Caitlin Upton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Caitlin Upton Beauty pageant titleholder |
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| Birth name: | Lauren Caitlin Upton |
| Birthdate: | March 27, 1989 |
| 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 beauty queen from Lexington, South Carolina. She is best known for her garbled 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.
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[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]
Recently, Upton 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 had planned to attend Appalachian State University to study graphic design, but is currently focusing on her modeling career.[4][5][1]
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]
[edit] 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].[7][8]
According to YouTube, video clips of her response on the website have had over 35 million views[9][10][11]. It was the site's most viewed video for the month of September 2007. [12] 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).[13]
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 the question and 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 there should be more emphasis on geography.[14]
Both Curry and Lauer, along with unseen Today Show crew members, applauded her response.[15]
Upton also attended the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed a parody of her famous response.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Celizic, Mike. "Miss South Carolina Teen USA explains herself - Caitlin Upton botched the map question because she was ‘overwhelmed’", MSNBC, August 28, 2007.
- ^ "Miss Teen South Carolina makes her mark with flubbed response to geography question", International Herald Tribune / Associated Press, August 28, 2007.
- ^ staff. "Miss Teen USA South Carolina signs up with Trump", News Limited, September 20, 2007.
- ^ Price, Mark. "Beauty queen seems to be trumping her pageant goof", Detroit Free Press, December 27, 2007.
- ^ "Q&A Caitlin Upton", The State. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
- ^ "New Weezer Music Video: “Pork and Beans” Starring Caitlin Upton", COED Magazine date= May 23, 2008.
- ^ Adams, Richard. "Now, where is America anyway?", The Guardian, August 27, 2007.
- ^ Thomas, Karen. "That wasn't Miss South Carolina's final answer", USA Today, August 29, 2007.
- ^ "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 on 2007-09-08.
- ^ Spiegelman, Arthur. ""Don't Tase Me, Bro!" tops '07 memorable quote list", Reuters, December 19, 2007.
- ^ "Pageant Contestant Re-Answers Question", The Washington Post / The Associated Press, August 28, 2007.
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M.. "VIDEO: Miss S.C. Teen USA Says 'I Made a Mistake'", People Magazine, August 28, 2007.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Brittany Smith |
Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007 |
Succeeded by Brittany Pjetraj |
| RPM Productions Titleholders 2007 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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