Miss USA 2008 was the 57th Miss USA pageant, held in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

on April 11, 2008. At the conclusion of the final night of competition, Crystle Stewart of

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 ...

was crowned the winner by outgoing titleholder

Rachel Smith Rachel Renee Smith (born April 18, 1985) is an American actress, TV host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won the Miss USA 2007 and who previously had competed in the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant. She represented the United States at Mis ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Crystle represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2008 pageant, which was held in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, where she placed in the Top 10. This was also the first time in the pageant's 56-year history that two consecutive women of

African Americans 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 ...

have been crowned. The pageant was held at the

Theatre for the Performing Arts The Zappos Theater, originally known as Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, is a mid-sized auditorium located at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue hosts a variety of events, including charity benefits, concerts and ...

, a 7,000-seat theater located in the

Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino Planet Hollywood Las Vegas (formerly the Aladdin) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. The property was previously the site of an earlier resort known ...

. The theater was also the location of Miss Universe 1991 and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

pageants. This is the first time that the Miss USA pageant was held in Nevada. For the first time, the competition was broadcast in High Definition. Brother/sister duo

Donny Donnie or Donny is a familiar form (hypocorism) of the masculine given name Donald, Donal, Don, or Donovan. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Donny Baldwin, American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship and Stars ...

and

Marie Osmond Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television host, and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop ...

hosted the live telecast for the first time, and

Finger Eleven Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1990. They have released seven studio albums (six as Finger Eleven and one as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), with their album '' The Greyest of Blue Skies'' bringing them into th ...

performed their single "

Paralyzer "Paralyzer" is a song by Canadian rock band Finger Eleven. It was released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Them vs. You vs. Me'', on March 1, 2007. The song received high airplay in both the United States and Canada, and was ...

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

's song Umbrella was used during the evening gown competition. During the final show on April 11, the fifteen delegates with the highest average scores from the preliminary competition were announced. The top fifteen competed in the swimsuit competition. The top ten delegates from swimsuit competed in evening gown. The top five delegates from the evening gown competition (not averaged composite scores from both competitions) competed in the final question round to determine the winner. The judges' composite score was shown after each round of competition for only the second time since 2002.

Selection of contestants

One delegate from each state and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

were chosen in state pageants held from June 2007 to January 2008.

Results

Placements

Special awards

Final competition scores

: Winner : First Runner-Up : Second Runner-Up : Third Runner-Up : Fourth Runner-Up : Top 10 : Top 15 : Rank in each round of competition

Historical significance

wins competition for the ninth time. *

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

earns the ''1st runner-up'' position for the first time and surpasses its previous highest placement from

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, becoming its highest placement of the state until

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. *

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

earns the ''2nd runner-up'' position for the third time. The last time it placed this was in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. *

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

earns the ''3rd runner-up'' position for the second time. The last time it placed this was in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. *

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

earns the ''4th runner-up'' position for the first time and reaches its highest placement since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. * States that placed in semifinals the previous year were

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. *

placed for the eighth consecutive year. *

placed for the fourth consecutive year. *

and

placed for the third consecutive year. *

and

made their second consecutive placement. *

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

last placed in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. *

and

last placed in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. *

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

last placed in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. *

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

last placed in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. *

last placed in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. *

breaks an ongoing streak of placements since

Delegates

Contestant gallery

File:Raquel Beezley 2011.jpg, Raquel Beezley
Miss California USA 2008 File:Keisha Walding headshot.png, Keisha Walding
Miss Alabama USA 2008 File:Vincenza Carrieri-Russo.png,

Vincenza Carrieri-Russo Vincenza Carrieri-Russo (born June 10, 1984) is a model, actress, entrepreneur and beauty pageant titleholder from Newark, Delaware. Carrieri-Russo was Miss Delaware USA 2008 and represented Delaware at the Miss USA 2008 pageant. She also compete ...

