Miss USA 2006 | |
---|---|
Date | April 21, 2006 |
Presenters | |
Entertainment | East Village Opera Company |
Venue | Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland |
Broadcaster | NBC, WBAL-TV |
Entrants | 51 |
Placements | 15 |
Winner | Tara Conner Kentucky |
Congeniality | Dottie Cannon Minnesota |
Photogenic | Cristin Duren Florida |
Miss USA 2006 was the 55th Miss USA pageant, held at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland on April 21, 2006. Fifty-one state titleholders competed for the title, which was won by Tara Conner of Kentucky.[1] Conner was crowned by outgoing titleholder Chelsea Cooley of North Carolina.[2]
This was the second consecutive year that the pageant was held in Baltimore, although the venue changed from the Hippodrome Theater to the larger 1st Mariner Arena.[3][4] Delegates arrived in the city on 2 April 2006, and were involved in three weeks of events, appearances and preliminary competitions before the final competition.[4] This included a trip to New York City to attend a book launch for The Miss Universe Guide to Beauty and make media appearances on Regis and Kathy, The Early Show and Total Request Live.[5][6]
The pageant hosts were Nancy O'Dell (who had hosted the pageant in 2004 and 2005) and Drew Lachey.[4] For the first time Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star Carson Kressley provided commentary.[7] Special guest performers were the East Village Opera Company.
The finals were broadcast by NBC, with 7.77 million viewers, the second-lowest viewership ever recorded.[8]
The winner represented the United States at Miss Universe 2006 on July 23, 2006, in Los Angeles where she placed 4th Runner-up.