Candice Stewart

Candice Dontrelle Stewart (born September 19, 1983) is a former American beauty queen from Metairie, Louisiana. She competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants. In addition to her pageantry career, she participated as a HouseGuest on the fifteenth season of the American reality show Big Brother. While in the Big Brother house, Stewart became a victim of various derogatory comments made by several of her fellow contestants who attacked her based on her race. She became the first member of the Big Brother jury house that season.

Pageant career

Stewart competed in her first Miss Louisiana Teen USA pageant in 1999, placing first runner up to Nina Moch. She returned two years later and captured the Miss Louisiana Teen USA 2002 crown in the state pageant held in Lafayette in late 2001. Stewart then represented Louisiana at the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant held at South Padre Island, Texas in August 2002. The pageant was won by Vanessa Semrow of Wisconsin.

In 2003, just a year after passing on her Teen crown, Stewart returned to the Louisiana pageant stage, placing first runner-up to Melissa McConnell in the Miss Louisiana USA 2004 pageant. She won the pageant the following year, on her second attempt, and was the first African American woman to win this title. In April 2005, Stewart competed in the Miss USA 2005 pageant televised live from Baltimore, Maryland. The pageant was won by another former teen, Chelsea Cooley of North Carolina, who had been Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2000. Stewart was a speech pathology major at Xavier University and was once a dancer for the New Orleans Saints. She was due to give up her crown in November 2005, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in her state meant the pageant was postponed until January 2006. Her successor was Christina Cuenca of Arabi, who had placed in both years Stewart had competed.

Post Pageant

In 2006, Stewart earned a bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from Xavier University of Louisiana. In 2007 Candice became an NFL cheerleader for the Houston Texans. She owns a small pageant coaching and image consulting business in the Houston area. Previously she was a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints.

Big Brother U.S.

She was selected to be a contestant on Big Brother 15, which premiered on June 26, 2013. During her time in the house, Stewart formed a friendship with Howard Overby. But because of their racial background, she and Overby have been the targets of racist comments from fellow HouseGuests, particularly Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman, the former who has said “be careful what you say in the dark; you might not be able to see that bitch."^[1] Later in the season, during a Veto Competition (where nominees are given the chance to compete for the "Power of Veto," which the holder can then decide whether or not to change the nominations), Stewart got into a dispute with HouseGuest Amanda Zuckerman. Candice was whispering to HouseGuest Judd Daugherty, saying "they [Zuckerman and her alliance members] think you're the MVP." Zuckerman caught this and started taunting Stewart, and even went as far as calling her "Shaniqua." This is followed by a sarcastic "Oh, am I racist now?" In a double eviction on Day 49, she was evicted from the house, placing 11th place. During her eviction speech, Stewart stated that "this week, the game got personal," and proceeded to call out fellow HouseGuest GinaMarie for "saying defamatory comments," which sparked an argument that had to be interrupted by HouseGuest Spencer Clawson, who started his eviction speech in an attempt to settle the two women down after Big Brother host Julie Chen failed to assuage the dispute. After her eviction, she became the first member of the Jury, meaning she is able to further influence the game (through voting on the final two), or possibly re-entering the house.

References

• Xavierite wins Miss Louisiana USA, Xavier Herald Online, 11 November 2004 (accessed 8 May 2006)
• Xavier senior wins 'Miss Louisiana' U.S.A. title, Louisiana Weekly, 3 January 2005 (accessed 8 May 2006)

External links

• Big Brother Official Site
• Official Miss Louisiana USA website
• Turn for the Judges Profile
• Houston Texans cheerleaders Website