Dear Viewers,
What I love about my job is how varied it is. I can find myself one night speaking to former Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger (search) and then the next… well, you never know. And while I am on the topic of “you never know,” let me tell you what I am going to be doing the week of September 13. It falls in the “you never know” category.
I am going to be a judge in the Miss America (search) pageant this year. Yes, I have been watching the pageant for years and Miss America 1973 was originally Miss Appleton, Wisconsin — my home town, but I did not know her. The crowning is on Saturday Sept. 20, but there is far more to the competition than Saturday night. I have received initial briefings on the job of judging and I am stunned how rigorous the competition is. I had no idea. Plus the judges are “policed” during the week so that they do not talk to each other about contestants to guarantee absolute fairness. It sounds to me like the process is similar to being on a sequestered jury.
Of course I have to sandwich my job responsibilities at Fox while I attend to my job as a judge so it will be a juggling act. I fear that when our show staff realizes how difficult the scheduling and juggling will be, that they may hang me. And I may not blame them.
As you can imagine, I have received a ton of comments about me judging Miss America. I guess it is perceived as out of character. A friend of mine was stunned that I would be a judge until I sent her some biographies of this year’s contestants. Then she was really stunned and frankly, I now think she is jealous. You have no idea how accomplished these contestants are at young ages. They make me feel lazy and like I have been doing nothing for decades.
Off camera a few weeks ago I mentioned to Dr. Kissinger that I would be a judge in this year’s pageant and he lit up. He said that I will have a lot of fun — by the way, Dr. Kissinger always talks about serious issues on TV but he is wonderfully charming and likes to laugh. He added that Miss America pageant is a fascinating American cultural event.
Greta
Watch On the Record with Greta Van Susteren weeknights at 10 p.m. ET
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