At the conclusion of the final competition, Carole Gist of Michigan was crowned by outgoing titleholder Gretchen Polhemus of Texas. Carole became the first African American winner ever and the first woman from Michigan to be crowned as Miss USA.

For the first time, the judges' individual scores were visible to the viewing audience, adding transparency to the pageant.

Also in 1990, a major format change that transformed the Miss USA competition for the next decade was introduced, in which the delegates would face an extra round of elimination on finals night: the Top 6 judges' questions.

Instead of reducing the top 12 to the usual Final 5, the judges would pick a momentary top 6. Those 6 finalists would answer questions from the judges and the field was reduced to a final 3 who would face the traditional final question, adding unpredictability to the competition after 5 Texan Miss USA winners from GuyRex Associates, who would lose their Miss Texas USA franchise the next year.

The pageant was hosted by Dick Clark for the second of five times, with color commentary by Leeza Gibbons and Laura Harring, Miss USA 1985.

This was the first time the pageant was held in Wichita, where it would be staged for the next four years.

Results

Placements

• Miss USA 1990: Carole Gist (Michigan)
• The runners-up were:
  • 1st runner-up: Gina Tolleson (South Carolina )
  • 2nd runner-up: Karin Hartz (New Jersey)

• The other top six finalists were (in alphabetical order): Karin Meyer (Alaska), Brenda Leithleiter (Georgia) and Tiffany Tenfelde (Kentucky).

• The remaining semi-finalists were (in order of placement): Catherine Staples (District of Columbia), Charita Moses (Tennessee), Stephanie Kuehne (Texas), Carla Myers (Illinois), Stephanie Teneyck (Mississippi), Melissa Proctor (Ohio)

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Janet Tveita (Minnesota)
• Miss Photogenic: Stephanie Teneyck (Mississippi)

Historical significance

• Carole Gist was Michigan's first placement since 1983 and went on to win the title.
• New Jersey placed second runner-up for the second consecutive year, a record for the state.
• This was Alaska's fourth placement ever, and their first since 1978.
• Kentucky placed for the first time since 1982.
• Georgia placed for the sixth consecutive year, with top six placements or higher every year. ´
• This was District of Columbia's first placement since 1984. District of Columbia would not place again until 2001.
• Illinois placed for the seventh consecutive year.
• Texas had a semifinalist for the sixteenth and last year in succession. The state would not place in 1991.
• Mississippi recorded their fourth placement in five years, a record for the state. They did not place again until 2005.
• Ohio placed for the first time since Halle Berry was first runner-up in 1986. The state did not place again until 1999.

Scores

Preliminary competition

The following are the contestants' scores in the preliminary competition.

Final competition

Delegates

The Miss USA 1990 delegates were:

Crossovers

1990 was the year with the smallest number of crossover contestants since 1986.

• Only three delegates had previously competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant:
  • Julie Stanford (Maryland) - Miss Maryland Teen USA 1986
  • Kari Larson (North Dakota) - Miss North Dakota Teen USA 1984 (Semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 1984)
  • Allison Barbeau-Diorio (Connecticut) - Miss Connecticut Teen USA 1987

• No former Miss America delegates competed for the second year in a row.

References

External links

• Official website