When I think back on my 14 years doing pageants, I realized I have quite a few stories to tell for those looking to pull back the curtain on what pageantry is really like. Let me debunk a few rumors right away. Yes, we get spray tans. Yes, we use butt glue. Yes, we contour our abs for swimsuit. So, here’s my behind the scenes look at my time competing in pageants.

Am I Confused?

My favorite pageant story of all time! In a pageant you do on-stage introductions. You know, “I’m Sammy Hyatt, Miss DeSoto Heritage!” Well, I was Miss Central Florida in 2016 and Miss DeSoto Heritage in 2017. On the first night of Miss Florida competition in 2017, I walked on stage for introductions and shouted into the microphone, “Sammy Hyatt, Central Florida!!!” and realized as the words were coming out of my mouth that I was in fact DeSoto Heritage and not Central Florida… I walked off stage mortified! Luckily I’m friends with the girl who actually was Miss Central Florida that year, Abby, and she came up to me backstage and jokingly said, “I heard you stole my title!”

Afterward my mom said none of my friends and family in the audience even noticed my mistake because they were so used to me being Miss Central Florida the entire year prior. The only person who noticed (and of course pointed it out to everyone else) was my Sunshine Princess, Emmi. A few nights later we had a dinner with our Sunshine Princesses (pictured below). While we were eating, Abby (Miss Central Florida) came up to our table to talk with someone and Emmi pipes up, “Oh look! There’s Miss Central Florida….oh wait or am I mistaken?” Emmi was so sassy and always had the best quips!

Murphy’s Law

If it can go wrong, it will, right? That’s what happened my very last pageant of the 2016 season. I was competing in the Sweeps pageant (last one of the season) in Pasco County (about an hour and a half from home) after losing 10 pageants in a row over the course of 2 seasons. I wake up the morning of the pageant and my phone screen is just black and won’t turn on for anything. Frustrating, but not the end of the world. My mom and Jared were there and would take care of it that day. After interview, I go to get ready for talent rehearsal, where I realize I didn’t pack ANY of my shoes for competition. No jazz shoes for talent, no heels for gown and swimsuit. I go to call my mom realizing I don’t even have a phone so I borrow a friend’s phone and tell her I don’t have any shoes to compete in. She runs to Payless, but let’s just say the options there were less than desirable and that’s pretty much the best option in Pasco County. So, I asked around if any girls had an extra pair of heels they wouldn’t be wearing that I could borrow. This is probably a good time to mention I have very big feet – I wear a size 10 in shoes. Not a single person had a size 10, but my friend Jercoiya had an extra pair of size 9 heels so I said, “Good enough!”

I performed talent barefoot and wore a pair of heels a size too small for swimsuit and gown. My toes hung over the front ever so slightly as you can see in the picture below. And that’s the story of how I WON my first Miss title! Who would’ve thunk it!?

It’s All Polish To Me

I was in my interview for Miss Florida’s Outstanding Teen and on my resume under “fun facts” I wrote that I can sing Happy Birthday in Polish. My mom’s family is Polish so we sing it at every birthday party and it’s a good interview time filler if they ask me to sing it. However, that’s basically all the Polish I know. I can’t speak it at all. Of course, in my interview, one of my judges spoke Polish. So, in the interview he mentioned that I can sing Happy Birthday in Polish and followed my answer by saying “Dziekuje.” Watching my interview back on video I gave him such a blank stare even though I kept smile. I just nodded and said, “Yeah!” not knowing what else to say and hoping another judge would jump in with another question.

A year later I went to Poland and picked up some common Polish phrases and sayings. I now know that dziekuje means thank you and if this interview had taken place after my trip to Poland, I could have easily responded with “nie ma za co,” which means you’re welcome.

What the heck was that?

I was competing in the Miss Manatee pageant and wanted to win SO badly. When I went out to do my rifle routine for talent, I did the first few 8 counts, caught my rifle not quite the right way, and completely blanked on the rest of the routine. I couldn’t even tell you what I did because I basically blacked out until it was over. As soon as I walked off stage I thought, “Well, I just lost this one.”

