According to drphil.com, the FUT (F***ed-Up Town) will return on Friday's broadcast:
"An entire town has been giving their all -- all year. They faced challenges head on and turned their lives around. Now it's time to celebrate!"
Well, thank God. Dr. Phil fixed the town. Now we can move on to topics that get bigger ratings, like "Did A Psychic Ruin Your Life?," "Want Your Spouse To Agree To A Sex Surrogate?" or "Are You Obsessed With Talking to Deceased Relative?" (all real, from http://www.drphil.com/show/boths.jhtml ).

Hey, it worked for John and Yoko. For a while, anyway.

Oh great. Now he'll wrench Sylvia Browne's frumpy ass away from Montel and let her do her Spooky Jabba bit for a whole new audience.

Hey! Didn't Judge Judy just clear this one up for us?

No way. Ol' Phil tends to be a little more practical than that. I have a feeling he's going to tell those folks to get a life and stop being taken in by that stuff. Because dude, Sylvia Browne and that Crossing Over schmuck are so full of crap.

Phil can be a big time windsock. He had the fellow with the "grip-the-soda-container" on and mainstream experts have denounced that practice as crap pie. If Phil were come on all James Randi, he would lose a significant fan base. Magic has a huge following in the USA.

Since he would also be dissing some deeply held religious beliefs as well as the Seance Sallies, he will have to tread carefully. Montel is an educated, insightful man but if Sylvia told him an angry ghost with a tire iron was right behind his chair he'd leave skidmarks.

I'm interested in seeing whether he plays this as a psychologist, or PT Barnum. Windsock.

Gemmadoll - you owe me a new keyboard!

These topics do sound like they were stolen from Montel, don't they? Wonder if now that he's defeated fat and fixed some families and the entire town of Elgin Shill's planning to use his self-professed superpowers to take on the whole dang new age movement. If he does as good a job as he has with weight loss, families and Elgin, I'll have to put my money on Sylvia Brown and John Edward.

Right now, a hoarde of outraged parents are scouring the pageant message boards, looking to find out the name and license number of the anything-for-a-buck orthodontist. If you treat, teach, coach or mentor children you are bound by law to report abuse. Participating in it should be unthinkable. After all, if a parent brought a bruised kid with knocked out teeth to him and no reasonable explanation of how the injury occured, what would he do? Accept a bribe to forget the whole thing?

And Reagen's mom (you loved The Exorcist, right?) when a kid wants something inappropriate for her age, you might think about making a So Big mark on the door frame with a Sharpie. "When you are So Big we can take the rails off your bed,(etc...)

Don't forget you're equally as culpable in the braces fiasco. Mothers don't let their kid suffer unless it is necessary and for their own good (think appendectomy, chemo, like that), so although you may keep your Mother tiara, we ask that you surrender the title.

7,000 auditions and not a nibble mom? Take the money and save it for a down payment on a cute house with a little backyard. Your child will think she's in heaven.

And by the way, I took my elderly cat Tinsley in for her shots and when I came out there was a dead pageant mom wearing a crown curled up outside the vet's office.Right on the welcome mat. If I hadn't happened to notice her I'd have spilt my latte all over Tinsley's carrier. Glad I averted a disaster.

Are we all ready to keep snarking 'til at least mid-2009?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/artic...t_id=1000724533
'Dr. Phil' stays in therapy for 3 more years
By Kimberly Speight
Dr. Phil McGraw is keeping his day job for three more years. The host of the syndicated daytime talk show "Dr. Phil" is extending his contract through the 2008-09 season, sources said...

Oh man, this stuff is so disturbing to me. Ashley's mom is totally delusional--the kid does not seem that talented or articulate, and spending $20K on fruitless auditions? Take that money and invest it in a college fund. One of her voice over comments was so telling: "I went on an audition . . ." She doesn't seem to know the boundary between herself and her child, which seems pretty typical of a lot of these parents. I just hate that "he/she loves it" garbage. No, you love it because it lets you live out your fantasies. Paul Peterson rocks: "it's show business, not show fun."

My gosh, Shill actually had valid points today.

I believe that Ashley's mom said from the audience that she was going to stop, but I could not be certain. Maybe seeing the twins who got a job at their first audition made her see the light.

