01x01 - Dirty Tricks

[bunniefuu]

WEBVTT

[gentle music]

- Miss America has always
represented the American dream.

Watching a young woman come
from nothing to become royalty.

[woman shouting]
[crowd cheering]

- Every year, the whole
family gathered around

to watch Miss America.

Two thirds of America
watched Miss America.

- Miss America for 1973.

- Miss America 1986.

- Miss America 1994.

- Miss America
started the same year

women got the right to vote.

She's been part of
so much history.

- Miss America was really
something to look up to

and to idolize in the best way.

- The woman who won Miss America
overnight was a sensation.

Everyone knew her name.

- [Host] Miss Texas!

- She is a lady of her community

who knows how to serve
people with dignity,

with care and compassion.

- You just wanna see the world
through rose-colored glasses

and it's really
just not that way.

- There's so much that
happens during that year

that people don't know about.

- [News Reporter] Vanessa
Williams of Long Island

became the first Black
to be named Miss America.

- I do officially
relinquish my title

as Miss America 1984 to
the Miss America pageant.

- A much bigger
Miss America machine

was hidden behind the curtain
that only the wizard saw.

And I learned what was
behind the curtain.

I was so controlled.

- It's like a dictatorship.

You stand up against us,
we will terminate you.

- You have your makeup
and hair looking good

and you're smiling,
but so many times,

there was anger and rage.

Sometimes it was just so tired.

- You saw this
transformation of girls

from like extroverted,
outgoing women to just zombies.

There was that understanding.

You had to look sexy.

- [Host] Miss Virginia,
Caressa Cameron!

[audience cheering]

- I felt like they
were never gonna let

someone else Black win
this pageant ever again.

- An email scandal rocks the
Miss America organization.

- What transpired should
never have happened,

particularly in a
female organization.

- Is Mallory Hagen not the
most beautiful Miss America?

- I drank a lot of alcohol,

and I stood on top
of my building,

and if it wasn't for my
relationship with my parents,

I probably would have made

a very different
decision than I did.

I think that was
the lowest of lows.

- I didn't know how worried
about her I should have been.

[dramatic music]

[soft guitar music]

- I packed up some of these
things a couple years ago.

So this was my binder
of preparation material,

and it's full of some
interesting stuff,

like a photo of my
mother holding me

with a plate of chicken wings.

My parents were quite young

when they found out
that I was coming along.

My childhood was full of
after school activities.

So I was in show choir,

I was on the dance
line with the band.

I was the typical high
school overachiever.

Those pigtails, my
hair was so long.

- She was always
singing and dancing.

She always had a little
glimmer in her eye.

She had a little it factor,
even when she was little.

[audience cheering]

- Dancing was always
really important to me.

I felt like that was a
place where I stood out.

["Flight of the Bumblebee"
on xylophone]

- We loved watching
Miss America.

We would have friends over.

We loved the talent portion.

- I'm competing
for Miss America.

- What are you
gonna do for talent?

- Just watching women dance
or sing or play an instrument,

[flute playing]

I just thought that
was really interesting,

watching someone show their
talents on television.

- The talent portion
of Miss America

was the thing that drew me in.

After for years of competing
in the teen organization,

I competed knowing
that I was probably

going to move to New York.

The idea was to spend
a few months there

and just explore and see
if I liked living there.

So I sold everything I owned

and got a one-way plane
ticket to New York City

with $975 in my pocket.

And was off to Miss New
York for that first time.

- How are those eyebrows?

Miss New York is a place

where a lot of people come
from different states.

And I knew that there
were gonna be some people

that was gonna be
a competitive edge

or relationship with.

My Miss Brooklyn
director told me

that Claire and I would
not like each other.

But as it turned out,
she was one of the people

I was most drawn to.

- [Host] Our new Miss New York.

- [Claire] It was Mallory
and I holding hands

for the final moment.

- [Host] Our new
Miss New York is

Claire Buffie,
southeast New York!

- The chose me and obviously
I was super stoked for that.

Two years later, I
was actually emceeing

and that was the most fun.

