Miss America gets a new look as bikinis and gowns are out

THE Miss America beauty pageant is calling time on bikinis and will no longer judge contestants on looks.

For nearly 100 years, the annual event has featured a segment in which entrants paraded in two-piece bathing costumes and high heels.

Miss America Organisation leaders said the swimsuit section was being scrapped in the wake of the #Metoo movement against sexual harassment. A segment in which contestants are judged on how they look wearing an evening gown will also end.

Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and head of its board of trustees, announced the move on the Good Morning America TV programme. She said: “We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance, and that means we will no longer have a swimsuit competition.”

According to judging guidelines, the swimsuit element made up 10 per cent of a contestant’s score. It will be replaced by live interviews with the judges, during which they will be asked to show their “passion, intelligence and overall understanding” of the role of a Miss America.

The evening gown section, which accounted for 15 per cent of the score, will be replaced by a segment in which women are asked how they hope to advance the work of Miss America.

The pageant began in New Jersey as a bathing beauty contest designed to attract tourists. It became embroiled in a scandal in December when emails in which pageant officials denigrated the intelligence and looks of former winners were leaked.

In 2016, Carlson, who was Miss America in 1989, brought a sexual harassment case that led to other women coming forward and the departure of Roger Ailes, then chairman of Fox News.