Marissa Powell, the Miss Utah 2013 who made this flub of a question on income inequality at the Miss USA 2013 beauty pageant, here:
Has, through no other action of her own, successfully parlayed that nationally-televised place where she, as Marissa Powell put it, “zoned-out,” into a Tuesday media sweep that started in New York City on Inside Edition, then the NBC TODAY Show, and will continue in Los Angeles on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Marissa Powell has hit the big time without even winning the Miss USA Pageant. That award went to Miss Connecticut Erin Brady, who seemed none to pleased to be sharing the spotlight with Powell on the NBC TODAY Show. In fact, in the full video I have, Erin looks just plain pissed.
The photo you see of the two beauty queens is from today’s appearance. Erin Brady is on the right, Marissa Powell’s on the left. Note that Powell’s smiling a bit while talking whereas Brady is not, and doesn’t look at her, preferring to look at Lauer. I took a video of that specific segment, which I’ll run on Wednesday. Folks, Ms. Brady never once looked at Ms. Powell or fully smiled, and a bit when Matt said something in reference to her, during that entire segment – except for when Marissa walked up and onto to the set. By contrast, Powell maintains a smile and a ‘I just feel blessed’ attitude that’s attractive.
Maybe Erin was nervous?
UPDATE:
Via Twitter, Marissa Powell was good enough to set the record straight, saying that Erin Brady was “the most amazing, gracious and beautiful woman!!!”
@zennie62 Oh no she wasn't! Erin, our new @missusa is the most amazing, gracious and beautiful woman!!!
— Marissa Powell (@RealMissUTusa) June 18, 2013
From The Today Show, Powell had a busy schedule which she shared on her Twitter account page:
Tuesday I will be on the @TodayShow (7am Eastern) & @InsideEdition in NYC then fly to LA for @JimmyKimmel Live!
— Marissa Powell (@RealMissUTusa) June 18, 2013
And she got a couple of media shout outs:
We have a big day full of great interviews! Look forward to having @RealMissUTusa in our studio this AM #missutah #insideedition
— Alison Taub (@alibtaub) June 18, 2013
This one from Matt Lauer:
@RealMissUTusa nice job this morning. We enjoyed having you on the show.
— Matt Lauer (@MLauer) June 18, 2013
In closing, I hope I’m wrong about Miss USA Erin Brady with respect to Miss Utah Marissa Powell, but Ms. Brady should be aware that unless one’s a skilled actress, and is acting, it’s hard to fake a feeling. She didn’t come off as someone who was happy to share the spotlight with Powell.
What was Marissa supposed to do? Was she supposed to say “Well, I didn’t win, so I should not go on TV”? Come on!
Marissa Powell is the latest in a line of attractive, hot, women who were made stars by a level of social media buzz that didn’t exist ten years ago because that layer of media didn’t exist. This year, we have Katherine Webb, Melissa King, and Marissa Powell as beauty queens made into A-list celebs because of the Internet and social media’s response to something they did or was the focus of. In Webb’s case, she has Brent Musbuger to thank. For Melissa King, it was a sex tape. For Marissa Powell, it was a nationally-televised mistatement.
Welcome to the new media.
Stay tuned.