The moment has come when
her name will be revealed

and her life will change

in ways she cannot
even imagine right now.

[audience cheering]
Mallory Hagen, New York City!

- [Camera Man] Ah! Mallory!

- 10 years since the beginning
of her Miss America journey,

I got to call her
name as Miss New York.

And then she flew from
there on to Miss America.

[birds chirping]

- I wasn't sure what
I wanted to do next

right out of college.

I was applying to grad school,
I was applying to jobs.

And I ran into a friend
of mine and he said,

"Hey, my boss needs
a new assistant.

I'm moving to LA, need
someone to take my shoes,

come sit down with him."

So I met Sam Haskell.

Sam, I think, was
on his book tour.

- I wanted nothing more

than to be in the
entertainment business.

So I was just determined

that I had to be at the
William Morris Agency

because I'd heard Johnny Carson

talk about it on
"The Tonight Show".

- Sam was this television agent.

I didn't know what William
Morris was at the time

but I learned quickly
that it was a big deal.

This guy had all
these amazing clients.

He represented Dolly
Parton and Ray Romano.

And I'm like, "Holy Cow."

After being an agent he was also

the Chair of the board of the
Miss America Organization.

Even before he was
CEO, he'd been around

the Miss America
Organization for years.

His wife was Miss Mississippi.

- In my opinion, he saved
the Miss America Pageant.

Everybody please
welcome Sam Haskell.

[audience applauding]

- There's definitely a view
that Sam saved Miss America

back in the early 2000s.

TV viewership had been
declining for years.

If fell off of network, nobody
was watching Miss America.

- First call I get was
from Phyllis George,

"Sam, we don't have a network,
you have to save us."

We've got a brand
new television home

which reaches 79
million households

all over America, CMT.

When I came on board,

the organization was
virtually bankrupt.

And I took it from obscurity
at Country Music Television

to a reality show.

And through that reality show,
we lowered our demographic

to the average aged
viewer from age 59 to 37.

And that's what got
ABC's attention.

Miss America is back.

[audience applauding]

- Ladies and
gentlemen, Sam Haskell.

[audience applauding]

- You know, I'm kind
of a control freak.

I like to know everything,

so they really got
me on this one.

- Sam was the perfect person

to be the head of
the organization.

He felt that it was an important
part of American culture

and he wanted it to succeed.

And he also knew how to make
people want to give money.

He had connections
in television,

in politics, in everything.

And we desperately needed that.

And it was a divine
intervention when he came to us.

- I only know one side of Sam.

There are other sides that
other people have known

that I didn't see.

He's a complex person.

- The idea of getting out of
Holly Springs, Mississippi

and interacting from
someone from Hollywood

was an exciting detour from my
life that I'd never expected.

Sam told me, "Come
work for me for a year

and I promise you
won't regret it."

- Hello America, my
name is Mallory Hagen,

and you guessed it,
I'm Miss New York.

The question is, why
should I be Miss America?

- [Brooke] I feel great,
it's gonna be a good night.

- It's gonna be a great night.
Ladies, are you ready to go?

[people cheering]
All right.

- The final night
of Miss America

was the culmination of 11 years
of hard work and dedication

and we were all feeling it.

- I believe we just
had a tap shoe break.

So we'll see how this works out.

Miss Oklahoma.

Miss Illinois.

Miss Wyoming.

- I wanted to dance on stage.

I wanted my mom to
have the satisfaction

that after all the years she
had poured into my talent,

that I got to do that talent
on national television.

- [Host] Miss New York.

[audience applauding]

[upbeat music]

[audience cheering]

- Watching your
child achieve a dream

that they'd worked so hard for,

it was like good things
do happen to good people.

- Your new Miss America is

Miss New York!

[audience cheering]

- And I think that the
genuine shock on my face

was that I just did not
expect for it to be me.

- Under the inspired
and dedicated leadership

of chariman Sam Haskell,

the work of the Miss America
Organization never stops.

Thank you, Sam and Art.

