Caitlin Upton

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Caitlin Upton
Beauty pageant titleholder
Caitlin Upton headshot.png
Birth name Lauren Caitlin Upton
Birthdate March 27, 1989 (1989-03-27) (age 20)
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Eye color Hazel
Hair color Blonde
Title(s) Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007
Major competition(s) Miss Teen USA 2007

Lauren Caitlin Upton (born March 27, 1989) is an American fashion model and former beauty queen from Lexington, South Carolina. She is best known for her response to a question that was asked of her during the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, the video of which has garnered over 38 million views on websites such as YouTube.

Contents

[edit] Career

Upton became Miss South Carolina Teen USA for 2007 in the November 2006 state pageant. She went on to place fourth in the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant. She gained international notoriety for her convoluted response to a question posed to her during the national pageant.[1][2]

Upton attended Lexington High School where she was an honors student.[1] She has modeled in numerous advertisements for such companies as Nautica and Wrangler and has appeared in national magazines like Seventeen, Cosmo Girl and American Cheerleader.[1]

Upton later signed a deal with Donald Trump's modeling agency in New York City.[3]

Upton has been enrolled at Appalachian State University. She has moved to Los Angeles / North Hollywood to continue modeling.[4]

Alongside numerous other YouTube celebrities, Upton appeared in Weezer's music video "Pork and Beans," which was released on May 23, 2008 where the microphone she held became a lightsaber. In the same video, she blends "Maps" in a Blendtec blender.[5][6]

In December, 2009, reports surfaced that Upton will appear on The Amazing Race 16.[7]

[edit] Infamous response

As part of a question and answer portion of the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant, Upton was asked by the questioner, Friday Night Lights actress Aimee Teegarden, "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

Upton responded:[1]

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.[8][9]

According to YouTube, video clips of her response on the website have had over 40 million views.[10][11][12] It was the site's most viewed video for the month of September 2007.[13] Many YouTube users made their own parodies of the incident. The Yale Book of Quotations designated the response the second most memorable quote of 2007.[14]

As a guest on NBC's The Today Show, Upton told Ann Curry and Matt Lauer that she was overwhelmed when asked the question and did not comprehend it correctly.[1] The Today Show hosts gave Upton another opportunity to answer. This was her response:

Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who doesn't. And if the statistics are correct, I believe that there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will know how to read maps better.[15][16]

Both Curry and Lauer, along with unseen crew members, applauded her response.[17]

Upton also attended the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed a parody of her famous response.[18]

She also appeared on an episode on Comedy Central's Tosh.0 as a 'Web Redemption'

She has appeared on TLC's show "King of the Crown"

In September 2009, she appeared in a television advertisement for Wonderful Pistachios, as part of their "Get Crackin'" campaign.[19] In the commercial, she wears a pageant gown and a sash reading "Miss Wonderful," and says: "I personally believe that cracking shells will help Americans who don't have maps [pause] to build a better future."

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Celizic, Mike (2007-08-28). "Miss South Carolina Teen USA explains herself - Caitlin Upton botched the map question because she was ‘overwhelmed’". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20473692/. 
  2. ^ "Miss Teen South Carolina makes her mark with flubbed response to geography question". International Herald Tribune / Associated Press. 2007-08-28. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/28/america/NA-GEN-US-Beauty-Queen-Geography.php. 
  3. ^ staff (2007-09-20). "Miss Teen USA South Carolina signs up with Trump". News Limited. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,22450632-10229,00.html. 
  4. ^ http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2009/05/11/lauren-caitlin-upton-is-doing-great/
  5. ^ "New Weezer Music Video: “Pork and Beans” Starring Caitlin Upton". COED Magazine. 2008-05-23. http://www.coedmagazine.com/video/8928. 
  6. ^ Scout, Web (June 7, 2008). "Weezer’s YouTubian anthem". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/07/entertainment/et-webscout7. 
  7. ^ Rose, Adam J. (December 2, 2009). "Caitlin Upton: Former Miss Teen South Carolina May Join Amazing Race". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/amazing-race-upton-caitli_n_376271.html. 
  8. ^ Adams, Richard (2007-08-27). "Now, where is America anyway?". The Guardian. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/08/27/now_where_is_america_anyway.html. 
  9. ^ Thomas, Karen (2007-08-29). "That wasn't Miss South Carolina's final answer". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-08-28-miss-south-carolina_N.htm. 
  10. ^ "Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww. 
  11. ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 2". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII. 
  12. ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 3". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQdhMSEqhfg. 
  13. ^ "Most Viewed Videos: this month". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/browse?s=mp&t=m&c=0&l=. Retrieved 2007-09-08. 
  14. ^ Spiegelman, Arthur (2007-12-19). ""Don't Tase Me, Bro!" tops '07 memorable quote list". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN1959512020071219?loc=interstitialskip. 
  15. ^ "Pageant Contestant Re-Answers Question". The Washington Post / The Associated Press. 2007-08-28. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082800734.html. 
  16. ^ Youtube video of her "second answer" on Today Show
  17. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2007-08-28). "VIDEO: Miss S.C. Teen USA Says 'I Made a Mistake'". People Magazine. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20053504,00.html. 
  18. ^ http://justjared.buzznet.com/2007/09/09/miss-south-carolina-vmas-2007/
  19. ^ "Former Miss South Carolina Teen USA Get Crackin' with Wonderful Pistachios Commercial". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKPCs6dSsYM. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Brittany Smith		 Miss South Carolina Teen USA
2007		 Succeeded by
Brittany Pjetraj
RPM Productions
Titleholders 2007
Miss Louisiana USA
Elizabeth McNulty
Miss Louisiana Teen USA
Logan Travis		 Miss North Carolina USA
Erin O'Kelley
Miss North Carolina Teen USA
Katie Coble		 Miss South Carolina USA
Ashley Zais
Miss South Carolina Teen USA
Caitlin Upton
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Upton"