Overnight Fame: Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton

I saw this article on the funny pages of inova and decided to do an article on her. Miss Teen South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton became a YouTube sensation early this week after butchering the answer to a question about U.S. geography lessons. By the next morning, the video clip had attracted nearly 3.5 million views in only three days. The 18-year-old was put on the spot by pageant judge Aimee Teergarden, who asked her: 'Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?'

Miss Upton replied: 'I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps.... And, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the US should help the US, er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.'

Still, Miss Upton ended coming in fourth in the competition, which was won by Miss Teen Colorado Hilary Carol Cruz.

TO be sure, the Lexington High School graduate is no dummy. She was an honours student who graduated with a 3.5 grade-point average, and was also a varsity athlete and student leader.

But she redeemed herself on the show when Today interviewer Matt Lauer offered her another go. 'My friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who doesn't. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography.'