Miss Delaware USA 2008 File:Shanon Lersch.jpg, Shanon Lersch
Miss Illinois USA 2008 File:Michelle Berthelot headshot.png, Michelle Berthelot
Miss Louisiana USA 2008 File:Casandra Tressler headshot.png, Casandra Tressler
Miss Maryland USA 2008 File:Elisabeth Crawford.png, Elisabeth Crawford
Miss Michigan USA 2008 File:Kaylee Unverzagt headshot.png, Kaylee Unverzagt
Miss Minnesota USA 2008 File:Candice Crawford parade.jpg, Candice Crawford
Miss Missouri USA 2008 File:Veronica Grabowski headshot.png, Veronica Grabowski
Miss Nevada USA 2008 File:Crystle Stewart 2014.jpg, Crystle Stewart (2008 winner)
Miss Texas USA 2008 File:Charliebuhler.jpg, Charlie Buhler Miss South Dakota USA 2008

Contestant notes

*Due to accounting errors, Christina Silva was crowned Miss California USA. When the mistake was discovered a week after the pageant, the real winner Raquel Beezley assumed the title. *Michelle Gillespie, Miss Kansas USA, is the great-great niece of

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

1921,

Margaret Gorman Margaret Gorman (August 18, 1905 – October 1, 1995) was an American model and beauty queen who was the winner of the first Miss America beauty pageant after being crowned Miss District of Columbia in 1921. Pageantry Gorman was a junior at W ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. *Three contestants previously competed in the

Miss Texas USA The Miss Texas USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state Texas in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. This pageant is part of the Miss USA Organization, owned by Texas native C ...

and/or Miss Texas Teen USA pageants before winning titles in other states: **Candice Crawford (Missouri) placed third runner-up at Miss Texas Teen USA 2003 and 2005. She is the sister of '' Gossip Girl'' actor

Chace Crawford Christopher Chace Crawford (born July 18, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his television portrayals of Nate Archibald on The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012), and of The Deep in Amazon Prime Video original series ...

. **Elisabeth Crawford (Michigan) was a non-finalist at Miss Texas USA 2004 to 2006 **Veronica Grabowski (Nevada) competed at the Miss Texas Teen USA 2003 and Miss Texas USA 2007 pageants, finishing as a semifinalist in both years. *Amy Diaz (Rhode Island) and Danielle Roundtree (New York) competed at Miss Florida USA 2007. Diaz placed third runner-up and Roundtree was a non-finalist. *

Abbey Curran Abbey Nicole Curran (born ) is an American beauty pageant contestant from Davenport, Iowa, who competed in the Miss USA pageant in 2008 as Miss Iowa USA. Curran is the chairwoman of her own non-profit pageant "The Miss You Can Do It Pageant" fo ...

(Iowa) was the first contestant with a disability. Curran was born with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

. *Amy Diaz (Rhode Island) competed at Miss Earth 2009 in

Boracay Boracay (; often locally shortened to Bora) is a resort island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located off the northwest coast of Panay. It has a total land area of , under the jurisdiction of three barangays in Malay, Akla ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

but unplaced.

Judges

Heather Mills Heather Anne Mills (born 12 January 1968) is an English former model, businesswoman and activist. Mills first came to public attention in 1993 when she was a model and was involved in a traffic collision with a police motorcycle in London. T ...

- activist; contestant on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

season four A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' *

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

- actor; comedian; screenwriter; director * Kristian Alfonso - actress on NBC's ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

''; entrepreneur * Joey Fatone - former member of

'NSync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to Europe ...

; actor; contestant on

of ''

''; host of NBC's '' The Singing Bee'' *

Christian Siriano Christian Vincent Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer and member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American design competition ...

- winner of

of '' Project Runway'' *

Amanda Beard Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981), also known by her married name Amanda Brown, is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist (two gold, four silver, one bronze). She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststro ...

- Olympic Gold Medal swimmer; model *

Kelly Carlson Kelly Lee Carlson (born February 17, 1976) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Kimber Henry in the FX drama series ''Nip/Tuck''. Career Carlson was raised in Bloomington, Minnesota, and attended the Academy o ...

- actress on FX's '' Nip/Tuck'' * Ken Paves - celebrity hairstylist *

Shawne Merriman Shawne DeAndre Merriman (born May 25, 1984), nicknamed "Lights Out", is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and was sel ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

George Wayne George Wayne (born 1952) is a New York writer who wrote a celebrity Q&A column for '' Vanity Fair'' until 2015. He has been called a "celebrity griller" and his work is considered controversial, since he asks blunt and occasionally random and rude ...

- '' Vanity Fair'' magazine celebrity journalist *

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program which ...

- founder and CEO of

Planet Hollywood Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl En ...

International, Inc.

Notes

References

External links

Miss USA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Usa 2008

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

April 2008 events in the United States 2008 beauty pageants 2008 in Nevada Zappos Theater

Selection of contestants

Results

Placements

Special awards

Final competition scores

Historical significance

Delegates

Contestant gallery

Contestant notes

Judges

See also

Notes

References

External links