Mississippi’s Addie Carver wins controversy-hit Miss Teen USA pageant

(CNN) — Addie Carver of Mississippi was named Miss Teen USA on Thursday, assuming a title that has stood vacant since the previous winner’s highly controversial resignation in May.

The 17-year-old dance teacher, cheerleader and choreographer was crowned at a glitzy Los Angeles event that organizers hope will draw a line under a tumultuous three months for the contest and its companion event, Miss USA.

Prior to accepting the tiara, Carver had told judges of her earlier mental health struggles, adding: “As the next Miss Teen USA I want to make it my mission to know that every little girl who is just like me once is never alone.” Georgia’s Ava Colindres and Arizona’s Rachael Mclaen were named first and second runners-up.

The finale featured no explicit references to this year’s shock double resignation, which saw 2023’s Miss USA and Miss Teen USA — Utah’s Noelia Voigt and New Jersey’s UmaSofia Srivastava, respectively — become the first winners of either contest to ever renege their crowns. Voigt initially cited mental health reasons, though various criticisms of organizers later emerged, while Srivastava attributed her decision to a clash in “personal values” with the Miss USA organization.

The controversy heralded one significant change to Thursday’s proceedings: Breaking with years of tradition, Carver was presented with her tiara not by last year’s winner but by Hawaii’s Savannah Gankiewicz, who inherited the Miss USA crown following Voigt’s resignation.

Year of scandal

The Miss USA organization, which operates both pageants, was thrown into disarray when Voigt stepped down in May.

Although Voigt did not provide further details at the time, internet commenters spotted that the first letter in each sentence of her cryptic Instagram post, which announced her resignation, spelled “I am silenced,” sparking rumors that a non-disclosure agreement may have kept her from elaborating.

Her resignation letter, later obtained by CNN, contained a litany of complaints against organizers. In it, she alleged delays in receiving prizes and a “toxic work environment” that “at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment.” She also claimed to have been sexually harassed during a public appearance due the organization’s failure to provide an “effective handler.”

Days later, Carver’s predecessor, Srivastava, followed suit, giving up the Miss Teen USA title saying that her personal values “no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” She has not publicly commented further, though her mother, Barbara Srivastava, appeared on Good Morning America saying both beauty queens had been “ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered,” and that “the job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare.”

Organizers and the pageants’ parent company, the Miss Universe Organization, did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment at the time of the double resignation. Miss USA president Laylah Rose released a statement at the end of May, reported by the Los Angeles Times, refuting Voigt’s allegations.

Unlike in Miss USA, the teen competition’s first runner-up, Stephanie Skinner, declined to take on the title, which instead remained vacant.

Mental health struggles

Open to applicants aged 14 to 19, the annual Miss Teen USA contest celebrates “beauty, brains and confidence,” according to its official website. The preliminary contest on Wednesday evening saw all 51 participants take part in evening gown and activewear rounds (the latter replaced the controversial swimsuit category in 2016).

Thursday’s final, hosted by Rachel Lindsay of “The Bachelorette” and Justin Sylvester of E! News, began with the announcement of the top 20, who then participated in another activewear parade.

After being narrowed down to 10, finalists paraded in gowns before the final five answered an interview question in front of the judges, who included actress Francia Raisa and Rylee Arnold from “Dancing with the Stars.”

Asked about the biggest challenge facing young people today, Carver highlighted the importance of mental health. She described the impact that losing her father to lung cancer had on her, then aged 13, adding: “my mental health struggled severely but I was able to find hope again — and that was through the art of dance.”

Carver said she went on to create her own organization, Dance to Empower, which is “founded on bringing the joy of dance to everyone.”

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