- I don't think I spoke to Sam

until we had our first
meeting the next day.

I do recall he said to me,
"This Miss America is crazy.

Don't talk to this
Miss America."

It definitely instilled
a subconscious fear of

are there other people

I shouldn't admit that I
have a relationship with?

I definitely was not
prepared for the insanity,

the psychological warfare.

It truly had nothing
to do with me.

It had everything to do with

a person who was used
to being in control

of those around him.

- Formally Miss New York,

Mallory Hagen is now
Miss America 2013.

[audience applauding]

- I think we met Sam the morning
after she won Miss America.

He was like, "She's
the best Miss America."

Her press conference
was amazing."

- So I could not
be more thrilled

to be your Miss America.

[audience applauding]

- "She's incredible, she
speaks so wonderfully."

Like, love-bombing.

- [Photographer] Mallory,
down to the left please.

- He was genuinely excited
about the fact that I won.

I definitely received a
lot of positive feedback.

I think my authenticity was
something the drew them to me

in an era when Miss America

was really still trying to
find footing with modern women.

- [Photographer] And Mallory,
please touch the crown.

- I knew that was coming.

- Happy to have you
here on the couch.

- Thank you, thanks
for having me.

- Well, it's been gosh,
a month and a half now.

- Yeah.

- Has it been everything
you had hoped?

Or has it even sunk in
yet outside of the tiara?

- It's been pretty much

everything I thought
it was gonna be.

I had so many phenomenal
moments as Miss America.

But the reality is
it is 24 hours a day,

every day of the week for
the entirety of the year.

- I don't think anyone can
prepare you for that year.

They literally gave us a folder

with all your appearances
and your itineraries,

only for one month in advance

because it's so daunting to see
the whole year ahead of you.

- From the moment you are
crowned to the end of your year,

your life is not yours

nor do you have time
to think about it.

- You don't really
have a lot of autonomy

because you're told
where to go, what to say,

here's your talking points,

here's your this,
here's your that.

- It is my plan that
there are many more

mountains for us to climb

and were gonna climb them
together holding on to tradition

and always trying
to remain relevant.

- Behind the scenes,
there were rules like

no men are allowed
in your hotel room,

including your father.

- During my year, I was
not allowed to share

that I had a boyfriend.

It was made clear
that Sam was in charge

and what he said went.

And boyfriends were
not allowed to exist

when you're Miss America.

- At my homecoming, none
of us could go anywhere

because we were all
with tour managers.

So one of my friend's boyfriend

brought us Taco
Bell to the house.

The next day, my tour manager
comes in and she was like,

"Someone called Sam and
told him that they saw

your boyfriend spend
the night with you.

So we have to get on a
conference call with Sam."

And then I get reamed
out by Sam Haskell

for something I didn't do.

They're very, very,
very anti-boyfriend

because they want
you to look like

you're America's sweetheart.

They're trying to be
feminists and "Me Too"

and all these things,
and at the same time,

they're not thinking

that every young 20-something
is dating someone?

Like, come on.

- I was the same to everyone.

And I think people
were drawn to me

because I could give them
something to hold on to.

And I think that
people need that.

Especially in a business as
inconsistent as Hollywood.

- I was incredibly close to
Sam and his entire family.

And I spent a lot of time
with him and his wife Mary.

He often said that I felt
like another daughter to him.

Towards the end of my
time as Miss America,

I did have the opportunity
to spend the weekend

at his house in
Oxford, Mississippi.

So Brent was sent to pick us up.

I don't think he had been
working for Sam that long.

And he was Sam's assistant.

- So we hung out and
had a great time.

We instantly clicked an
had that really, kind of,

strong connection.

- We were just like magnets.

There was just an
indescribable chemistry.

- I was gonna be in New York
so I think we went to dinner.

That was kind of our first date.

And things just progressed
quickly from there.

- Mallory, you have been
a phenomenal Miss America.

Are you ready to
pass on the crown?

- I am, I am, it's time.

- Lady's and gentlemen,
your new Miss America is

Miss New York!

[audience cheering]

- September, she was
done being Miss America.

