» Profiles In Pageantry:

Miss Teen USA & TRL's Vanessa Minnillo

Spotlight Profile By Scott Juba

Many winners of the Miss Teen USA Pageant enjoy their 15 minutes of fame and then fade into oblivion. Vanessa Minnillo, however, parlayed her Miss Teen USA crown into her current positions as host of MTV’s Total Request Live and a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight.

“When I was giving up my title,” she says, “they gave me a camera and said, ‘Can you do a behind the scenes for the pageant?’” Little did she know that five years later she’d have Carson Daly’s TRL job.

“I remember being four years old saying I want to be famous, and I want to be a movie star,” Minnillo recalls. “It was like, you need to put some real thoughts in your head. That career path is one in a million. Of course, my dad being in the military, the fact that I had to go the safe route and go to school and have a real career was always on my mind. I still can always go back to school and feel that I have enough skills to do anything behind the camera and in the business world, but right now, I’m enjoying this ride.”

Between her work on TRL and ET, Minnillo has met nearly all of the entertainment industry’s top stars. “I’ve met people from every walk of life,” she says. “I’ve met everybody. And if it wasn’t through ET and TRL, I’ve seen them out at a party. And it’s not about meeting them. It’s about the opportunity to see that they’re so normal.”

In the process of interviewing celebrities on two of the nation’s most popular entertainment programs, Minnillo, herself, has become a celebrity. And along with that celebrity status comes the unwanted side effect of tabloid reports. “I know that I wasn’t out last night at this club, but when I read it in the paper, I almost believe [I was there],” she says.

Minnillo says certain key words such as “suspected” and “rumored to be” are usually clear indicators that a report is false. “And my favorite [key word], ‘canoodling’,” she adds with a laugh. “What is canoodling? I canoodle every day on TRL. The Rock was on, and I was holding his hand and going ‘You’re so great,’ and holding his velvet shirt. That’s canoodling. So when you read it, it’s how everyone interprets it. It is what it is. Everybody loves to learn about celebrities and their lifestyle – not necessarily that I am one. They love to learn about people that are in the public eye, and they want to hear about it. Whether it’s good or bad, we eat it up. I just hope that through TRL and my role as a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight I can give them the facts and the knowledge and they can interpret it as they wish. But I’m not going to be the one to say, ‘She wasn’t wearing her wedding ring. They’re getting a divorce.’ That’s not my place.”

And it’s that credo of fair, accurate coverage that continues to make Vanessa Minnillo a standout in entertainment reporting.

» Another Crazy Week for our Miss Florida USA

Just when it looked like our Miss Florida USA Cristin Duren was going to have a quite thanksgiving weekend everything started to get very exciting. First off her plans were altered after a weekend appearance in Los Angeles was cancelled due to flight issues in Atlanta. So it was off to Alabama for a wonderful family weekend.

After plenty of turkey she received a call from The New York Times and was interviewed for an article on former Cheerleaders who now sell pharacutecals as a profession. That article was on the cover of last Monday’s edition. Then a call from CNBC had her live that night from Birmingham for a network satellite interview on their Money Matters show. Our Ms. Duren did fantastic and really wowed the home audience. After that appearance several other networks have called and will schedule her on their productions in the near future. You know we will keep you informed.

Enjoy this thumbnail montage from Cristin’s Crazy Sunday the prior weekend!

» Holiday Parade Patrol

We love the holiday season as parades and festivities abound in every part of our state. The first of the parades was in Orlando at last weeks Bill Heard Chevrolet Christmas Parade. Miss Florida USA 2006 Cristin Duren and Miss Florida Teen USA 2006 Jennifer Wooten were at the top of the float and their court include: Stephanie Patino, Miss Central Florida Teen USA; Savannah Stephens, Miss Seminole County Teen USA; Chelsea Zedar, Miss Orlando USA; Deanna Pollina, Miss City Beautiful USA; The parade floats were designed around this year’s theme, “Let Heaven and Nature Sing.” You know our float rocked! Enjoy the pictures.

The best float in the parade!

Ms. Duren, Ms. Zeder and Ms. Polina enjoy the beautiful afternoon (left)

The cast with pageant director Frank (right)

Also be on the lookout for these title-holders appearances in your region:

Tonight: Friday December 2^nd

The Boca Raton Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony

Mizner Park & US1

Featuring: Ashley Shannon (Miss Boca Raton USA) and Barbara Cosme (Miss Boca Raton Teen USA)

Saturday December 3

City of Hollywood Candy Cane Parade

7:00pm Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Featuring: Grand Marshall Jennifer Wooten, Miss Florida Teen USA 2006

Along with Christian Erickson (Miss Oakland Park Teen USA) Lyndsey Shockey (Miss Hollywood USA) Diana Crawford (Miss Hollywood Teen USA) and Angel Coleman (Miss Homestead Florida Keys USA)

Sunday December 4

South Miami Santa’s Parade of Elves

2:00pm Sunset Drive – South Miami

Featuring: Jennifer Wooten – Miss Florida Teen USA 2007

Sunday December 4

Boynton Beach Holiday Parade

3:00pm

Featuring: Amber Garrod (Miss Palm Beach County Teen USA) Carissa Grazil (Miss Gold Coast USA) Alysa Spirato (Miss Gold Coast Teen USA) and Shilah Goodwin (Miss Palm Beach County USA) - The Greyhound Pets of America Float

51^st Annual St Augustine’s Holiday Parade

10:00am Downtown St. Augustine

Featuring Sherri Lead (Miss Jacksonville USA) & Ashley Lake (Miss First Coast Teen USA)

» Kudos & Did You Knows

- Kudos to Sarah Callahan (West Broward Teen USA) and Jennifer Olkininsky (Broward County USA) are going to be special guests of honor for the Coral Springs Chambers at Kmart on University/Wiles Rd shopping for Christmas gifts for underprivlidged child on December 11th at 7am. If you are up and about drop on by to cheer them on and say way to go Jennifer and Sarah!

- Did you know that Miss Florida Teen USA alumni and Miss Amity 2002 Brooke Sorenson is currently a Florida Marlin Cheerleader and have been for the past two years. As well as dancing for them, she was also their Offical Spokesperson, speaking at every home game on the jumbo-tron. She graduated high school this year and I left as senior class president, captain of varsity cheerleading and the deace team. Now, she attends Florida International University majoring in broadcasting/communications. She’s anchored shows for Maximum MLB on Spike TV.

- Kudos to Miss Florida USA 2005 Melissa Witek who was the Guest of Honor at the Brevard County Children's Advocacy Center Fashion Show on Nov. 30 at the Suntree Country Club in Melbourne. She modeled different outfits and accompanied two of the CAC's child protection officers on the runway. Way to do a great thing for others (as always) Melissa!

» Pageant News Wanted!

Are you a titleholder or at large delegate who is making appearances or doing good things in the community? We would love to tell all of the Miss Florida USA Family your story. Send pictures and updates to telair@aol.com as we feature everything Miss Florida USA on Friday’s at Faces & Places.

» Alumni News Wanted!

If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

With an absolutely beautiful tropical background,

Miss Bolivia Universe 2006 Desiree Duran graces the lens

and makes this weeks featured picture.

It looks so lush and warm which is just what we need

right now in the heart of winter here in Florida. Enjoy!

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