- Taylor Hale went on to win "Big Brother" after competing at the Miss USA 2021 pageant.
- She came forward with sexual harassment allegations against Max Sebrechts, Miss USA's former vice president.
- Hale spoke to Business Insider about why she returned to host Miss Teen USA and how the pageant should evolve.
My interview with Taylor Hale keeps getting interrupted.
It's not because we're blocking cupcakes mostly left untouched by pageant queens rehearsing on the eve of the Miss USA 2025 competition. Instead, Gen Zers are flocking over to meet Hale, who went from Miss Michigan to the first Black woman to win "Big Brother" in the span of a year.
"I literally sobbed when they said you were going to be at our hotel," one pageant queen tells her. "You were my inspo for so many years," another one says.
Hale, who is now starring on "The Amazing Race," has achieved the dream of many pageant queens, launching a successful entertainment career after years of training onstage. It's a dream that has become far less of a guarantee as Miss USA continues to battle numerous scandals.
Hale herself wasn't sure she'd ever step back into the pageant world after she went public with sexual harassment allegations against Max Sebrechts, who was Miss USA's vice president when she competed in 2021.
Sebrechts denied the allegations.
Four years later, Hale returned to host the Miss Teen USA competition. After the pageant wrapped on October 23, she went backstage with Business Insider to discuss reuniting with the organization, the future of Miss USA, and why she believes pageant queens are the next influencers.
'I did not expect to be back here'
Hale alluded to her Miss USA experience while on "Big Brother" in 2022, using code names on the show's livestream to refer to Sebrechts and his then-wife, Crystle Stewart, the pageant's president at the time.
After winning "Big Brother," Hale went public with allegations that Sebrechts — who stepped down from Miss USA in January 2022 — sexually harassed her the morning after the 2021 pageant.
Sebrechts denied the allegations in a statement to Business Insider in October 2022. Neither he nor Stewart is still affiliated with the organization.
When Hale got the invite to host this year's Miss Teen USA competition by Thom Brodeur, who was named the new Miss USA CEO in September, she wasn't sure if it made sense to come back.
"I've kind of struggled with wondering, 'Do I continue to associate myself with the pageant world?'" Hale told Business Insider. "Not because I don't love pageants, but because I made my statement and then my life took off."
"I guess the question is: Can you return to an organization where you charged credible allegations of sexual harassment? Can you make those charges in the public sphere and re-enter the space?" she added. "I always knew I had the support of the people in pageants, but to get behind the official logo, I didn't know if that was a space I could occupy anymore."
Hale said she struggled with the decision for weeks, ultimately deciding she couldn't forget her roots.
"Right before the opening number, I was standing right here looking at the mirror and sobbing," Hale said. "I did not expect to feel everything so deeply, and I did not expect to be back here in a leadership position."
"The girls that get on the stage to compete, they are girls with a dream," she added. "I was a girl with a dream."
Is Miss USA still relevant?
In the four years that have passed since Hale wore her Miss Michigan sash, there have been three leadership changes.
Stewart parted ways with the organization after a tumultuous Miss USA 2022, which made headlines after contestants said the competition had been rigged. A third-party investigation cleared Stewart's name in January 2023.
Laylah Rose took her place, only to be accused months later of bullying Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava to the point that both queens resigned. A new lawsuit from the Miss Universe Organization alleges that Rose created a "toxic work environment" and hurt the brand's reputation.
Rose has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit.
The years of chaos have hurt Miss USA's image at a time when it was already fighting to stay relevant. Still, Hale thinks there's hope for the pageant — as long as it learns to modernize.
"I don't want Miss USA to lose its heart of celebrating hyper-femininity," she said. "If this is a space where showing — literally performing — hyper-femininity is safe and not sexualized, celebrated and not just consumed, I think that's an important and safe and healthy space worth protecting. What I want to see is for the pageant to evolve."
There was a time when Miss USA was one of the few avenues for small-town girls to break into Hollywood. Now, reality TV or viral TikToks can transform a person's life, as Hale has seen firsthand. That's why she thinks Miss USA needs to embrace the influencer era.
"I want the girl who wins Miss USA to be in that same league," she said. "The brands that are calling up the girls on 'Love Island' need to be hitting up Miss USA and Miss Teen USA."
Getting back on track
Miss USA and Hollywood have always been intertwined, but the pageant also has a long history of philanthropy and politics. The Miss USA stage was a platform for young women to share their thoughts on major social issues in front of millions, with past queens being asked about everything from feminism to the Second Amendment.
Hale celebrated the return of such questions to the Miss USA stage this year after they were removed from the 2023 and 2024 pageants.
"Telling your titleholders, 'We're not going to give you political questions or hard questions,' is telling your titleholders to be afraid of the world instead of being intellectually curious, being open to being challenged, and standing up for what you believe in," Hale said. "If you encourage your titleholders not to be multifaceted and multi-dimensional, well then, they're not an interesting titleholder."
Only time will tell if Miss USA is entering a new era. Hale thinks the pageant is on track, but it won't be an easy ride.
"Do I think they're on the right path? Yes," she said. "But it's like being on the right path while you're trying to dig yourself out of a 6-foot hole. I think we're 3 feet out."