I really don't remember
when we kind of went public

with our relationship.

But I never hid it from Sam.

[camera clicking]

- When we realized that we were

moving in the direction of
having feelings for each other,

we wanted to make sure that
those things were solid

before making anything public.

Brent approached
Sam and told him

that we were seeing each other.

The response was
less than positive.

Sam told Brent that
he didn't need to date

someone like me.

That he needed to date someone
who had class and money.

Which was really
surprising to us

because Sam loved
Brent, Sam loved me,

both of us were
part of the family.

We thought that he was
going to be thrilled.

We were like, "This man is
gonna pay for our wedding."

- Anything is possible.

That's what the ideal of
Miss America is all about.

[audience applauding]

- Sam threatened to
fire me several times

if I didn't stop dating Mallory.

He would say these things.

That she was a sl*t, or a
horrible person, or whatever.

I'm like, "What are
you talking about?"

It was about control.

He controls everything else
and everyone else in his life.

If you go against
him, you're cut out.

[car engine running]

- Sam started getting a lot
more negative towards Mallory.

Anytime I mentioned her, he
started saying things like,

"You should be dating
someone better."

I'll never forget, I was sitting
in his office in his house

and he told me, "You
don't need to date

a piece of trash like her.

You need someone with class
and money like my daughter."

But he was just not happy

because I wasn't
following his plan.

Sam wanted me to be his guy
and to be under his thumb.

And he was constantly
telling me,

"Stick with me and
you'll be successful."

But the undertone was,
"Cross me and your screwed."

- You're all gonna be a part
of something much bigger

than crowning a
new Miss America.

You're gonna be inspiring
the next generation

of little girls who
will dare to dream.

- I absolutely had to make sure

that I was a good Miss America.

I would get in trouble
over the smallest things.

Don't say anything negative.

Don't be too emotional.

Don't be too much.

- [Photographer] Okay, cute.

- He was the big guy in charge.

And people were like,
"Oh well, Sam says this

so that's the way it is."

And I just felt like
I had zero freedom.

I was so controlled and
I could not be myself.

- It was a time when I
did not know who to trust.

I was told by Sam, "I have
some of the Miss Americas

that work as spies for me."

To let him know what the
people were saying about him,

what the people were
saying about Miss America.

I was too scared to
reach out to anyone.

I didn't know who a spy was.

- I kept the negative comments
by Sam about Mallory to myself.

I thought they would blow over.

She seemed to be happy with him

and things seemed
to be going well.

And so it'll be fine.

- One thing that happened
during my time as Miss America

is television producers
would approach me and say,

"Please tell me television
hosting is where you're going."

And it was exciting to me.

It's not something
I had planned to do

before I won Miss America,
but it was appealing to me

for that to be a
new possibility.

And Sam expressed
his willingness

to help me make some
of those connections

to be able to make
that dream a reality.

And so I moved to Los Angeles
shortly after Thanksgiving

and was excited about
going out on meetings

and meeting people
and finding a way

to sort of break into the
entertainment industry.

- [Pageant Host] Miss
America is Gretchen Carlson,

Miss Minnesota!

- Miss Americas in the
past had been able to

give up the title and
then really ride away.

- [Pageant Host] Phyllis
George, Miss Texas!

- And so I think Mallory was
thinking that that was coming.

And then it didn't happen.

- I met with the producers
of Dancing With the Stars

and the ABC executives.

And it seemed to be a
really great fit for me.

And suddenly that was
just off the table

and it's just hard to
know what really happened.

And I was like, these things
keep coming my direction

and then they keep
miraculously disappearing.

And it doesn't make any sense.

- Mallory started
confiding in me

that things maybe
weren't going as well.

And I started to explain
what I saw going on.

I notice Sam started
talking pretty bad about her

in some meetings.

I was sitting in the
office at ABC in LA

with high-level
network executives

and Sam was talking about her

trying to hook up
with Chris Harrison.

- [Host] It's gonna
be a good night.

- It's gonna be a great night.
Ladies, are you ready to go?

