Toddlers and Tiaras: Crown Beauties in Arkansas

Toddlers and Tiaras, once again, brought us screaming kids during the Crown Beauties pageant in Arkansas. This pageant's central theme is calendar wear, in which the kids dress up in outfits that represent an event that occurs during a month of their choosing.

Cassadee

First we met mom Alisha and daughter Cassadee, 9. (You know, as normal people spell it, Cassidy.) Cassadee is following in mom's pageant legacy, since mom was a pageant girl herself. The family has a bunch of cats and dogs as pets, and even a pet monkey.

Mom Alisha is hardcore about pageants. She actually owns Perfection Studios, a pageant coaching studio that employs 14 assistant coaches. Further proving Alisha's dedication to pageants, she has her daughter practice for four hours a day.

As if pageants aren't enough, mom and dad RD own a cheerleading studio, where Casadee goes to practice cheerleading after pageant practice. She competes in cheerleading as well as pageants.

When Casadee's mom called Cassadee out on cutting her own hair (she likes it short), her mom and hairdresser were not happy. In fact, the hairdresser made a comment that Cassadee's hair needs to be long so it can be put in a fancy updo for pageants. She called this "Jackin' it to Jesus" and said the higher the hair, the closer the girl is to God. Um, wow.

Torrann

Torrann, 7, (pronounced like torrent without the T at the end) was next. Her mom's name was Ann, and her dad is Torrey, which explains where she got her name. She's been competing in pageants since she was only a few months old, and her parents admit that she's spoiled. Like Cassadee's mom, Torrann's mom was also a pageant girl.

Mom insists on tanning Torrann because she says that even though Torrann's biracial, she'll be whiter than the white girls if not tanned. (Her words, not mine.) Dad disagrees and thinks it's ridiculous to tan his daughter.

Torrann was bummed that her mom, as a pageant coach for others who seemingly works for Alisha's studio, had to spend time with other kids at pageants. Cassadee's mom seemed to do the same, noting that she does makeup for twenty girls or so.

Penny Lane

Penny Lane, 3, was last. Mom Gannon named her daughter after The Beatles, since she was a huge fan. As it turns out, Cassadee's mom Alisha is actually Penny's coach. During Penny's prep before the pageant, the "Jack it to Jesus" comment came up. Again, wow.


The Pageant

Although she's three, because of her birthday, Penny Lane got to compete in the 2 year old division. She cried before she went onstage for beauty, but she made up for it by performing her routine perfectly onstage. She looked a bit vacant, like she was just going through the motions, but that's probably pretty standard for girls her age. Next we saw Torrann. She was perfect onstage. She has facial expressions that can draw the attention of the judges.Unfortunately, one of the judges noticed a bit too much and said she looked fake. Cassadee was third. She looked like a living doll. Her walk was perfect, and the judges seemed to react well to her.

For Calendar Wear, Penny Lane was dressed as the month of July. Her outfit was cute, and she looked like she was having fun, but she had a sneezing fit on the stage. To her credit, she sneezed each time and kept going with her routine. Torrann's theme was New Year's Eve. She dressed as Prince and had a sign saying, "Party like it's 1999." Not only was her costume great, but she did crazy gymnastics routines as well. Cassadee was third in her Valentine's Day outfit. It had only arrived the night before, and the shoes didn't fit properly. Still, she did really well and you could tell that she's a professional.

Outfit of Choice was third. Penny Lane wore an outfit that looked like what we'd see in a Western Wear competition. She did well and looked like she had fun onstage. Torrann was dressed as a space girl, but wasn't comfortable with her routine since she didn't feel that she knew it well. She was good but didn't do anything special. On the flip side of this, Outfit of Choice seemed to be Cassadee's time to shine. She wore Western Wear like Penny Lane, but she seemed to be genuinely into her routine.


Crowning

2 Year Old Division
First Alternate: Emma
Division Supreme: Trenleigh

7-8 Year Old Division
First Alternate: Anna
Division Supreme: Riley

9-10 Year Old Division
Second Alternate: Lindsey
Division Supreme: Maddie

Supreme Titles:
Mini Supreme: Penny Lane
5 - 10 Grand Supreme: Torrann
Ultimate Grand Supreme: Cassadee

While I enjoyed this episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, I had to question a lot of the parents for how they named their kids. I realize that this is just my opinion, but Cassadee is just silly with that spelling. Why not Cassidy? And I understand combining mom and dad's names, but I'm not convinced that Torrann truly spells Torren (which is how they pronounce it). And Trenleigh? Seriously? It sounds like some kind of alien from Star Trek. Think about your children, people! Can you really imagine someone named Cassadee as the president of the United States? Will Trenleigh really look nice on a wedding invitation? Just think about it for a minute...it's kind of wrong.