Regan's mom was just evil. Sure the kid asked for braces, probably after she was told bedtime stories about the beautiful princess who got the prince after having her baby teeth fixed. Her daughter brushes her teeth 8-10 times a day and she doesn't think that she has a problem with beauty being too big of a part of her exsistence? Then Regan's mom flabbergasted Shill by lying about the big screen photo of Regan and admitted that she came on the show to promote her daughter's career. I really would have liked to have heard Paul Peterson's opinion of this mom.

I was really freaked out by Regan's photos. Mr. Star was saying, "No way does that kid even remotely resemble her picture!" Then it was shown that those pics were airbrushed totally to hell. I mean, Regan looked like a eerily alive Barbie doll.

ITA that her mom was evil. She is just trying to live vicariously through her daughter. Braces at 2 years old? Brushing her teeth up to 8 times a day? That is a classic case of parent-induced OCD. Those therapy bills will be immense...

I've seen these pageant stories before, but they never fail to amaze me. ITA about that mom being nuts. In case you need more proof, though, here is her very own web site! The best part, though, is that I found this link through a pageant message board, where they argue over the merits of the kid's wins. To me it's like a prison beauty pageant, in that it means NOTHING in the real world.(click) Give me a break, you freaks!

A couple of those moms were just plain crazy! Braces at 2 is just so wrong. That poor child. That poor, scary, glassy eyed child. I'm sure when my niece is old enough to ask for things like candy for dinner and a trip to see the moon my brother will just wiggle his nose and make it happen. Not everything a kid asks for should be granted to them lady! Bah!

Yeah there's a million kids out there just as cute or cuter than Ashley, which is why she hasn't been chosen for one single thing. I hope her mom really did realize how stupid she's been and can help get her family out of debt. Insane.

I had to watch today's show because kiddie pagent fascinate me; it's like Margaret Meade and the natives. Reagan's mom took the cake,sash,ribbon,trophy and crown. If someone put a dead cat with a tiara on my porch and my daughter was sleeping in my room to avoid being JonBeneted, I'd have to say,"I give up. You won. We're quitting".The glitz pictures looked like freaky anime but somebody is making money.

The 16 hour driving mom needed a good shaking and some debt counseling. Let her be a cheerleader if she can't get a role. The girls in my town practice everyday for a couple of hours but they have fun.

A six year old girl with Quentin Tarantino's face.

Ouch.

A young woman who works as an artist's model for me asked me if I would help sponsor her participation in a modeling convention. She needed to raise $2500. I asked my cousin, who is a professional model, about it and she said if you have what it takes to be a model, they pay you. You don't pay them. So no, I didn't help sponsor her.

I think all these women need to understand how many scam artists there are operating on the fringes of show business.

Ashley's mom needs to wake up and realize that her daughter does not have the look. Ashley is not going to be thin and she also has a horseface. Also, does anyone else Michelle looks a little young to have a 6-year-old?

I think Regan will develop OCD when she gets older.

I wish people would stop saying "my child really wants to do this". So what???? If your child wanted to shoot a gun or drive a car would you allow them to?

These parents wants us to believe that their children want this for themselves which is totally bogus. I think it is child neglect. Very simple.

The truth of the matter is that someone is making a lot of money, and it is not the children. All those trophies cost money and the parents are paying through their noses.

[/QUOTE]Dr. Phil McGraw is keeping his day job for three more years. The host of the syndicated daytime talk show "Dr. Phil" is extending his contract through the 2008-09 season, sources said...

God help us.

I have observed Shill over the years metastasize into an overblown caricature of a human being. And his family is just plain surreal. There's got to be some skeletons in that closet. I'm looking forward to that inevitable day when the door to that closet comes busting wide open - just think Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and I'm sure it's going to be one hell of a freak show.

One more chilling indicator of how bankrupt our popular culture has become......

Heeeee! Classic Gemmadoll! The humor can never be too dark when talking about these women.

Dr Phil was way too easy on Regan's mom. "Just like Little League"? Hello? Phil just justified all those horrible women, they'll all use this phrase now, and of course they won't identify with Regan's mom because their girls don't brush their teeth eight times a day (sure their girl sleeps with thumb tacts in her cheeks to make dimples but that's different!)

A decent psychologist would have taken the opportunity to say, once and for all that this stuff is wrong. Little League is a team sport; wins and losses are shared with a group of peers. Sports, ballet, piano or art lessons actually teach girls something and if they mess up at the recital their parents can tell them that, if they practice, they can do much better next time. What do parents tell those little girls who lose beauty pageants? Next time try to make your ears smaller? Make your eyes farther apart? Wiggle your rear more?