- A lot of people
see through that

but it's still very damaging

to be disparaging
someone like that,

especially to powerful people
that Mallory wanted to work for.

- Sam then went on and
allegedly called me a wh*re

and also trailer trash.

It was really hard to hear.

It was wild and unsettling

but also made me
incredibly angry.

Just what is wrong with you?

- We started to hear allegations

that Mallory had
slept with someone

in every state she was
visiting as Miss America.

Which is categorically untrue.

- I was hearing some rumors

but I didn't really
give a lot of credence

to things that
may or may not be.

- I did hear negative
talk about Mallory,

about her sexual life.

That she was crazy,
that she was wild.

Didn't make any sense to me
and I kind of ignored it.

- It seems as though there
was a very central person

on who was deciding what
was good and what was bad.

It was directly from Sam and
a culture that he had created

in the Miss America Organization

that allowed that type of
toxic language to be said.

- There was an event at the
Miss America competition

where I sat with
another Miss America

and expressed some of the
things that were going on.

For instance, Sam allegedly
calling me a wh*re

in a room with the
executives of ABC.

She looked at me and said,

"The legacy of the Miss
America Organization

is more important
than your feelings."

- Please welcome your
former Miss Americas.

[audience applauding]

- It made me feel like
no one's gonna care.

Or if they do care, they're
not gonna be willing

to step out and say
anything about it.

- [Sam] Standing O
ladies, standing O.

- Sam was still
communicating with Mallory.

It was this weird game of,
Sam would send Mallory emails

being like, "Oh my gosh,
can't wait to see you in LA,

let's grab dinner or something."

Meanwhile he's talking bad
about her behind her back.

It was just very difficult
to continue working for him.

But I felt like I had
to, I felt trapped.

Without Sam, I felt like

I had no job prospects
in LA without him.

This started splintering

my relationship with
Mallory pretty quickly.

- I wanted it
ingrained in Mallory,

if you have somebody
that you love

but that somebody is
working for the devil

and that devil is keeping you
from achieving your dreams,

that's a wicked
triangle to be in.

- I cared very much about her.

But Mallory kind of
gave me an ultimatum.

It's me or Sam.

- I didn't have any guarantee
that me quitting my job with Sam

was gonna magically
fix everything.

I felt like I'd be screwed

financially and
career wise if I left.

And pretty soon thereafter
she broke up with me.

- I made a choice.

The choice was
that I didn't want

to continue to be
in a relationship

with someone who wasn't
standing up for me.

- I still don't know what
Sam's issue was with us dating.

It was ultimately about control.

Us refusing to do what
he said and break up,

he couldn't live with that.

- I started to feel
like this is absurd.

What is the obsession with
whether or not we were together?

This is crazy.

This is the most insane
thing I've ever dealt with.

I think a part of me felt
like if I leave Los Angeles,

whatever this is,
is going to end.

We're not dating
anymore, problem solved.

I'm not in LA, just
leave me alone.

[upbeat music]

I wanted to go back to New York

and I'd had conversations
with Claire.

We decided to get
a place together.

But I was excited to just
kind of get on with life.

- [Claire] All right, we
have contestant number 14.

- Claire was pretty
involved in the

Miss New York Organization
from the prep perspective.

- [Claire] Are you
afraid of anything?

- I'm definitely afraid to fail.

- I had mentored
six title holders

in the Miss New York
City Organization

in the idea of winning
the competition.

One of whom was Kira Kazantsev.

- [Host] And your
new Miss America is

Miss New York!

- So that September,
Kira wins Miss America.

We are super excited for her.

- [Host] Miss New York!

- I also coached Nina Davuluri

who ended up winning
Miss America.

- Kira winning
kicked off this whole,

why are three Miss New
Yorks winning in a row?

What's happening in New York?

What's the secret sauce?

Claire and I were kind of
a dream team situation.

And we were like, "Should
we just start a business?"

- We had great success

and we had a lot of
people coming to us.

And in the first year we
had 39 clients in 21 states.

