'We compete in talent too': Miss America slams Toddlers and Tiaras for sending message that pageants are only about beauty

Miss America wants the world to know there is more to her crown than popular beauty pageant shows like Toddlers and Tiaras.

Laura Kaeppeler, who was crowned Miss America in January, disagrees with the hit TLC show, and says it takes a lot more than dressing up and parading around a stage to win her title.

The 24-year-old from Wisconsin told E! News: 'There’s a misconception that pageants are beauty pageants. Miss America is a scholarship provider. We compete in talent and community service, so there’s a lot more to it.'

Miss America: Laura Kaeppeler, 24, says it takes a lot more than dressing up and parading around a stage to win her title

'I don’t think it’s the child who wants to do that necessarily. I think it may come from an outside source. I think if you’re going to do something like [competing in pageants], you should do it because you want to.'

She added that Miss America is 'more about being a well-rounded, young woman.'

Miss Kaeppeler is not the only Miss America to speak out about Toddlers and Tiaras and its spin-off Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

Vanessa Williams, who won the Miss America title in 1983 said she would never let her children compete in the pageants portrayed on the TLC show.

She explained to Anderson Cooper in May: 'I think [the mothers] don’t know what they are doing. But when the child is screaming and saying, "I don’t want to do this, I don’t feel like doing it," when they are using special juice to get them hyped...'

Crowning glory: Miss America says there is more to her crown than beauty pageant shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, starring the famous Honey Boo Boo

Hit show: Despite aversions to Toddlers and Tiaras, it is one of the most watched programs on American television, and ratings continue to rise

Mr Cooper, the host of daytime talk show Anderson, quickly explained that 'special juice' is a mix of Mountain Dew and 7-Up.

'Yeah, that’s not my world,' Ms Williams said, 'and I would never have my kids do that.'

Despite aversions to the show, it is one of the most watched programs on American television, and ratings continue to rise.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, TLC's spinoff starring Toddlers and Tiaras' Alana Thompson and her family, hit a series-high last week with almost three million viewers, topping cable news and broadcast network coverage of the Republican National Convention.

SOURCE: The Daily Mail, UK, 9/6/2012