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Caitlin Upton

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Not to be confused with Kate Upton.
Caitlin Upton
Upton in July 2007
Born
Lauren Caitlin Upton

(1989-03-27) March 27, 1989 (age 35)
OccupationReal estate agent
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Beauty pageant titleholder
TitleMiss South Carolina Teen USA 2007
Eye colorHazel
Major
competition(s)		Miss Teen USA 2007

Lauren Caitlin Upton (born March 27, 1989), also credited as Caite Upton, is an American fashion model, and beauty queen from Lexington, South Carolina. In August 2007, while Miss South Carolina Teen USA, Upton became an Internet meme for her rambling response to a pageant question.

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 and nonsensical response to a question posed to her during the August 2007 national pageant.[1][2]

She has modeled in advertisements for companies such as Nautica and Wrangler and has appeared in national magazines such as Seventeen, Cosmo Girl and American Cheerleader.[1] Upton later signed a deal with Donald Trump's modeling agency in New York City.[3]

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.[4][5]

In 2010, Upton was a contestant on The Amazing Race 16, where she is credited as Caite Upton.[6]

Most recently Upton reported herself as selling real estate in Brentwood, California.[7]

2007 Miss Teen USA Pageant

Response to question

She became known for her rambling response to a question during the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant posed by host 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, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in 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 78 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 quotation of 2007.[14] Upton won a World Stupidity Award for the Stupidest Statement of the Year.[15]

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. She responded:

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 learn how to read maps better.[16][17]

Both Curry and Lauer, along with unseen crew members, applauded her response.[18]

Parodies

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

She also appeared on an episode of the TLC series King of the Crown and on a 2009 Comedy Central's Tosh.0 as a "Web Redemption", as well as on the MTV series Ridiculousness.

In September 2009, Upton 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."

Upton's response was parodied on the episode "iRescue Carly" of the Nickelodeon television show iCarly. Sam Pucket (Jennette McCurdy) asks Spencer (Jerry Trainor) a similar question, replacing the United States with Wisconsin. Spencer's response was interrupted.

The “Beauty and the Beat” episode of the Disney Channel show Jonas was based on the pageant incident; it revolved around Stella (Chelsea Staub) embarrassing herself in a similar manner while trying to answer a beauty-pageant question (with a nearly verbatim response). The Lucas brothers of the band JONAS (played by the Jonas Brothers) then attempt to cheer her up by remixing the clip of her speech.

Her speech was additionally used as parody in the Fox television show "Raising Hope" in the second season finale. A variety of the speech was given by Virginia Chance in court, apparently because she had blanked out and was unable to compose herself under the pressure of the trial.

Esurance lampooned the speech in its 2014-15 "sorta you isn't you" advertising campaign where people who shared certain characteristics with other did things they were not necessarily qualified for. In this case, the commercial features a pageant winner operating a crane and giving a longwinded, rambling speech like Upton did before she did so.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Celizic, Mike (2007-08-28). "Miss South Carolina Teen USA explains herself - Caitlin Upton botched the map question because she was 'overwhelmed'". MSNBC.
  2. ^ "Miss Teen South Carolina makes her mark with flubbed response to geography question". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 2007-08-28. Archived from the original on August 31, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ 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)
  4. ^ "New Weezer Music Video: "Pork and Beans" Starring Caitlin Upton". Magazine. 2008-05-23.
  5. ^ Scout, Web (June 7, 2008). "Weezer's YouTubian anthem". Los Angeles Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Rose, Adam J. (December 2, 2009). "Caitlin Upton: Former Miss Teen South Carolina May Join Amazing Race". Huffington Post. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Caitlin, Upton. "LinkedIn".
  8. ^ Adams, Richard (2007-08-27). "Now, where is America anyway?". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ "Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question". YouTube.
  11. ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 2". YouTube.
  12. ^ *"Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question 3". YouTube.
  13. ^ "Most Viewed Videos: this month". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  14. ^ Spiegelman, Arthur (2007-12-19). ""Don't Tase Me, Bro!" tops '07 memorable quote list". Reuters.
  15. ^ "Stupidest Statement of the Year". 2007. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  16. ^ Associated Press (2007-08-28). "Pageant Contestant Re-Answers Question". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ YouTube video of her "second answer" on Today Show
  18. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2007-08-28). "VIDEO: Miss S.C. Teen USA Says 'I Made a Mistake'". People.
  19. ^ "Former Miss South Carolina Teen USA Get Crackin' with Wonderful Pistachios Commercial". viddler.com. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
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