- It was exciting to
think about the potential

that a business like that had.

Another part of it
was to be able to help

other young women not have
some of the similar experiences

that I had.

If I can't change how
Sam interacts with people,

then I'll change how
people interact with Sam.

It wasn't long
after Claire and I

started our coaching business

that a directive came from
the Miss America Organization

that coaches were
no longer allowed.

Under the guise of, it will
level the playing field

for those people who
can not afford coaching.

But the timing was
especially suspicious

considering we
had just announced

we were starting a
coaching business.

Not long after that, there were
a list of approved coaches.

We just weren't on that list.

- And then in the
contract of Miss America,

you had to say who
your coach was.

Girls were put between
a rock and a hard place.

If I write down Claire
and Mallory's name,

that might not be good for me.

- Legally, he couldn't
stop our business,

but it did hinder us.

We couldn't advertise
who we were working with

which made marketing
difficult for us.

- [Reporter] Sam,
try not to curse.

[everyone laughing]

- It was truly Sam's world.

People would do whatever
he told them to do.

And if it meant shunning someone

or black-balling, it happened.

It absolutely happened.

- Thank you and good luck.

- [Reporter] Thank you, Sam.

[soft music]

- Mallory and I
were living together

when Kira Kazanstev
was Miss America.

So we still had a very
social relationship.

And so when she was in
New York for the holidays,

Kira wanted to just
make Christmas cookies.

And so I said,
"Yeah, let's do it."

[gentle music]

- Claire and I invited
a bunch of our friends

over to the house and we
made cookies and ate pizza.

- And we had a lovely
night, everybody had fun.

And then things got weird.

And we weren't
hearing from Kira.

So I finally am
texting Kira saying,

"Dude, what's going
on, can we talk?"

- So Kira apparently got in
trouble for being in our house

that they recognized from
photos of us on social media.

Just like a level of crazy
that I just, you know...

There were definitely
people who expressed to me

behind closed doors
that in public settings

they were afraid to be seen
with me or take photos with me

because they felt that they
would also be ostracized.

- I was told not to speak
to Mallory Hagen, yes.

But it was known that Mallory,

what was not a favor
as Miss America

- I remember him
going like this,

"There's a cone,
Betty, there's a cone.

And people outside the cone
we just can't associate with."

Two names in particular
that come to mind

is Mallory Hagen
and Claire Buffie.

I was like, I have
to do what he says

or I'm gonna be on that
blacklist of Miss Americas

and I don't want that

'cause who knows what
he could do to me.

- Miss America is a movement.

Miss America has a mission.

We don't exploit, we empower.

So stand up in the
light of God's grace

and know that you've
done something good.

[audience applauding]

- This entire organization's
culture is extremely toxic.

If you are following
the instructions

of a man who is playing God.

I'm like, "I moved away from
LA, I broke up with the boy,

just leave me alone."

- I think that was the
lowest of lows for Mallory.

Because I think it was
just multiple things

that felt like they were

crashing in on her
at the same time.

I didn't know how worried
about her I should have been.

- There was nowhere to turn

where Miss America
wasn't a part of my life.

I could literally land on
the moon and it would say,

"Mallory Hagen, Miss
America, lands on the moon."

There was a lot of time

that I did not want
to be here anymore.

But I would say the
worst moment was

I drank a lot of alcohol and
I stood on top of my building.

[tense music]

And if it wasn't for my
relationship with my parents,

I probably would have made

a very different
decision than I did.

[intense music]

[tense music]

- Around Christmas 2014, things
were not good still with Sam.

I was still talking to Mallory.

Sam would see me
texting her sometimes.

He'd yell at me again.

And I just witnessed
so much toxic behavior.

I just decided I couldn't
continue to work for him

without compromising
my own integrity.

And I walked into Sam's
office and told him,

"This is my two weeks notice."

And I left and I thought I
had put it all behind me.

- Things in New York
sort of spiraled

to the point that everywhere I
turned, it was something else.

And that's truly maddening.

- I don't know what
the final straw was.