Phil also let her get away with the, "It's a good thing because we spend so much time together." They can't bake cookies? Raise a show dog? Play tennis?

Tiny little girls are made to stand alone on a stage while unsympathetic crowds of strangers judge them not for some skill or talent but for themselves. From age three they develop a self-conciousness about their appearance that most females don't have to start dealing with until thirteen.

There's no way at all to tell how these girls will look after puberty, some of the little Jon Benet's develop big hips and noses and some of the goofy looking little girls grow -up to be Cameron Diaz, but it's all too late for any of them by then because their looks have become their entire identity.

I wonder if it's Robin who has given Phil the idea that this is all okay.

Edited to add, I went to the site SopieCat gave us and the pageant moms are all talking about the DP show and they still don't get it. They're saying things like, "Regan hasn't won any Nationals and yet her mom has a National attitude!" and "She said they had spent close to 15,000.00 in 3 years. I know some people that spend that much in six months time so they are not Big Time despite the way mother tried to come across." Heh.

Oh, word. Boomer's baby brother is almost 22 months old and he keeps demanding to go to Elmo's World. I'm trying to save up the money to make the bazillion-hour drive there now since he wants to move in with Elmo. Boomer wants to move to Japan. Darn it, I'm a bad mother I guess, because I'm making his almost-16-year-old butt wait until he's out of school and has the money to go. I guess I should ask boomersdaddy to sell the house.

OK, when the normal mom (the one with the twins) made the statement that people say her kids are "just like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen" did anyone else think, that's not a good thing? Look at poor Mary-Kate. I'm glad these parents are thinking of getting them out of show business after the show. Ashley's mother tried to squeeze the word "callback" in referring to agents who want to represent her daughter (yeah, they want more of that money you don't have, doofus). That's not what a callback is. Also, "everybody loves her" and they just flock to her in stores. That happens with little kids. They're cute and people come up and talk to them. And if all those casting directors loved her, why hasn't she gotten a callback? The little girl was cute but no cuter than my five nieces or my two sons or anyone else's kids that I see every day in Wal-Mart. Get a grip, lady.

Sophiecat, cehcked out the Regan Jay site--can't wait to watch the Shill show I taped. Cute girl. Is her brother a model? Because every shot of him was posed. Young boys don't just automatically look like they're in the Sears catalog.

One of the posters on that pageant board had a great point. Regan's mom is worried about her safety, but puts personal information such as her SCHOOL and where she LIVES on their website. How fucking irresponsible. So now they don't have to worry about other pageant bitch moms, but child molesters and kidnappers. Brilliant!

Good God. Just went to Regan's website, and that first picture is hideous. So. Much. Airbrushing. She looks like a newscaster!

I missed the show, and I'm kinda mad about it. Parents who put their little, little kids in pageants should be boiled in their own makeup. It's one thing when your fifteen year old decides she wants to do it for a chance at a scholarship or something like that, but at 3? 6? No way.

Little Regan is on the express train to the Land of All F*cked Up. Mark my words.

The mom who drove 16 hours in one day to get her daughter to auditions really bugged me. She kept saying that the kid (Ashley?) loves it. Loves what? Driving to auditions and then driving home? It can't be that she loves acting because apparently she hasn't actually done any. Get the girl involved in a local performing arts program where she can be on stage and perform after school. Also, they were getting taken by some slick "manager." $1200 for head shots? No. Certainly not for a 6 year old. In a year they'll be out of date. These people are real losers.

I found it interesting that the only seemingly sane, living in the real world parents were the ones whose children are actually working in show biz. They are in a show that will last a few years. I'll bet those parents put the money away for their college educations and, once the show is over, let them be kids.

I had the biggest crush on Paul Peterson when I was little. He's still hot! *sigh*

I wouldn't be surprised. After all her idea of a big day at home is to make Jello and slide around on the wood floors in her socks. I'll bet she was once a pageant kid herself.

That mom was SO weird. While she was talking to Shill, she had all her justifications for pushing little Ashley's career down pat; she was all smiles as she insisted that things are fine, no worries. But at the end of the show, when Shill was making his final comments, she said that her eyes had been opened and she was rethinking it all - and then she pouted and put her head on her hubby's shoulder as she started blubberiing. She actually pouted! Her mouth turned down, her lower lip came out, just like a 5-year-old. There's something very wrong with that woman. (And I won't even start on her dipshit hubby who's enabling it all.)

