreto says. "When you upset them, they're going to speak out."
Tim Hawk | NJ.com
Gialloreto was excited when Carlson assumed a leadership position at Miss America, having read her book, "Be Fierce," which is about sexual harassment and inequality women face at work. After Carlson sued Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, she became a champion of the growing #MeToo movement. (The larger subject is a sure lock for at least one question at this year's pageant.)
But one criticism of the swimsuit change has been that Carlson sought to use the #MeToo ethos as a rationale for getting rid of the tradition (which she denies). Gialloreto says she sees no connection between sexual harassment and being judged on physical appearance while wearing a swimsuit. She thinks telling contestants to cover up is "almost in a sense anti-feminist." Why not incorporate fitness in another way, she asks?
At the Miss America's Outstanding Teen competition, contestants perform a fitness routine. In 2016, the Miss Teen USA pageant, which is not under the Miss America umbrella, did away with its swimsuit competition and replaced it with athletic wear.
Recent Instagram posts from contestants and the Miss America Organization (see below) would seem to indicate that a swimsuit-free emphasis on fitness may already be a reality. The posts show contestants in gym clothes. Captions detail their favorite workouts.
But Karl Nilsson, a pageant spokesman, says physical fitness and athletic wear will not play a role in the September broadcast. The workout gear was featured in social media campaigns to thank sponsors, he says.
Gialloreto suggests another, more active fitness alternative: "Why not 'American Ninja Warrior,' Miss America style?"
Miss America Organization Instagram
Staying relevant in the Instagram generation
Speaking to the National Press Club in July, Carlson said that her goals for Miss America are financial stability and "complete relevancy."
The Miss America Organization has struggled with its finances for years, banking on precious few sponsors and subsidies from the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. Relevancy has also proved to be a tall order. To freshen up the pageant's image, the pageant has tried everything from a reality show-style format to performances from pop stars to enlisting titleholders who don't make the cut to be social media correspondents backstage.
In recent years, the pageant has managed to stay a draw on social media, topping the Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings for event broadcasts. But tweets don't always mean ratings.
Viewership for the pageant continues to shrink, with the broadcast down in the ratings for the second consecutive year, from 6.2 million viewers in 2016 to 5.6 million viewers last year. (For the first broadcast in 1954, 27 million people tuned in to watch Lee Meriwether's crowning, making the pageant a TV juggernaut before the Super Bowl even existed.)
Answering those who say Miss America might as well pack it in without the swimsuits, Carlson told "GMA" that the swimsuit portion is "not a highly rated part of the competition," though the talent portion is. (It helps, of course, that talent usually arrives near the end of the pageant, after most contestants have been eliminated.)
Gialloreto maintains that social media is key to relevancy. She stars in the opening of two commercials for the 2019 pageant recently posted by the Miss America Instagram account, one a lighthearted nod to the spirit of competition (see clip above) set to run in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, another zeroed in on education and career.
And Gialloreto is just one in a phalanx of spangled titleholders who hold court on Instagram with slice-of-life "stories," live videos and Q&A sessions. As part of the pageant's social campaigns, they have modeled clothing and inked messages of empowerment on their arms.
"I think that with my generation and the generations moving forward, the biggest thing is online and social media and making Miss America's presence known in her community," Gialloreto says. "Miss America is everywhere, and I don't think people see her everywhere, because maybe that's not put online."
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
From scooping ice cream in Wildwood to the national stage
Before she won the Miss New Jersey pageant on her second try — as Miss South Shore — Gialloreto worked as a waitress at Duffer's, a restaurant and old-school ice cream parlor in Wildwood that serves up sugary treats like waffles Foster and snickerdoodle dandy sundaes. While she thinks she makes a better Miss New Jersey than an ice cream scooper ("I was a terrible waitress," she says. "They were probably happy when I quit."), she considers the Cape May County city a home away from home.
Back at the restaurant, everyone seems like a close friend, even strangers visiting from out of town. Walking past sunbathers and sandcastles on the beach, she poses for pictures with admirers. As the photo parade dies down, Gialloreto zooms out to a wide-angle perspective.
"Do you ever think about how when you're at the beach, you're at the edge of the United States?"
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
At 19, Gialloreto is one of the youngest Miss New Jerseys in recent years. Her predecessor, Kaitlyn Schoeffel, was 24, and Schoeffel's predecessor, Brenna Weick, was 22.
Gialloreto started her pageant career by winning Miss Avalon's Outstanding Teen and Miss Seashore Line's Outstanding Teen, finishing in the top seven at the Miss New Jersey's Outstanding Teen pageant. Last year, she competed at the Miss New Jersey pageant for the first time, as Miss South Jersey.
