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Chelsea Cooley of Charlotte, North Carolina,
reacts to winning the title of Miss USA 2005 as she is crowned by
Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey (back) in Baltimore, Maryland April
11, 2005. (Reuters)
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Miss North Carolina, a 21-year-old brunette who says she sees a lot of
herself in Oprah Winfrey, was crowned Miss USA at the 54th annual pageant
Monday night.
Chelsea Cooley was crowned by last year's Miss USA, Shandi Finnessey of
Missouri. The new titleholder will compete May 30 in the Miss Universe
competition in Bangkok, Thailand.
Miss California, Brittany Hogan, 20, was first runner-up. Rounding out
the top five were Miss Kentucky, Kristen Lynn Johnson, 23; Miss Illinois,
Jill Gulseth, 21; and Miss Florida, Melissa Witek, 24.
The 51 contestants were trimmed to 15, then 10
semifinalists and finally five finalists for Monday's evening gown and
swimsuit
competitions.
The five finalists were asked questions written by their fellow
contestants.
The query for Cooley, of Charlotte, N.C., was: "What famous person does
your personality most parallel?"
She replied, "I guess it would be Oprah. She has a
passion for life. She loves what she does, and she works so hard to try to
achieve everything in her life. I try to emulate
myself after that."
Judges evaluated contestants in swimsuit, evening gown and interview
competitions. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, model and actor
Molly Sims ("Las Vegas"), boxer Sugar Ray Leonard ("The Contender") and
beauty expert Frederic Fekkai headlined the celebrity judging panel.
The panel was rounded out by fashion designer Pamela Dennis, Raj Bhakta
("The Apprentice"), model Ksenia Masimova, actor Brody Hutzler ("Days of
Our Lives"), John Tutolo, president of Trump Model Management, and Robin
Himmler, executive assistant to Trump.
Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell ("Access Hollywood") returned as pageant
co-hosts.
The pageant is co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC, which aired the
competition.
(Agencies) |
Updated: 2005-04-12 13:55