I just think it was a
culmination of the coaching

on top of continued difficulties

that Mallory was having with Sam

and of like, "I have
got to get out of here."

And she moved back home.

- But it kind of felt like I
got a divorce from something

that had been glued to my
side since I was 13 years old.

And so I was pretty sad.

I mean, I loved this
organization and now I felt like

I couldn't be a part
of it at any turn.

And that was a really
hard pill to swallow.

[gentle guitar music]

- I felt a little bit guilty
for allowing that to happen.

But I didn't know what to do.

I knew it was bad but I
didn't know it was that bad.

- I wasn't worldly
enough to know

how manipulative
people can truly be

to get what they want
out of a scenario.

Ultimately what I wanted was
for this behavior toward me

and other people to stop.

I was in Fire Island.

Claire was there,
my mom was there.

We were watching Miss
America that September.

[audience cheering]

- Hey everybody, there are
thousands of screaming fans

in Boardwalk Hall,
waiting to meet

our 51 Miss America contestants.

- I remember looking
across the island

and Mallory is on her phone.

She's really intensely texting.

And then all of a
sudden just loses it.

- [Host] Miss North Dakota!
[crowd cheering]

- Just this
confluence of emotions

when she got the text from
Brent that says, "It's done."

- Miss America 2018.
[audience applauding]

- I got a text message that said

disparaging emails were
going to become public.

And he's got emails
that are discussing me.

- I had access to
all of Sam's emails.

He gave me access.

So I always read everything
'cause he told me to.

So I'd be in the
loop on everything.

- [News Anchor]
An email scandal

rocks the Miss
America Organization.

- [News Anchor 2] A stunning
report accusing the CEO

of name calling and fat
shaming former pageant winners.

- [News Anchor 3] Quote,
"OMG, she is huge and gross,"

Haskell wrote in one email.

- I wanted people to understand
who they were dealing with.

- [News Anchor 4] Public
emails that were filled with

vulgar and misogynistic comments

about some of the
pageants winners.

- Other people are going
to see black and white

that I am not crazy here.

- [News Reporter 4] In
one email Haskell wrote,

"He needs to have a blood
test because we lost count

of the number of men
she slept with at 25."

- Brent, why did you
decide to go public

with all these emails?

- I wanted to do something then

but I needed time
to kind of make sure

that it wasn't coming
from a place of revenge.

- When Brent admitted

that he had given the
emails to the press,

I'm really grateful that
he made that choice.

Finally people would understand

that I was being
misrepresented by someone

who had a lot more power
and authority than I did.

- [News Reporter] Hagen
says she believes

Haskell also played a role

in ending her career
as a pageant coach.

- In an email written
to Sam Haskell

in December of 2015, quote,

"I do believe that our
anti-coaching initiatives

are already impacting
her business

and that our policy of ignoring
her is driving her crazy.

Work to further
marginalize her business."

We had, in black and white,

proof that they were
trying to sabotage

mine and Claire's
coaching business.

It made it pretty clear
that there was an effort

to derail my career
pretty early on.

[somber music]

- Miss America stands
for integrity and honor.

I am most humble.

- I really wanted to
believe the best about Sam.

But then I read these words

and it was just like
the same nightmare

of the stuff that Donald
Trump had said about women.

I, like all the
other Miss Americas,

had stood up and
defended this man

as the savior of the
organization for so many years.

And at that point
I was almost just

completely done with
the organization.

- To see it in writing
was just shocking

because I did not
expect that of him.

Being protective of the
sisterhood was like,

"What, this was said about
us, or our sisters?"

And, of course, all the Miss
Americas were up in arms.

- It was almost
like being c*ptive

and your captor
is finally caught

and you're finally
allowed to be like,

"Hey, let me tell y'all the
things this dude did."

- Haskell said the emails
were stolen by ex-employees

and the comments are not
indicative of his character.

- Sam had been approached
about the emails

and he wasn't gonna resign.

And so I did a Facebook live
and continued to call out

the behavior that I
felt was unacceptable.

