Kandice Pelletier (born November 21, 1981) is an American beauty queen and swimwear designer from

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth larges ...

who has competed in the Miss America pageant and on two seasons of the

reality television 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 ...

show ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

''. As of 2012, she was the president of Kandice Pelletier Swimwear.

Education

Pelletier graduated with honors from North Cobb High School in 2000 and went on to attempt a major in communications at

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...

.A Resolution Congratulating Kandice Pelletier, Miss Cobb County 2002; and for other purposes
. Georgia General Assembly Senate Resolution 629. Retrieved 2007-02-12. Though she never graduated KSU she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to pursue a dance career and earned a degree in entertainment communications at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Career

Performing arts

While in New York, Pelletier worked as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette and was immortalized into the Rockette wax figure at Madame Tussauds Time's Square location. Pelletier later appeared in the movie-musical remake of '' The Producers'' as a member of the dancing chorus ("a girl with the pearls") . Kandice appeared as the 'coach' on MTV's reality television series ''MADE'' in the episode entitled "Beauty Queen". It was episode 23 of season nine of the program.

Pageantry

Pelletier competed in her first Miss America state pageant in 2002 when she was a quarter-finalist in the Miss Georgia pageant as Miss Cobb County. She returned as Miss Coastal Georgia the following year and placed first runner-up. Representing Georgia, Pelletier went on to win the

National Sweetheart Miss National Sweetheart is a United States beauty pageant created in 1941 where runners-up from the Miss America state pageants are invited to Hoopeston, Illinois to compete for the title of Miss National Sweetheart, and the name of the title held ...

pageant for Miss America state runners-up in 2003. After moving to New York to attend

, Pelletier competed as Miss Manhattan in the

Miss New York The Miss New York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated the Miss New York organization's license ...

pageant and placed first runner-up to

Christina Ellington Christina Yvette Ellington Pares, (born 1982), is a Charter school principal, beauty queen and entertainer in the tri-state area. Pares' first major beauty pageant title was Miss New York 2004, which she won competing as Miss Southern New York. ...

, who she had competed against at

. The following year she won the

2005 title, after winning the Miss Greater New York City local pageant. In 2005, Pelletier was also a double state preliminary winner, with awards for swimsuit and talent. Pelletier's sister Kendra Pelletier is also involved in pageantry. She placed in the top fifteen at the

Miss Georgia USA The Miss Georgia USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Georgia in the Miss USA pageant. This pageant is directed Greenwood Productions under the ownership of Miss Tennessee USA 1989 Kim Greenwood and ...

2007 pageant won by Brittany Swann and second runnerup in the Miss Capital City 2007 pageant in the Miss Georgia system. She also competed in the 2007 Miss Georgia Pageant as Miss Southern Rivers where she was a top 10 finalist.

''The Amazing Race''

She appeared on Season 10 with race partner Dustin, who competed at Miss America 2006 as

Miss California The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition. The pageant began in Santa Cruz in 1924 and was held there in 1925. During the years 1926 through 1946 in years when the Mi ...

. After traveling through Asia, Africa and Europe the pair finished in fourth place. They also competed in ''All-Stars'' season after traveling through South America, Africa, Poland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Guam, Hawaii and their final destination in San Francisco, the pair finished in second place, ultimately fell short in the final leg - losing the one million dollar grand prize and The Amazing Race: All Stars winners' title to Dating Eric & Danielle who competed on opposing teams in Season 9.

Vanity Fair

Pelletier appeared alongside

James Gandolfini James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (; September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor. For his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American Mafia crime boss in HBO's television series ''The Sopranos'', he won three Emmy Awards, five Screen ...

on the April 2007 cover of Vanity Fair shot by

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...

Swimwear

In 2011, she started a swimwear line, Kandice Pelletier Swimwear, focused on providing swimsuits to pageant contestants. The company sponsors over 50 state pageants each year in the Miss America 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, ...

systems. The company also served as the official swimwear of the

Miss USA 2014 Miss USA 2014 was the 63rd Miss USA pageant, held at the Raising Cane's River Center Arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on June 8, 2014. All fifty states and the District of Columbia competed. The preliminary competition was not webcast live for ...

competition, the

Miss Teen USA 2014 Miss Teen USA 2014, the 32nd Miss Teen USA pageant. It was held at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in Nassau, Bahamas on August 2, 2014 and was hosted by Australian journalist Karl Jeno Schmid and Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady. Cassidy Wolf ...

competition, and the

Miss Teen USA 2013 Miss Teen USA 2013 was the 31st Miss Teen USA pageant, held on August 10, 2013 at Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas and was hosted by Australian journalist Karl Jeno Schmid and Miss Teen USA 2003 Tami Farrell. Logan West of Connecti ...

competition. In addition to

, and

, Pelletier's clients include the last three winners of the Miss America competition, who each won their state titles wearing Pelletier's swimsuits earning Pelletier the nickname "America’s pageant swimwear expert".

Personal life

She lives in New York City.

References

External links

Pageant News Bureau profile Kandice Pelletier - Amazing Race Wiki
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelletier, Kandice The Amazing Race (American TV series) contestants Living people Miss America 2006 delegates 1981 births People from Marietta, Georgia Kennesaw State University alumni The Rockettes Miss New York winners New York University alumni