Candice Dontrelle Stewart (born September 19, 1983) is an American television personality and beauty pageant titleholder from Metairie,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. She competed in the
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant formerly run, since 1983, by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on Fox and Miss USA, this pageant is webcast on the Mis ...
and
Miss USA
Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...
pageants. In addition to her pageantry career, she participated as a HouseGuest on the 15th season of the American reality show ''
Big Brother
Big Brother may refer to:
* Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''
** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control
** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...
''.
While in the ''Big Brother'' house, Stewart received national attention after becoming a victim of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
from fellow HouseGuests Aaryn Williams and GinaMarie Zimmerman. She became the first member of the ''Big Brother'' jury house that season.
Pageant career
She captured the
Miss Louisiana Teen USA
The Miss Louisiana Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Louisiana is in the top 10 most successful states at Miss Teen USA in terms of number and value of ...
2002 crown in the state pageant held in
Lafayette
Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to:
People
* Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette
* House of La Fayette, a French noble family
** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757â ...
in late 2001. Stewart then represented
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
South Padre Island
South Padre Island is a barrier island in the U.S. state of Texas. The remote landform is located in Cameron County, Willacy County, and accessible by the Queen Isabella Causeway. South Padre Island was formed when the creation of the Port Mans ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
in August 2002. The pageant was won by
Vanessa Semrow
Vanessa Marie Semrow (born November 13, 1984) is an American beauty queen who won Miss Teen USA 2002.
Personal life
Semrow was born as Vanessa Marie Semrow in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and she is of both American and Thai descent; her mother is Tha ...
of
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
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
The Miss Louisiana USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss USA pageant.
Miss Louisiana USA is produced by RPM Productions since 1990, which also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen ...
2004 pageant. She won the pageant the following year, on her second attempt, and was the first
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
woman to win this title. In April 2005, Stewart competed in the
Miss USA 2005
Miss USA 2005 was the 54th Miss USA pageant, held in Baltimore, Maryland on April 11, 2005. It was won by Chelsea Cooley of Miss North Carolina USA, North Carolina.
Fifty-one state titleholders competed for the title of Miss USA in the Hippodrom ...
pageant televised live from
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. The pageant was won by
Chelsea Cooley
Chelsea Scott Cooley Altman (born October 30, 1983) is an American actress, singer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who has competed in the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants and who has held the Miss USA 2005 title.
As M ...
of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, who had been
Miss North Carolina Teen USA
The Miss North Carolina Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of North Carolina in the Miss Teen USA pageant and is part of the RPM Productions group.
North Carolina has been moderately successful ...
2000. Stewart was a
speech pathology
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
major at
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
and was once a
dancer
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
for the
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
. She was due to give up her crown in November 2005, but the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
in her state meant the pageant was postponed until January 2006. Her successor was
Christina Cuenca
The Miss Louisiana USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss USA pageant.
Miss Louisiana USA is produced by RPM Productions since 1990, which also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen ...
of
Arabi Arabi may refer to:
*Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), early medieval Muslim mystic and philosopher
*Arabi (sheep)
*Arabi, Iran (disambiguation), villages in Iran
*Arabi, Ethiopia
* Arabi, Georgia, United States
*Ahmed ‘Urabi, a 19th-century Egyptian rebe ...
, who had placed in both years Stewart had competed.
Appearance on ''Big Brother ''
In 2013, Stewart was selected to appear on the American
reality television series
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
'' Big Brother 15'' as a contestant (HouseGuest). On Day 5, McCrae nominated Candice and Jessie for eviction, feeling as though they were the least-liked people in the house. However, McCrae used the Power of Veto to remove Candice from the block, and chose to nominate Elissa in her place. Aaryn choose Candice along with
Andy
Andy may refer to:
People
*Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds
*Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...
, Elissa, and Helen to be the Have-Nots for the second week. She once again became one of the Have-Nots during week four and five. During week five, Stewart was selected to compete for the Power of Veto competition; however, Spencer won the Power of Veto. On Day 39, Spencer used the Power of Veto to remove himself from the block, with Candice being nominated in his place in an attempt to ensure Howard's eviction. Jessie and Candice, believing that Amanda and McCrae were in control of the game, attempted to get the votes to evict Amanda from the house, though this plan failed. As a result, Candice and Jessie became outcasts in the house, and became the targets for several HouseGuests. During week six, Candice won a $5,000 prize. GinaMarie and her allies decided to target Candice and Jessie for eviction, hoping to see Candice be evicted from the house. On Day 43, GinaMarie chose to nominate Candice and Jessie for eviction. Candice lost the Veto competition and had to wear a "Clownitard" for a week. They also learned that this season would feature nine Jury members, rather than seven. Candice then became the sixth HouseGuest to be evicted when she received seven eviction votes (7-0-0). She became the first member of the Jury of Nine.
During her time in the house, Stewart formed a friendship with Howard Overby. Because of their racial background, she and Overby were the targets of racist comments from fellow HouseGuests, particularly
and GinaMarie Zimmerman. At one point, Gries said, “Be careful what you say in the dark; you might not be able to see that bitch." Later in the season, during a Veto Competition (where nominees compete for the "Power of Veto", and the holder can decide whether to change the nominations), Stewart got into a dispute with HouseGuest Amanda Zuckerman. Stewart whispered to HouseGuest Judd Daugherty, "They uckerman and her alliance membersthink you're the MVP." Zuckerman caught this and started taunting Stewart, calling her "Shaniqua". This was followed by, "Oh, am I racist now? I'm racist now!" In a double eviction on Day 49, Stewart was evicted from the house, placing 11th. During her eviction speech, she stated that "this week, the game got personal" and called out fellow HouseGuest GinaMarie for "saying defamatory comments", which sparked an argument. HouseGuest Spencer Clawson then 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, Stewart became the first member of the Jury, meaning she was able to influence the game through voting for the winner.
Personal life
In 2006, Stewart earned a bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from Xavier University of Louisiana. Previously, she was a cheerleader for the
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...