Elements of popular “reality” and T-V quiz shows are being injected into this year’s Miss America pageant. Producers plan to add some “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and a little “Survivor” to the Miss America show. There’ll be multiple-choice tests of current events and history. Also, contestants who aren’t semi-finalists will vote on the winner. Miss Iowa Erin Smith doesn’t object to the changes. She says they’re making it more and more a television event, even though that’s only the last night of the event.Smith says the voting aspect is actually the opposite of Survivor, since on the show everyone votes to get rid of someone. In the pageant, the non-finalists will vote positively for the new Miss America.Smith, a 20-year-old from Bettendorf, says the quiz show aspect will give the field of bright women another venue in which to display their smarts. She leaves just after Labor Day for three weeks of rehearsals in Atlantic City. The pageant airs September 22nd. Smith is a student at Truman State College in Kirksville, Missouri.
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