She began competing in pageants when she was 15, at the suggestion of a dance teacher.
"(When) Jaime was a very, very small child, I knew that she was going to be something," says her grandmother, Maryanne Garcia (pictured above with Gialloreto), 73, a fixture at the family's Wildwood Crest home.
Another fan of the swimsuit competition, she relishes gown-shopping trips with her granddaughter, who fully intends to wear a gown for the evening wear portion of competition, despite the pageant's new focus.
Food allergies: A mission that hits close to home
Gialloreto's social impact initiative (formerly the pageant platform) is "Don't Get Nutty: Food Allergy Awareness." She didn't just pick it out of some bag of hot-button issues. Her brother Michael, 16, contends with life-threatening food allergies.
"His egg allergy is airborne," she says, making it almost impossible for him to eat at most restaurants.
"A lot of people don't really understand the severity of food allergies," Gialloreto says, even when extreme caution is taken.
Though his egg allergy was too severe to attempt oral immunotherapy, Michael underwent such a program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for a dairy allergy. He was instructed to drink eight ounces of milk every day. For a while, he seemed to be making progress.
But one day, Michael, who was 8 years old at the time, downed the milk as normal, then went to play with a friend. The physical activity triggered his old allergic reaction, meaning anaphylaxis, which can prove fatal for many who have food allergies and don't have an EpiPen (epinephrine injection) within reach. Michael's reaction worsened because he hid from help.
"It was the scariest moment of our lives," Gialloreto says. She just learned that because of her advocacy, she is a finalist for the Miss America Jean Bartel Quality of Life Award, which brings up to $6,000. (Gialloreto is pictured above with a teal pumpkin as part of the Teal Pumpkin Project to provide non-food treats to children with allergies at Halloween.)
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
RBG in Ocean City, Jersey Devil in Atlantic City
Ben Gialloreto, Jaime's father, says it was far from the only brush his son had with a potentially deadly allergy.
"It's just really, really hard on the families," says Gialloreto, a personal injury attorney in Philadelphia. Jaime, who dressed as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a parade at the Miss New Jersey pageant, says she may follow in his footsteps to become a lawyer (for now, she's majoring in communications).
Gialloreto's family originally hails from the city across the Delaware. She refers to them as "crazy, loud, South Philly Italians."
Her older brother Ben, 22, works for a finance company. Her mother, Maria Gialloreto, is the transportation coordinator for Swedesboro-Woolwich elementary schools. When Jaime's dance teacher mentioned that her daughter should try pageants, she thought she was crazy.
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
"The only thing I ever knew about pageants was watching Miss America on television and Honey Boo Boo," says Maria Gialloreto. But the chance to win scholarship money (Miss New Jersey gets $12,000, Miss America gets $50,000 and the top job comes with a six-figure salary) and the opportunity to talk about food allergies — that piqued her interest.
She says Jaime (pictured above with customers at Duffer's) wants to make sure EpiPens are available in public places.
"It's as important as having a fire extinguisher or a defibrillator," she says.
Though Miss America preliminaries start on her first day back at school, Gialloreto's mother would never miss Jaime's first moment on the Miss America stage.
"We're going to have a huge Gialloreto presence in Atlantic City, that's for sure," she says, like at the Miss America Show Us Your Shoes parade on Sept. 8.
Jaime's mother is helping to put the finishing touches on her Pine Barrens-inspired parade costume. She'll be going as none other than the Jersey Devil (the mythological figure, not the Devils mascot ... she's a Flyers fan).
Tim Hawk | For NJ.com
'One for the history books'
Another friendly face out in the audience at Boardwalk Hall will be Gialloreto's boyfriend, Cam Amador (pictured below). Amador, 19, will make the trip to Atlantic City with his family from Thomaston, Connecticut. He met Jaime through mutual friends during her freshman year at Loyola. She didn't initially tell him that she competed in pageants.
"I was kind of shocked," he says. "She was perfect for it."
Schoeffel, last year's state titleholder, went home second runner-up. It was the best showing from a Miss New Jersey in 24 years.
Amador has no doubt that Gialloreto could win. ("And I'm not just saying that because I'm her boyfriend," he says.)
"She has this energy about her," he says. "She belongs there."
At the opening of Ocean Resort Casino in June, Gialloreto, who is taking some time off from college to fulfill her Miss New Jersey duties, says actor Mark Wahlberg told her he couldn't judge the pageant because he'd be biased and pick her (she says she'll take it).
But Gialloreto says she isn't stressing over making the pageant's top five or 10.
"Regardless of what happens, this year is one for the history books," she says. Ultimately, there will be more ways for her to shine than in a bikini.
"I'm just going to have fun with it," she says. "It's so much bigger than just a swimsuit competition."
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