There's also a bit of foreshadowing: when Amber gets to the state competition, it's announced that they won't be staying overnight at the hotel because the money for it hadn't come through. So there's already a hint that the company is having financial difficulties. I think they had to show the conclusion of the entire competition, because to just stop the story at Amber reaching the state semi-finals would leave everyone to conclude that she must have failed the next level of competition, and nobody wanted to see that. It was very unlikely that she would have won under normal circumstances, but somehow lucky Amber was the last one standing when the food poisoning struck, so she made it to the final round. It would have been too far-fetched for another disaster to leave her the final winner, so ending it this way, with *no one* winning the crown, was the best thing.

Thank you! Will do!

They loved it when I got it on VHS. And acted like I somehow kept this a secret. As if I didn't have to go to the matinee alone with my wine singles in my purse.

Going to add, I did teen pageants at the behest of my confirmed bachelor uncle and his roommate. It was a weird experience but fun to hang out with them.

Hi @theConquerersMama . I think you're referring to the Wanda Holloway murder for hire scandal that happened in 1991. That was where the mom tried to hire a hitman to shoot the mother of her daughters cheerleading rival. If you do some reading on that one, it gets even more bizarre. Wanda was convicted, sentenced to 14 years, then had it overturned, then with a second trial, she pleaded no contest, and was sentenced to 10 years... then she received probation after she served 6 months.

@@TonyandMikeWatch yes, and they had made or were making several movies about it around the time this was being shopped around. I followed at the time.

@@theConquerersMama lots of bizarre crime stories where getting shopped around Hollywood at the time. The Amy Fischer / Joey Buttafuoco story was a big one as well. I believe there were 3 movies made about that one, one starring Drew Barrymore.

@@TonyandMikeWatch 1:14 Lona Williams was the woman who wrote the script, and who played the blonde jodge who didn't talk. She was Minnesota'Junior Miss 1985 and the runner-up in the national pagaent, the one which Diane Sawyer was in 1963. Oh, and JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the house, she didn't go missing.