These people have
treated not only me,

but hundreds of young
women like crap

and I won't stand for it.

They thought they could
weather this storm.

I am the storm, you're
not weathering it.

[tense music]

- [News Anchor] An email scandal

rocks the Miss
America Organization

and now the pageant's
CEO has been suspended.

Tonight, the Board of Directors
suspended Haskell indefinitely

and say they will conduct
and in-depth investigation

into those emails.

- When the statement from
the Miss America Organization

came out that Sam was
going to essentially

step away for a
bit, take a break.

It made me very angry.

They think we're
just gonna be like,

"Oh well, I guess
he took a break

and maybe they'll
revamp and come back."

Like, no.

The emails that all of you saw

are not the only
ones that exist.

It wasn't just Sam.

Some of the Board of Directors

knew these emails
were transpiring

because they were
a part of them.

And the Board of Directors for
the Miss America Organization

at the time not only
accepted Sam's behavior,

they perpetuated it.

After seeing the photo of
me at an event, Sam says,

"Look at this photo from
the former retreat."

Tammy says, "Mallory
is barely recognizable.

You think he left you for that?"

I'm assuming meaning Brent.

- I couldn't believe that
he actually, well, they

actually said those things.

It was disgusting, really.

People you trusted and
people that you thought

loved your child
were speaking of them

and put it in writing.

- If people are willing to allow

that type of
behavior to continue,

then they also
shouldn't be involved

in an organization that's
meant to empower women.

The Miss Americas very
quickly banded together

and said absolutely not.

- The iconic pageant says that
they have suspended their CEO

after internal
emails became public.

- I'm glad that
they're suspending him,

but in my view it's
not good enough.

The women deserve so much
better from our leadership.

- We said what do we need to do?

We need to come out
with a statement.

And that's when we
submitted our statement

calling for the resignation
of the board and for Sam.

- It was important
to me to let her know

that she was being heard
and that she had someone

who both understood and
could corroborate with her

and with her feelings.

- Just one resignation

wasn't going to set the
trajectory of the organization

on the right path.

We created a change.org petition

and after a lot of press and
media and a lot of signatures,

we did eventually hear from
the Miss America Organization.

- The top leaders of
the Atlantic City based

Miss America Organization
have resigned now

after emails exchanged
criticizing past pageant winners

were leaked to the media.

CEO Sam Haskell resigned today

along with President Josh Randle
and Chairman Lynn Weidner.

[soft music]

- I felt really relieved.

But that relief was replaced
very quickly by anxiety.

Because there's an
entire organization now

that's been stripped of
its Board of Directors

and leadership.

I personally felt a
lot of responsibility

for what happens next.

- All the former Miss Americas
were in constant contact

of different ideas of what
we could do to move forward.

How do we overcome this?

- I was hopeful that we
were dawning on a new day,

a new direction, a
women-led organization.

I was very, very optimistic
of what the future would hold.

- Shortly after,
the Miss Americas

really wanting to take
ownership of the future

of the Miss America
Organization.

We decided to vote
on a Miss America

to take over as the
Chair of the Board.

- [Host] Miss America
is Gretchen Carlson,

Miss Minnesota!

- [News Anchor]
Gretchen Carlson,

the former Fox
News channel anchor,

who raised questions
and awareness about

sexual harassment
in the workplace,

will now Chair the Miss
America Organization.

- All of a sudden, we are the
only face of Miss America.

How did that happen?

It felt very
haphazard and chaotic.

And yet I am the first one
on board to support survival.

But had I known what was coming,

I would have thrown my
phone in the Hudson River.

[intense music]

- Our organization
was being perceived

as objectifying women.

- They can't take away
the swimsuit competition.

That's ridiculous.

- A lot of us felt very
pressured to choose sides.

Do you want swimsuit or not?

- Who ever thought that
a little scrap of fabric

could crate such a
major controversy?

- The entire Miss
America community

was in the grips of a civil w*r.

- We are in this together.

- I was almost in disbelief
because it's like,

how could one of us do this to
another one of us.

- You stand up against
us, we will terminate you.