We usually don’t get to see much of the pre-show contestants for Miss America, but this year was different. The glamour curtain was let aside, while 54 beautiful girls aspiring to be crowned were the starts of “Miss America: Reality Check” – a four part reality show culminating in Saturday’s ceremony at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

This year was Farmington Hills born and raised Kirsten Haglund’s turn to take the crown, as she beat Miss Indiana Nicole Elizabeth Rash, the first runner-up, and Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, the second runner-up. The 19-year-old aspiring actress won a $500,000 scholarship and the chance to travel all over the world as the new Miss America.

For the past years, Miss America pageant became a not so talked about subject, as people started loosing interest in what once was a sort of a national sport. A solution to that? There’s nothing people love more than reality shows, and the beauty pageant had to submit to it. TLC aired the four episodes of “Miss America: Reality Check” in an attempt to reinvent the beauty pageant in the 21st century.

It’s impossible to make everyone happy, as a reality show will always be controversial, but Sam Haskell, chairman of the Miss America Organization, said in an interview: “People used to know who Miss America was. There are going to be a lot of people who’ll think we’re denigrating the pageant. I don’t think we are. I think we’re making it more relatable. And I pray that I’m right.”

It’s kind of odd to put together two such different notions: young girls aspiring at becoming Miss America and a reality show, considering the image and the ideas a winner to such a contest should inspire. But the producers of the show said they were prepared to keep it simple, nothing over the top, nothing to compromise the competition, just a strategy put in place to bring Miss America pageant back into the spotlights.