My daughter said once she wanted to see her name in lights. She wants to go to New York and be a star. Okie dokie. Fine and dandy AFTER you graduate from high school, after you've gone to college which can be an arts college like Julliard if that's where you'd like to go. I'll do whatever it takes to make my kids dream come true but I'm not moving to California right now. I'm not moving to New York right now. My daughter is ten and is acting classes offered locally. She has been in several community theater productions and has been in several plays at the local university that needs children in them. My point is you can let your child do what they enjoy without going into the poor house.

Child Pageants? Yes, my daughter has done them. She did her first one at 10 months old. She doesn't do them as much as she did before she started school because I refuse to allow my child to miss school for a beauty pageant and we have other things to do on weekends like birthday parties, college football games, family stuff. I always said when she says I don't want to do one we wouldn't. That's what I did. When she was old enough, four years old, I asked her do you want to do this pageant on this weekend and she said not that weekend maybe another. Guess what? We didn't do it. Yes, some parents spend close to 20 grand a YEAR on these things but I can find better things to spend my money on.

The parents that refuse to stop are the ones that are in it for themselves, not their children. Yes, my daughter has worn the makeup and had her hair done. Not to the point of looking like a drag queen mind you but we have done it and it was fun for both of us. I never told her she had to win but to have fun and make friends. That was the important thing. If you don't win oh well as long as you did your best.

The whole thing with "it's like little league or dance" well in a way it is. There are parents who take those things too far. I have a cousin who thinks his kid is the next Barry Bonds. The boy can't hit for crap and couldn't catch a cold much less a baseball, but that doesn't stop his dad from paying for private coaching lessons five days a week, four hours a day. Dance. If you are on a competitive team you have to eat, sleep, breathe dance and your best is never good enough even if you win the highest awards. Been there done that burned the damn t-shirt. No one is going to tell my kid her best isn't good enough. Yet, there are some parents who force their children to go to dance seven days a week for no less than four hours a day. School work-ehh don't worry about it. You're hungry? tough you need to lose a few pounds. You're sick? You'll get over it get back in there.

These types of parents do exist but not everyone involved in these activities are that way. I'm normal, my kid is normal. In moderation these things are okay but some people are obsessed.

Dr. Phil missed it because he could have really offered sound advice instead of just growling and griping. Another reason why I hate television physchiatrists.

That is awesome and is a perfect example of how to encourage your kid without going insane.

Did anyone watch today? I was getting ready for work and heard them tease that some housewife would have a horrible secret---so horrible you would not believe it. While it didn't encourage me to set my tivo, the suspense is nagging at me. What in the world is this woman's problem?

I should quote your whole post but this really nails it for me. He never gets to the core of anything. On this show he should have given time to the way some so called agents rip off clients, he started to say how reputable agencies like Ford, don't charge up front, but it got 2seconds and was lost by most people. he could have talked about the way resposible parents handle this issue.Instead he spends so much time showing the problem and recapping there is no time for the issue. Paul Peterson had alot to contribut and he did not get a chance.
Last, I cannot get over that huge pix of Regan. That is a 5yr old?! I know air brushing and all but my God! she looked 18! A fake made up 18 but still. I hate that.
her Mom must not be to worried about her safety, to plaster her face all over TV and her address and school on her site,shame on that Mom.I hope nothing happens to that sweet kid.

I wonder what Oprah thinks about the monster she's unleashed onto the world....



So that's four-five more books in our future, huh? What does Dr. Shill have left to write about? He already has a book for each day of the week, weight loss, family, relationship, authentic self, and cookbook. Maybe a Dr. Phil Wedding Planner Or an Interior Design book? Dress For Success? How to Write a Resume and Suceed in Your Career? What?

Even in Regan's "natural" shots she looked posed. I don't think these kids know how to have candid moments anymore. They have to check their hair and makeup first. Like everyone else, I hope that little girl makes it through all of this alive with as few emotional scars as possible.

I'm putting ten bucks on "prostitute on the side".

Second guess, ummmm... does porn.

Phil does his intro. Phil says it is time to roll the video. Phil stops himself, saying, no it would not be prudent to show that film, just bring out the guest.

