Secrets of Miss America on A&E: Release date, air time, what to expect, and more details

The highly anticipated miniseries, titled Secrets of Miss America, is all set to premiere on A&E on July 10, 2023, at 10 pm ET/PT. The show will provide insight into the working of the Miss America pageant. The pageant, which aims to showcase the brains and beauty of women from all around the country, has found itself in the midst of numerous scandals over the years.

From being accused of racism and mentally and physically exhausting its participants, people have criticized the pageant's motive. The new A&E docuseries will shed light on these allegations and will take viewers behind the scenes of the pageant.

The official synopsis of the series, as per A&E, reads:

"Secrets of Miss America delves into the long-kept secrets of America’s oldest beauty pageant, exposing the shocking scandals at its core. A cultural event once viewed by 80 million people a year, the pageant now struggles to stay relevant to a new generation of Americans whose views on beauty and sexual politics have changed drastically over the past few decades."

It continues:

"The special analyzes whistle-blower leaked emails in 2017 exposing misogyny within the Board of Directors, claims of racism in the pageant’s history, the topic of mental health surrounding the competition, and the banning of the controversial swimsuit competition."

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Secrets of Miss America will highlight the dark side of beauty pageants

Secrets of Miss America is the first of its kind, and it will showcase the inner workings of the Miss America Pageants. The pageant, which has been held for more than three decades, is undoubtedly an important part of American culture. However, as more stories of racism, discrimination, and harassment of the contestants come to light, people have started to lose faith in the once prestigious event.

Secrets of Miss America will touch upon every single one of these allegations and will include interviews with more than 20 former titleholders. The trailer of the upcoming docuseries saw these women break down and reveal the emotional and physical toll the toxicity of the pageants took on them, with one Miss America even saying:

"Being Miss America was the darkest time of my life. I was not prepared for the psychological warfare. You will lose your identity."

Another winner echoed this sentiment and said:

"It's a horrible dark cycle of abuse. You stand up against us, we will terminate you."

CEO Sam Haskell made disparaging comments about Miss America contestants (Images via YouTube/@A&E)

These allegations were once proved true in 2017 when Miss America pageant CEO Sam Haskell was revealed to have used defamatory and disparaging language in his emails regarding the contestants in the pageant. The emails, which were published by HuffPost, revealed that in his conversations with coworkers, Haskell would often refer to the women as "snakes." After receiving significant backlash, Haskell was forced to step down from his duties and ultimately resign.

The bullying, shaming, and harassment of women in the pageants based on their race has forced many participants to drop out of the competition in the past. In the trailer, another Miss America revealed that she was once told by the pageant director:

"Over my dead body will I crown a black girl."

Unfortunately, these issues still remain persistent. However, the Secrets of Miss America docuseries promises to shed light on the situation and it will be interesting to hear about the titleholders' experiences behind the cameras.

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Secrets of Miss America premieres on July 10, 2023, at 10 pm ET/PT, exclusively on A&E.