Miss USA 1990

Miss USA 1990, the 39th Miss USA pageant, was televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on March 2, 1990. At the conclusion of the final competition, Carole Gist of Michigan was crowned by outgoing titleholder Gretchen Polhemus of Texas. Carole became the first African American winner ever and the first woman from Michigan to be crowned as Miss USA, ending the streak of "Texas Aces" from 1985.

Miss USA 1990
DateMarch 2, 1990
Presenters
VenueCentury II Convention Center, Wichita, Kansas
Broadcaster
Entrants51
Placements12
WinnerCarole Gist
Michigan
CongenialityJanet Tveita
Minnesota
PhotogenicStephanie Teneyck
Mississippi

For the first time, each judge's score was displayed to every audience, adding transparency to the process.

A major format change in 1990 transformed the Miss USA competition for the next decade: the delegates would face an extra round of elimination on finals night: the top six judges' questions.

Instead of reducing the top twelve to the usual final five, the judges would pick an intermediate top six. Those six finalists would answer questions from the judges and the field was reduced to a final three, who would face the traditional final question, adding unpredictability to the competition after five Texan Miss USA winners from GuyRex Associates, which would lose its Miss Texas USA franchise the next year.

The pageant was hosted by Dick Clark for the second of five times, with color commentary by Leeza Gibbons and Laura Harring, Miss USA 1985.

This was the first time the pageant was held in Wichita, where it would be staged for the next three years.

Results

Placements
Map showing placements by state
Final Results Contestant
Miss USA 1990
1st Runner-Up
Miss World USA 1990
2nd Runner-Up
Top 6
Top 12

Final Competition
Nation Preliminary

Average

 Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Semifinal Average
Michigan – Carole Gist 8.477 (4) 9.261 (2) 9.364 (1) 9.489 (1) 9.371 (1)
South Carolina – Gina Tolleson 8.514 (1) 8.848 (6) 9.139 (5) 9.259 (4) 9.082 (5)
New Jersey – Karin Hartz 8.256 (9) 9.344 (1) 9.206 (4) 9.414 (2) 9.321 (2)
Alaska – Karin Meyer 8.327 (7) 9.111 (3) 9.322 (3) 9.218 (5) 9.217 (3)
Kentucky – Tiffany Tenfelde 8.484 (3) 8.981 (4) 9.100 (6) 9.289 (3) 9.123 (4)
Georgia – Brenda Leithleiter 8.496 (2) 8.683 (8) 9.325 (2) 9.100 (8) 9.036 (6)
D.C. – Catherine Staples 8.211 (12) 8.577 (10) 9.078 (7) 9.157 (7) 8.937 (7)
Tennessee – Charita Moses 8.442 (5) 8.739 (7) 8.903 (8) 9.023 (9) 8.888 (8)
Texas – Stephanie Kuehne 8.248 (11) 8.922 (5) 8.839 (9) 8.869 (10) 8.876 (9)
Illinois – Karla Myers 8.327 (7) 8.622 (9) 8.772 (10) 9.176 (6) 8.856 (10)
Mississippi – Stephanie Teneyck 8.249 (10) 8.574 (11) 8.694 (11) 8.792 (11) 8.686 (11)
Ohio – Melissa Proctor 8.360 (6) 8.481 (12) 8.370 (12) 8.746 (12) 8.532 (12)

Special awards
Award Contestant
Miss Congeniality
Miss Photogenic

Historical significance
  • Michigan wins competition for the first time and surpasses its previous highest placement in 1976. Also becoming in the 23rd state who does it for the first time.
  • South Carolina earns the 1st runner-up position for the fourth time. The last time it placed this was in 1970.
  • New Jersey earns the 2nd runner-up position for the second time and repeats the same position as the past year 1989.
  • Alaska finishes as Top 6 for the first time and reaches its highest placement since 1964.
  • Georgia finishes as Top 6 for the first time.
  • Kentucky finishes as Top 6 for the first time and reaches its highest placement since 1982.
  • States that placed in semifinals the previous year were Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas.
  • Texas placed for the sixteenth consecutive year.
  • Illinois placed for the seventh consecutive year.
  • Georgia placed for the fifth consecutive year.
  • New Jersey made its second consecutive placement.
  • Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee last placed in 1988.
  • Ohio last placed in 1986.
  • District of Columbia last placed in 1984.
  • Michigan last placed in 1983.
  • Kentucky last placed in 1982.
  • Alaska last placed in 1978.
  • California and Oklahoma break an ongoing streak of placements since 1988.
  • Gina Tolleson would represent the USA at Miss World, where she took the title. Carole Gist represented USA at Miss Universe 1990 where she finished runner-up to Norway's Mona Grudt. If Carole had won Miss Universe, Miss South Carolina, Gina Tolleson, would have become Miss USA and Miss New Jersey, Karin Hartz, would have represented the USA at the 1990 Miss World Pageant. It has been the closest that USA has been of winning both major Big 4 pageants.

Scores

Preliminary competition

The following are the contestants' scores in the preliminary competition.

Final competition

Delegates

The Miss USA 1990 delegates were:

Crossovers

1990 was the year with the smallest number of crossover contestants since 1986.

Judges
gollark: Basically, see, the cave senses your intention. If you want to catch, say, chrono xenowyrms, no chronos spawn.
gollark: I mean, most RNGs are based partially on time (in milliseconds since the beginning of time in 1970)...
gollark: People probably *want* pre-cracked AP eggs.
gollark: Nobody will be annoyed, presumably.
gollark: You mean, one *in* The AP or one you picked up?

References
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