The other day while browsing Yahoo! News like I always do, I came across an article in which they spoke of Lauren Caitlin Upton’s (Miss Teen South Carolina) response to the a question about why one-fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a world map. At first, I thought it was just a recap of some of the events from the pageant but little did I know that this poor girl amidst the camera lights, live audience and judges made a fool of herself by answering with the following response:

“I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.” The Star

At first, I laughed when I read the article and later saw a Youtube video of the clip from the pageant itself…a few seconds later I asked myself “what the hell?” Luckily, Miss Teen South Carolina was able to redeem herself on the Today show in which she was asked the question again and responded with the following answer:

“Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography.” The Seattle Times

Much better the second time around, Miss Teen South Carolina. Miss Teen Colorado ended up winning the pageant, however, despite her horrible answer Upton was third runner-up.