When asked a reasonably straightforward question during the Miss USA pageant, Miss Utah USA Marissa Powell was unable to provide a straightforward answer. While the question was phrased in a less than optimal manner, Powell’s stumbling, stuttering, pause-filled and incomprehensible response was out there enough to go viral in a fashion comparable to Miss Teen USA’s Caitlin Upton’s response about “US Americans,” “such as,” and “the Iraq.”
The question posed to Powell was, “A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?” While the question, as read by Nene Leakes, is a little oddly worded, Powell’s response is even odder.
“I think we can relate this back to education,” begins Powell, who starts off intelligible but is already missing the point of the question, “and how we are…continuing to try to strive to [extended pause] figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem. And I think, especially the men are… um….seen as the leaders of this, and so we need to try to figure out how to create education better so we can solve this problem. Thank you.”
Shortly after the pageant, TMZ reports that Powell admitted to her friends that she couldn’t hear the question, and rather than ask the judge to repeat it, began to blurt out a response that came across as irrelevant and jumbled.
Unsurprisingly, Powell did not win the competition, losing out to Miss Connecticut Erin Brady, but Powell did win the competition in regards to achieving fame, however humiliating that fame may be.
Powell appeared on the Today show on Monday morning, where Matt Lauer asked her what was running through her mind when she provided the stunning answer to the question.
“Oh my gosh, so much,” said Powell. “I can’t even tell you. I was so excited and I was so nervous. I got up to this top five question and I was the first one. And I got up and the question was a little bit confusing to me and I just started speaking without even processing. I just started going.”
