Hannah Mooney Gets Real About Her Miss USA Pageant Experience

I got talked into doing a pageant my freshman year of college what was your like your like bow and arrow hunting no um so this these are all fun facts here and I can get on a soap box about it oh I love a soap box I competed in the America system for a few years America requires Talent um Talent sections are 90 seconds long of performance value and they are worth the majority of your score now the score your talent really determines if you're the winner sure wow it does and it and that just feels a little like heavy when um you you also do interview and all the other things and I felt like interview and onstage question should be like your speaking ability should be worth more just in my humble opinion but who am I I didn't create the system and I think the scoring system has changed um this has been a while and I finally had a woman tell me one time because I Sayang you sing I did and it wasn't good you're a singer no I'm not a singer I just could not do anything else in 90 seconds like I don't have a rhythmic bone in my body I was not going to try to dance or tap tapping is big in Arkansas tapping tapping is huge stop it is one of my girlfriends is a Tapper and she's insane where do they tap um I don't know like they have like dance schools what do you do with it after you become a Tapper don't know what are these grown adult tappers doing I don't know need to call slown and ask her she's actually teaching little girls how to tap now mean okay I love it anyway Arkansas is fun it is fun and it's like I do tell people this it's like the SEC of pageantry like you are in the South and it is it is like Cutthroat it is tell me more so serious like and how Arkansas is like a top producer yeah oh a lot or a young 18 19 20 okay um Arkansas is like a top producer of like Miss America I feel that actually I feel like Miss Arkansas is always like a total like yeah oh it's it's it's a big deal okay um you're like really put through the ringer it's very political though I felt like I know shocking isn't it how so um I just feels like give us the tea it is I can't I don't I don't you got to keep some of it wrapped up pageant codes I I actually got into it because I was like you know what worst that can do is say you lost and the best that can happen is I can win scholarship money and I'm all about like helping put myself through school um we talked about my cows six years ago I think um because I had cattle cuz I grew up on a farm anyway she's Beauty she's Grace she was the song you are that song yes so I competed and I finally had a mom or Aunt someone of another contestant walk up to me and she was like oh honey you are so beautiful you should consider USA because they don't require talent and I have her to thank because honestly thank you I was just like okay because here's the thing in Arkansas and it's not like this in every state but it is very um the two systems America and USA are very like they do not they are it's like monteu and Capulet that's exactly it and so if you switch over and do the Republicans let's not go there you will never be welcome back you will be you know blackballed if you switch over and so I was like after my last a a competition in like for the title of Miss Arkansas in the America system I was like I I won like a few like preliminary things but I I was like I'm never going to win if I can't win talent and I'm not I'm never going to win Talent so you went back to that lady's words so I was like you know what I'm already fit I've already prepared for years already in the system and ready for it keep it going switch over and do USA and like whatever the Lord Wills that's fine but this is my last pageant and we I didn't even tell people I was in it and then I won and no one you won Miss Arkansas USA so now you're going to Miss USA Miss USA no one was more shocked than like me and my mom we didn't tell people I was in it because that was going to be my last pageant I'm so glad that you weren't like living and dying and breathing for this and like killing yourself and that's probably why I won because I wasn't a pageant Patty um because that's what they call them and they're just overly trained and they say everything that they're supposed to say and genuinely yes and I genuinely went into it just being like this is my last go like I'm just here for the memories and that's incredible how did you get so laidback about it with all that pressure I'm not it just that again I didn't grow up in that so I wasn't like born and bred to compete in pageants I was like if I win I will win like a full ride tuition I will win scholarship money it will be amazing and it will be here's the thing it's such a good experience because you do learn um interviewing skills right and speaking skills and how to carry yourself like there's just so many benefits and I always encourage a lot of my younger cousins have have been competing over the years because I competed and um it is it is an amazing way to polish yourself and ready yourself for the real world you feel like so many people would be so anti that now they're like why would you% I mean just just look at the system they're like no you can't do swimsuit anymore cuz it's sexist and I'm like we signed up for this yeah right you knew what you were getting into right USA doesn't require talent I was surrounded by these women that were literally like working for NASA and attorneys and like just brilliant women insane women and it was just an honor to be like representing my state and to be surrounded by other women who are like doing these things so what happens though when and then we'll get off this cuz I freaking talk about it forever but what happens when you're in the competition and like are people getting Cutthroat or are people playing pretty nicely is it stressful oh it's really stressful I especially how far did you make it well I'm a nine on the inam you know I'm a like Peacekeeper Peacemaker anyway um and so I was just very like I just want to be friends guys um not most of these women were like that I accidentally stepped on um a girl's dress when we were leaving uh interviews interviews not good she absolutely like screamed at me and like accused me of ruining I literally was like I have an extra like gown that's my actual cuz fun fact for a lot of pageants if you compete on a national lever level you will compete sometimes in the preliminary and a gown that's like nice but then you like have the special special gown that if you make the top like 20 or 10 and it's televised nationally okay you're G to bust it out and like it's like your secret weapon like no one has seen it okay and so the girls can't be scouting and it's like the dress you know and so I was like I have an extra dress anyway was not good I apologized I had a Target on my back it was such an accident after that you had a Target on your back well from her and I apologize previously but what are you going to do though I mean that is probably like Cut Throat live or die and everyone's just so young so they're just getting into things that matter to them you know this probably the first big moment in most of y'all's lives because you're only like 18 to 20 something years old oh they've changed it now I was like blown away because this year I think there was like a 40 something year oh all ages okay interesting we wouldn't even go there but it was interesting um one last thing I will say this was my worst nightmare we danced because we had opening numbers and this is all televised I remember them being like this is televised in 80 different countries and I was like oh good and I'm in a bikini and we're doing a dance number and so a bikini uhu uh because they had like different numbers for like different sets and so we were like swimsuits gowns like do the opening open number outfits like out and they're sponsors for all of it right so they're getting their air time and they broke us up into different groups and I was in the non-dancer group and they didn't say it was the non-dancer group but Knew by looking at all of us we were like we're the non-dancers so I was like in the back by the like the drummer just dancing in my bikini praying I wouldn't fall off stage Hannah yeah I mean worst case scenario for me what a life experience though