Brady's answer to a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests made her win the beauty pageant.
- Jun 17, 2013
AceShowbiz - Miss Connecticut Erin Brady is officially the new Miss USA. 25-year-old Brady, who earned a finance degree at Central Connecticut State University and works as a financial accountant, won the beauty pageant on June 16 in Las Vegas after giving a convincing answer to a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests.
Brady made it to the Top 5 alongside Miss Utah Marissa Powel, Miss South Carolina Megan Pinckney, Miss Illinois Stacie Juries and Miss Alabama Margaret McCord. Giuliana Rancic, who co-hosted it along with Nick Jonas, surprised the final five with her announcement that Miss Texas Ali Nugent joined them to make it Top 6, thanks to Twitter vote.
McCord, who majored in Public Relations at the University of Alabama, became the first runner-up after tackling a question about the government tracking cell phone calls. Fashion business major Juries was named the second runner-up after quizzed about irresponsible drinking. Powel, who is the singer of Geniveve band, took the third runner-up. Asked about bikini controversy at a beauty pageant, Nugent was the fourth runner-up with Pinckney named as the fifth one.
The Sunday event also crowned Miss Oregon Gabrielle Neilan, 22, as Miss Congeniality. Besides being third runner-up, Powell was announced as Miss Photogenic, and received $1,000 and a weekend at the Trump Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jonas Brothers and DJ Pauly D performed at the event, which aired live on NBC. Jonas siblings sang a medley including "Pom Poms", "First Time" and new song "Neon" during the swimsuit competition. Meanwhile, Pauly tore the stage with his fist-pumping music on the show called the "Final Look".
