Miss South Carolina Teen USA: "I Made a Mistake"
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Miss South Carolina Teen USA Lauren Caitlin Upton had a chance to redeem herself on the Today Show Tuesday after her jumbled answer to a geography question on Friday.
"I was overwhelmed, and I made a mistake," the 18-year-old told Ann Curry. "I'm human."
Ironically, the question posed to the third-runner-up was why she thought one-fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a map.
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps," she replied, referencing "the Iraq" and "Asian countries" and their need to support the education system in America so they could identify the United States on the map.
"I was just overwhelmed," Upton, who graduated with a 3.5 from Lexington High School said, but insisted that she knows where the United States is.
"Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who doesn't. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people know how to read maps better."
Pageant host Mario Lopez told People that he wanted to help her out but pageant rules forbid it.
"It was a very intense moment," Lopez said. "It's live TV. You don't know what the question is until you get up there. And I believe that she misunderstood it. She went down the wrong road and couldn't figure out how to get back to the right one. I felt really badly for her."
The YouTube clip of Upton's faux pas has received over 2 million hits.
