Las Vegas Weekly

November 4, 2009 · 10:06 AM

2008 Miss America runner-up competing for Miss Nevada USA

By Robin Leach

2007 Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, standing in the center, with other pageant contestants.

Photo: Courtesy

The rules in the beauty pageant circuit permit this, but some people are scratching their heads wondering how a former Miss America runner-up can now compete for the crown in the rival Miss USA Pageant.

2007 Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, who lives here in Las Vegas full time now, is one of the 15 gorgeous girls competing Saturday in the 2010 Miss Nevada USA Pageant. In February last year, Elyse was second runner-up in the 2008 Miss America Pageant held here and broadcast live on NBC from Planet Hollywood.

Here’s the YouTube video of her performance of Robbie Williams’ “Angels” at the Miss America Pageant:

The Miss America Pageant and the Miss USA Pageant will be broadcast live again in the coming months from Planet Hollywood. Elyse, 23, wants to represent Nevada now in Donald Trump’s Miss USA Pageant.

On Saturday, she’ll compete with 14 other Nevada beauties in the run-off pageant in Horn Theater at the College of Southern Nevada Performing Arts Center. Elyse, who comes from a diverse heritage, was the first woman of American Indian descent -- a member of the Yakama tribe -- to earn the Miss Washington crown.

Here’s the YouTube video of her win as Miss Washington:

If Elyse wins this weekend, she will take the crown from our friend -- and part-time Vegas DeLuxe correspondent -- Georgina Vaughan, who is the reigning Miss Nevada.

Shortly after Elyse placed in the national pageant, a series of eyebrow-raising photos popped up on the Internet in July last year. She wore her crown in some of the questionable beer pong pictures, as well as while flipping off the camera.

At the time, Mike Miller, executive director of the Miss Washington Pageant, said the organization was embarrassed: “Elyse Umemoto is an outstanding young woman and has been a brilliant representative for the Miss Washington Scholarship Organization. We continue to be very proud of her. ... It is unfortunate that her behavior in unguarded moments has attracted attention. … We do not condone the behaviors depicted in these photos. However, there will be no discipline for Elyse based on the behavior evidenced in the photos.”

You can bet the cameras will be off all over again for the beauty queen if she wins on Saturday night after a year of staying out of the spotlight!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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