Caitlin Upton
Template:Pageant titleholder bioLauren 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 incoherent response to a question that was asked of her during the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, the video of which has garnered millions of views on websites such as YouTube.
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, where her assignments could earn her up to $30,000 per day.[3]
Upton currently attends Appalachian State University to study graphic design, and she has recently pledged Kappa Delta Sorority. [4][5][1]
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 Will It Blend? blender.[6][7]
Famous response
As part of a question and answer portion of the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant, Upton was asked by the questioner 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 30 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 (Andrew Meyer's "Don't Tase Me, Bro" from the University of Florida Taser incident was first).[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 didn't 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][19]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Celizic, Mike (2007-08-28). "Miss South Carolina Teen USA explains herself - Caitlin Upton botched the map question because she was 'overwhelmed'". MSNBC. Cite error: The named reference "TodayShow1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Miss Teen South Carolina makes her mark with flubbed response to geography question". International Herald Tribune / Associated Press. 2007-08-28.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ staff (2007-09-20). "Miss Teen USA South Carolina signs up with Trump". News Limited.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Price, Mark (2007-12-27). "Beauty queen seems to be trumping her pageant goof". Detroit Free Press.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Q&A Caitlin Upton". The State.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "New Weezer Music Video: "Pork and Beans" Starring Caitlin Upton". COED Magazine. 2008-05-23.
- ^ Scout, Web (June 7, 2008). "Weezer's YouTubian anthem". Los Angeles Times.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Adams, Richard (2007-08-27). "Now, where is America anyway?". The Guardian.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Thomas, Karen (2007-08-29). "That wasn't Miss South Carolina's final answer". USA Today.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question". YouTube.
- ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 2". YouTube.
- ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 3". YouTube.
- ^ "Most Viewed Videos: this month". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
- ^ Spiegelman, Arthur (2007-12-19). ""Don't Tase Me, Bro!" tops '07 memorable quote list". Reuters.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Pageant Contestant Re-Answers Question". The Washington Post / The Associated Press. 2007-08-28.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Youtube video of her "second answer" on Today Show
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2007-08-28). "VIDEO: Miss S.C. Teen USA Says 'I Made a Mistake'". People Magazine.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySo3kkHTAcI
- ^ http://justjared.buzznet.com/2007/09/09/miss-south-carolina-vmas-2007/