When I got backstage there was a text from my mom that said, “What the heck was that?” because she knew my routine inside and out and knew that was not at all how it was supposed to go. I guess no one else could tell I messed up because I ended up winning that pageant!!

Dessert Queen

During Miss Florida’s Outstanding Teen orientation we had a luncheon and were seated at a table with some other girls and one of them brought her dad as her guest. After our salad we were served key lime pie for dessert (which is my favorite dessert) and the dad said, “Ok girls, make sure you only eat half your dessert. Don’t want to eat too much!” We were all 13-17 years old and this dad just told us to watch what we ate. I gladly ate my entire piece of key lime pie next to him and would have taken a second piece if offered.

Speaking of dessert…

During Miss Florida week, we had a party and there were cupcakes for dessert. The host brought over a tray of cupcakes to our table and asked if we wanted any. Most of the other girls politely declined, citing that we had swimsuit competition in just a few days. Three girls agreed they would split one cupcake. My roommate Sara and I looked at each other and each grabbed our own cupcake – not willing to share with anyone! We then went back up and got seconds because they were so good. The next year, Sara won Miss Florida, so moral of the story is that it’s OK to live your life and eat the dessert.

More Food Stories

You make some great friends through pageants and sometimes they really come through for you. Each Miss Florida contestant was sent to a local Lakeland business to spend the afternoon and get word out that Miss Florida was that week. I found out my friend Casey was going to be at a restaurant called Pizza Palace for the day. I was stationed there the year before and raved to her about how amazing their garlic knots are. As we loaded up on the bus to head back to our hotel, Casey comes up to me with a to-go box full of none other than Pizza Palace garlic knots! I could have cried it was such a sweet gesture (and the knots were just as good as I remembered).

Photoshoot Fail

A few months after I was crowned Miss DeSoto Heritage, we had a photoshoot scheduled for a team photo and our official Miss Florida headshots. The week prior, I wasn’t feeling well at all, but I knew I had to do this photoshoot. I drove the 2.5 hours home to Bradenton from Gainesville for the photoshoot and felt awful the whole time. I had no energy and my body kept overheating. Turns out I had Mono! The headshots from the photoshoot weren’t even useable because there was just no life behind my eyes – I looked like a zombie playing dress-up. It’s no wonder I had no energy and felt so sick!

“Is Sammy short for Samantha?”

When I competed in the Manatee County Fair Pageant from the ages of 7-14 there was a private interview portion even at the youngest age level. My mom and I would always practice interview questions where she would pretend to be the judge and make up questions she thought they might ask. One year when I was about 10, for no reason she kept asking me, “I see your name is Sammy. Is that short for anything?” I thought that was the most ridiculous question, so every time she asked me that I would look her dead in the eyes and deadpan, “No.” She chastised me every time that I had to have a better answer, so ultimately I came up with, “Yes, it’s short for Samantha. I was named after my great-granddaddy Samuel Hyatt, but I prefer to go by Sammy because it’s cute like me!” Still, anytime she asked me that question I would answer with an annoyed look and a simple, “No.”

My interview rolled around for that year’s pageant and, I kid you not, one of the judges asked, “I see your name is Sammy. Is that short for anything?” Thank god I had a good answer planned!! I could not believe that was the one and only time I was ever asked that question by a judge and it was probably my most practiced interview response. I’ll still never understand how that coincidence happened.

15 Minutes to Go

During Miss Florida week there are all kinds of luncheons and events in addition to the competition that keep us busy when we aren’t rehearsing. One morning, my alarm didn’t go off and when I woke up, I realized my roommate and I had 15 minutes before our bus was leaving for a luncheon. I have never gotten ready so quickly in my entire life. I bolted out of bed, ran a flat iron through my hair and threw on my dress and heels. I brought my makeup and did it on the bus on the way to the luncheon. Of course, that was the event we had some professional photos taken and I was awarded a scholarship. Luckily, my 15 minute look wasn’t too shabby!

If you want to hear more about my time in pageants, check out one of my favorite blog posts: My Story of Losing.