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Las Vegas • A 25-year-old accountant from Connecticut with a secret glamorous side is the new Miss USA.
Erin Brady of South Glastonbury, Conn., won the beauty pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino Sunday night after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests. Asked if she agreed with the decision to swab the cheeks of arrestees, Brady said she did, since they had committed crimes after all.
Brady, who started competing in beauty pageants two year ago, gets the crown and a New York apartment for one year. She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising breast and ovarian cancer awareness, the organization's official cause.
As the stage emptied, Brady spoke about her commitment to fighting drug and alcohol abuse, which have marked her family, and her excitement at the prospect of telling her bosses at Prudential Financial she wasn't coming in tomorrow. Or ever again.
"They're going to be very upset to learn that I'm not coming," she said.
Asked what she was looking forward to, now that the competition is over, she described a routine that sounded not very different from her training regime: getting in her beauty sleep and hitting the gym.
Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, who was crowned Miss Photogenic, struggled to answer a question posed by reality TV star NeNe Leakes. Her response created an Internet stir in which she was compared to Miss South Carolina Teen USA, who became an Internet meme after a rambling response to a question during the 2007 pageant.
The Salt Lake Tribune added to this story