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HOLLYWOOD - For the past week, the Kodak Theatre has been home to 51 of the most beautiful women in America going through the most grueling, least glamorous work of their young, gorgeous lives.
"The rehearsals are brutal," says Meagan Yvonne Tandy, the reigning Miss California USA. "We'll get here at 9 in the morning, and we won't leave until 10 at night.
"It's like all-day dancing, one-two-three-four this, one-two-three-four that. It's very competitive here, and it's very, very easy to get discouraged. It's crazy. It's real tiring - I'm not getting much sleep.
"But I'm having a great time."
Those long rehearsals have taken place amid the ripple that has brought an unprecedented edge to the pageant, which will air at 9tonight on NBC.
That ripple is the scandal over the behavior of the reigning Miss USA and the state titleholder from Nevada - and its impact on the Donald Trump-owned pageant, which, in television ratings, has unseated Miss America as the nation's premier beauty showcase.
The impact of that scandal has been of widespread interest and possibly a ratings bonanza for the Miss USA 2007 Pageant, which will broadcast during prime time tonight from the Kodak Theatre,
"I think there's been more focus on the pageant, perhaps, than there might have been otherwise," admits pageant executive producer Phil Gurin. "Any time there's something that stirs up the pot, certainly more eyeballs are going to come to watch."
While Miss USA, Tara Conner herself, has been off-limits to reporters covering the pageant, her troubles with a hard-partying lifestyle - which included underage drinking, admitted cocaine use and eventual rehab - has been a topic of conversation at the pageant, even among the 50 other contestants.
"She's come in front of us, she's presented it to us, and she's admitted it and confessed everything, and she's been very, very open," Tandy says.
"The lesson to be learned with Tara's situation is a lesson that we're all human - to not make a big deal about it, to turn it around and make it work to your advantage. And she did."
Trump flair?
Trump publicly stood by Conner, refusing to strip her of the title - a decision that possibly shows that, with "The Apprentice" now in its sixth successful season on NBC, he has the same flair for building television ratings as for a multimillion-dollar development deal.
"At a time when America has shown its distaste for beauty pageants, Donald Trump has turned the Miss USA Pageant into the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue all wrapped together into one big TV spectacle," says Hollywood screenwriter and social commentator Teo Davis.
"And now he's capitalized on the bad behavior of some of the contestants to add an element of `Girls Behaving Badly' that can't help but drive up interest."
But even Trump apparently understood the show could go only so far.
Miss New Jersey, Ashley Harder, resigned in January when she became pregnant.
And Katie Rees was stripped of the Miss Nevada title the month before, after pictures surfaced on TMZ.com, showing her kissing other women and simulating oral sex at a Florida nightclub three years ago.
On the pageant's media day Wednesday, the new Miss Nevada, Helen Salas, said she had stepped into the role without a second thought.
"I see Katie as a good person, but I don't focus on the negative," she said. "I focus on the positives, and I look toward the future."
Pageant organizers themselves said they will not sugarcoat how Conner, a native of Kentucky, nearly lost her crown.
"Certainly, our reigning Miss USA is going to be on television and we're certainly not going to shy away from referring to what happened," said Gurin. "Why shy away from what's part of our family? We embrace our family."
Fascinating entrants
But then, it's not as if the pageant is hurting for fascinating stories.
Miss Arkansas, Kelly George, is the first active-duty military member to compete in the Miss USA pageant.
"I don't think that you'd be able to pick me out of the crowd of women and say, `That one's in the Air Force,"' said George, 24, a second lieutenant and deputy chief of public affairs at Little Rock Air Force Base.
"But there are 51 gorgeous women here, so you have to think of what makes them different. So the fact that I am an airman, and that I'm an airman first, sparks people's attention."
Then there's Miss Idaho, Mandy Lynn Rammell, 21, a Mormon who is troubled not only by the scandals within the pageants but also by the bad-girl behavior of such potential role models as party girls Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
"The Internet photos, the partying, the drug abuse, just the level of sexual exploiting that they're using - it's out of control, and the way our girls are looking up to them isn't changing, and that's what's scary," Rammell said.
For the 51 contestants competing for the crown - and the chance to compete for Miss Universe - the pageant took on marathon proportions as it neared its end, with a number of them talking about the unexpected 13-hour days of rehearsals for the show and the toll it takes.
"We've learned all kinds of secrets to help you cope," said Miss Virginia, Lauren Elizabeth Barnette. "The best one has been Preparation H - not only to take down puffiness under the eyes, but on your legs.
"There's some girls wrapping their thighs with Preparation H to remove excess water out from under the skin.
"Preparation H. Can you imagine?"
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