On September 26th, nine queens painted, padded, and strutted their stuff onto the stage of the Music Box Theatre at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City. The hilariously colorful Carson Kressley was on hand to serve as host and emcee for the 24th Annual Miss’d America Pageant. I was so fortunate to be selected to compete among such ferociously talented and beautiful queens, and as it was my first national pageant, I didn’t quite know what to expect. What I discovered was the pageant’s producers, writer/director Mark Dahl along with the Shultz Hill Foundation, and the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, know how to put on a show! From our arrival the morning before the pageant, to staging and technical rehearsals, the contestants were in amazing hands, and taken such good care of. I was beyond honored to place as Second Runner Up among a group of girls who all could have snatched the crown, including First Runner Up, Pattaya Hart. One month after the excitement of the pageant, with the dust settled, I was able to sit down and talk with our newly crowned Miss’d America, Fifi DuBois!
AM: Hello Fifi Dubois, Miss’d America 2015-16! Congratulations!
FD: Thank you so very much!
AM: Have you had any time to rest, post-pageant madness??
FD: It’s great to have a moment to breathe, to not have to worry about whether a costume piece is going to come in, not having to rehearse every day, but life still goes on so there’s always the daily craziness.
AM: That is the truth! I always find when you have a deadline, there’s this fantasy that you’ll have this ‘downtime’ when you’re done…but that never seems to happen! *Laughs* Fifi, You had such a strong package at the pageant, including a killer talent with fabulous backup dancer! Did you have a personal favorite category?
FD: I really enjoyed my presentation, which of course was not judged, but that took the pressure off of it and you get to have a lot of fun with it. So I really enjoyed being able to do whatever I wanted. And of course, its your first impression with the judges, and have them see you having fun on stage.
AM: It was amazing! You had smoke coming out of your headpiece, am I right?
FD: Yes.
AM: C’mon production. You said during Q & A that you were excited to bring great gay entertainment to Atlantic City, are there any particular venues you’d like to play during your reign and beyond?
FD: Well, the Borgata is doing amazing work bringing gay entertainment to Atlantic City, so I’d love to do more there! I want to do it all, see what connections I can make. I’ll be making appearances and working the the LGBT Alliance. They hold several of events throughout the year at which I’ll be representing Miss’d America at.
AM: What year at Miss’d America was this for you?
FD: This was my third year. Its been such a wonderful experience every time.
AM: Third time’s a charm! Fifi, what advice would you give to girls interested in pageants who haven’t participated in them before?
FD: Remember it’s VERY expensive, so be prepared to cry over your bills! I came from a dance competition background, so scored and judged competition were always a part of my childhood. You learn a lot from critiques and can grow a lot. Its also nice to have something to work on that is more involved than what you do on a weekly basis at your regular gigs. So pageants are the place to go and bring seventeen dancers, do twenty costume changes,wear some big giant pageant hair, and evening gowns and things like that! I mean, you’re not going to get a chance to wear your evening gown to a bar cause some twink is gonna spill his vodka cranberry on it. It’s your chance to be the ultimate glamour puss that you don’t always get to be in nightlife.
AM: Do you have your sights on any other pageant systems in the future?
FD: I would love to participate in Continental again and I’ve always wanted to do EOY, for the sheer creativity you see there. It may have to wait till next year, but we’ll see.
AM: Well Fifi, on behalf of everyone here at WERRRK.com, congratulations and have a great reign GURL!
Alexis Michelle is a native New Yorker who knows where to find the cheapest deals and the best bagels and pizza not that she’d ever eat a carb, of course. After graduating from The University of Michigan’s illustrious Musical Theatre program she hit the pavement in NYC performing off Broadway, regionally, and on tour. She has several weekly shows/engagements in NYC including ‘Superwoman’ the drag variety spectacular that she co-hosts with her sister Schwa de Vivre.