What do we know of her? She is married, the mother of four and hugely pregnant. She was molested as a child. That has led to a psychic fracturing of such proportions that her very life and the lives of her children are in danger. If Phil were to show the video taken at her home, CPS, the police, the FBI and perhaps Homeland Security detail would swarm her house, because she is living one cocked up life. Worse than Phil has ever seen. Worse than the seven "desperate housewives" and a good section of Folsom prison block 8. Horrible. Remove the kids from the room, shield your eyes, cover your houseplants, because her horrible secret is:

Phil aint sayin. To protect the woman?...Hmmm..To protect the kids? Naw, that never slows him down...Out of respect of the wavy line of ethics and good taste? Pshaw. ..November is Sweeps Month. We've been McPunked.

WHATEVER this poor woman's problem--WHY is she on stage discussing it in veiled terms that precludes the TV audience. If it is too horrendous for public consumption, why use her for drama and advertising? Why Phil? Why...

You don't suppose that Phil's incredible hubris would have him consider politics? Couldn't you just see Kitty in the perfect Political Wife getup?

Gah! Must. Remove. Thought. From. Head.

Referring to Monday's show:

Did anyone notice that during the preview for the last segment, they said that we were going to find out what the twins' older siblings think about their little sisters being in the spotlight (with a clip of a teen girl with dark hair eating ice cream or yogurt), but when that segment came, it was never discussed?

Maybe Dr. Shill's legal team decided it would be bad for him to show a tape of somebody doing something illegal with a minor without first notifying the police. Not broadcasting the tape gives him some deniability.

Maybe the woman is running an internet porn site starring the kiddies.... or is a phone sex operator from home in front of the kids. It must be something physical. Social services is not going to raid your home for yelling too loud.

What's the time frame from when someone contacts Dr. Shill and they're on the show? If there is a real crisis, not the usual whining crybaby stuff, I wonder what liability would Dr. Shill face for not reporting abuse until the show is broadcast?

Thanks Gemmadoll



My guess from what you've said (and I then read on the Dr. Phil site) is that she's a molester now. That's my guess.

Here's why I think this: They wouldn't automatically take away the kids if she was on drugs. They'd force her into rehab as long as the dad is an OK parent.

Whoring herself is also an option but since it was such a big secret, I'm guessing that's not it. Honestly, the fact that she's been to the hospital to have her kids and her husband doesn't know leads me to believe she's not a prostitute. Otherwise she'd have given him something or caught something and the doctors would know and her husband would find out.

My guess is that she was molested and now she is molesting her own kids. Because honestly, that's the only thing I could think of that would mean that family services would immediately take away her kids. Even with one normal parent, you can't keep kids in the house of a molester.

And she decides the best way to deal with it is to go on teevee and tell Dr. Shill.

Yes but Phil knew the legal ramifications before he ever brought the woman to the studio. I felt he dealt with the situation in a Springerish way, exploiting a troubled woman while doing the ratings tease for the audience. If he were to make these calls off camera it means he is respecting a standard. To decide once the film has been shot,edited and cued up that it is suddenly not for public consumption smacks of showmanship.

Once Oprah did that, by rehearsing a segment in which she was to shock viewers by admitting her youthful crack use on air, supposedly as a candid, spontaneous admission. More than a few of her staffers felt very let down, and felt she had slipped a bit in her impeccable standards.

Viewers are bamboozled so much by programs (like news shows and scientific documentaries) that should know better. I don't see Phil as a paradigm of professional virtue but I have little patience when he does his carnival barker bit.

Well I didn't watch the show so is he going to do something to help this person's family? I mean if what she is doing is so horrible that CPS and such would be called in sounds like they need to be called in? I swear this show makes my freaking head hurt.

I figure maybe he'll get a buzz going by viewers asking WTF is up with that pregnant woman, which is good for publicity. If he cared enough to rescue this woman and her kids I hope he'd do it before the segment aired and everyone who knew her was wise that she had illegal stuff happening in her house.

By just bringing her on and alluding to her deep,dark double life he made speculation hot enough to melt a steel girder. I know I was going," meth lab/internet porn/child porn/white slavery/the hell?" Imagine if I lived next door to her, with the mouth on me.

I can't believe that Phil is turning a terrible family crisis into a cliff hanger. What an idiot!!!

If this lady is molesting her kids and Phil isn't telling the authorities then it will be fun to watch him get arrested for not telling anyone because he wants big ratings.

I hope that it isn't molestation, maybe the lady is a hooker because Phil did say that because she was molested as a child that she is still using her body to entertain like she had to back then, so I am thinking hooker.

Then he said that she and her family could be in danger. What does that mean?? Is she part of the mafia or what??

I agree the whole thing seems so messed up. If there is real danger to the family then Dr. Phil should have contacted authorities and not made a stinking tape about it. WTF? There is absolutley no reason why there should have been a show about this, except, of course for ratings. part of me thinks the whole thing is staged, but who knows. I watch Dr. Phil mostly for snark value, but this was nothing to snark about. If this woman really is as horrible as he says, there should have never been a show about it. He should have never even had her come to the studio. He could have found her help off-camera.

She could be running a call girl ring from the home and a closet meth lab. A couple from Redondo Beach was doing that and they lost custody of their kids for a while. I thought I had missed her horrible secret but it's a cliff hanger. If she really she that bad, Dr. Phil could get in trouble for not calling child protective services.As a teacher, I had a legal obiligation to report abuse.Gah!

Yeah, she's probably whoring. Because whatever the secret was, it was endangering her life AND her husband's life-- i.e. HIV or some other disease.
Being a molester wouldn't endanger her or her husband's life.

My guess is that she's been allowing her family to be abducted by aliens and is now pregnant by one. Allowing one's family to be taken by and/or examined by aliens is probably against the law in several states. Those anal probes can be such a bitch, y'know?

Oh, and the aliens have convinced her to get involved in meth lab/internet porn/child porn/white slavery. For purposes of studying deviant civilization on Earth.

BWAH!

I'm surprised Dr. Shill hasn't broached that topic already.

Maybe mom has some kind of Munchausen By Proxy disease where she's poisoning/smothering the kids and then taking them to the emergency room.

It would be great if Dr. Shill got subpeonaed and then claimed some kind of doctor/patient journalist-protecting-my-sources privilege.

Live from LockDown, it's Dr. Shill....and Bubba.

I think that the woman is a whore. I really don't think that Dr. Phil would condone child molestation. Also, how would child molestation be harming her husband's life? If she is whoring around, then she could get an STD and pass it on to her husband. It would also put the kids in danger because there is a chance that the tricks could molest the children, or harm them in some other way. Plus, he mentioned the fact that she was molested and that she is replaying that in her life now. Thats the only thing that makes sense to me.



As for Monday's show, that first woman really pissed me off. What the hell is wrong with her? Some person leaves a dead cat with a tiara on on her porch and she still doesn't think its time to get out of the pageant business? Its scary to think of what it would take to make her get out of it. Also, I think I've seen her and her daughter somewhere before because they both looked really really familiar. They also mentioned The Valley which is where I live.

The second mom didn't piss me off as much. I just thought she was completely stupid. Hopefully, she really has changed her mind, but I seriously doubt it. I felt sorry for the dad.

The third mom really impressed me. Her and her husband really have their priorities in check.

The alien abduction is probably it. The woman looked like all kind of ass, like she had been doing some heavy duty nocturnal travel at very high speeds.

Lots of people care a whole helluva lot about kids--anybody's kids--so what Phil did was a ruthless gambit. Buzzy Showman, PhD.

I think the whoring theory is probably right, she is likely prostituting herself and maybe has a disease or something. I can't see even Dr.Phillatio airing her if it's something like molestation, which, IMHO was the case she should already be in jail and a hotel room paid for by advertizing dollars.
The only way I could buy the molestation angle is if she has the urge to do it, but hasn't in fact done it.

But hell, maybe I'm underestimating the craptactular lengths Dr.P would go to for ratings. I could be wrong.

Or maybe it's aliens, or she breeds pitbulls for dogfights or something.

I just finished watching Monday's show, and I was (as usual) v. disappointed in DP's lack of real insight re: pageantry. I was recently in (and won) a pageant -- Ms. Wheelchair Florida -- that focuses on advocacy, public speaking skills, life achievements, etc as opposed to physical beauty. Despite that, and in spite of the fact that I'm 24, have high self-esteem, am comfortable in my body and really like who I am, I still was very freaked out by the idea of being judged and compared to other women. Given that relatively gentle experience, I simply cannot imagine how it would screw with the self-esteem of these little pageant girls to grow up thinking that other girls and women are always their competition, that nothing short of the top prize/school/job/husband is good enough, that they're constantly being watched and judged, and that outward beauty is the most important indicator of success. I'm sorry, but those are *not* the same values taught by soccer or Little League. I really just feel sad for the little girls... they may say they want to do pageants (and acting), but I think they just want to please their overzealous mothers.