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Ashleigh Blake never dreamed of becoming a beauty queen. The 21-year-old amateur model and part-time tutor fantasized about being a movie star or the next Glee triple threat, and posted her resume on the casting networking site GotCast in hopes that Hollywood might call. But when a recruitment associate for Miss California USA, the splashiest state franchise in Donald Trump's Miss Universe pageant ecosystem, sent Ashleigh a message in November 2012 expressing interest in scheduling a meeting, she responded right away. "I didn't expect them to pick me in a million years," Ashleigh said. "When they did, I thought it was the start of my dreams coming true."

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What happened next was more like a nightmare.

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Miss USA competitors get a bad rap; they're known for being party girls ( Tara Conner , Miss USA 2006), porn stars ( Melissa King , Miss Delaware Teen USA 2013), and homophobes (Carrie Prejean, former Miss California USA 2009 and Miss USA 2009 first runner-up).

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Melissa King, who was crowned Miss Delaware Teen USA in November, reportedly resigned from her post

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But our investigation found that the people behind the scenes — not the camera-ready women they hide behind — are the ones truly worthy of a spotlight. Some of the men who recruit and run the organization's lucrative pageants are scam artists with lengthy track records of manipulating desperate clients with false promises of fame. Chasing the dream can be pricey, but sources told us it's possible to pay up with sexual favors.

Miss America girls want to be doctors and lawyers. Miss USA girls want to grow up to be Victoria's Secret models.

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MUO co-owner Donald Trump has made his name milking controversy for cash, but it's hard to imagine that even he would advocate profiting off the activities some high-level Miss USA representatives have been involved with for years. State directors and recruiters sign contracts promising to uphold the "upstanding reputation and image" of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO), but no one's watching to make sure they actually comply. And when power runs unchecked, things can sour faster than a runner-up's fake smile.

Last December, millions of people — "one billion," according to Trump — in approximately 190 countries watched Rhode Island resident Olivia Culpo beat out 88 other beauty queens to become Miss Universe. It was the organization's most-watched competition since 2008. The day before the pageant aired, a judge awarded the MUO $5 million in damages against ex-Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin over her claims that the Miss USA pageant was rigged.

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"We are pleased that the integrity of the Miss USA pageant remains intact," MUO President Paula Shugart said in a statement . "We were always confident in what the outcome would be as the truth was on our side."

Confidence aside, the MUO is used to controversy. That's why the Miss America pageant is so averse to being confused with its smuttier sister that it rather brusquely explains the differences between the two pageants on its website's FAQ . The distinction was established over half a century ago, when Yolande Betbeze, a convent girl from Alabama, refused to pose for swimsuit photos after winning the 1951 Miss America title. A swimsuit sponsor retaliated by launching the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants as competitors — and effective product promotion tools.

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Generations later, the foil remains. One 2013 Miss America hopeful recently told Marie Claire that she considered the crown a stepping stone on the way to becoming a state governor. Miss America girls want to be doctors and lawyers, 2004 Miss USA Shandi Finnessey once told Fox & Friends, while Miss USA girls want to grow up to be Victoria's Secret models.

Trump, who bought the MUO in 1996 and co-owns it with NBCUniversal, clearly has no problem with the pageant's reputation. "Ratings have been terrific," Trump told The Insider in 2010 after controversy arose over official competition photos of lingerie-clad contestants rolling around in bed. "They are a little bit sexy but I'll tell you what — everybody's watching so I have no problems with it."

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But no one's paying attention to what happens behind the scenes.

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After being contacted by a Miss California USA recruiter, Ashleigh rushed to fill out an online application. She was soon invited to an interview session with pageant recruiter Domingo Rodriguez at a Clarion Hotel near her apartment in Tracy, a drab city bordered by three interstate highways on the outskirts of the Bay Area. She and a handful of other girls in attendance vying for spots in younger sister pageant Miss California Teen USA watched a promotional video and then had one-on-one interviews with Rodriguez.

"The pageant industry is expensive for young ladies. Everyone wants to make money somehow."

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Rodriguez, a middle-aged smooth-talker, told Ashleigh he would help her find sponsors when she said she couldn't afford the pageant's initial and nonrefundable $895 deposit fee. If Ashleigh was interested in other paid modeling jobs – and she was, yes, of course — Rodriguez knew of a magazine in Miami that needed a cover model. In a follow-up email to Ashleigh sent a few days later, Rodriguez reiterated the magazine opportunity and remained encouraging. "We can meet sometime in the future if you like to take you [sic] to the next level," he wrote. "Keep Smiling!" The next day, he texted Ashleigh, saying she should feel free to contact him on his cell if it was easier than email.

Ashleigh was excited but unsettled by Rodriguez's fervent enthusiasm; her baby-faced features and skinny 5'8'' frame were more fitting for an American Apparel billboard than a national beauty pageant. But when she called the phone number listed on the pageant's website and reached K2 Productions, the company that produces Miss California USA, a receptionist confirmed that Rodriguez was indeed employed by K2 Productions' official recruitment and marketing arm, Chase the Crown. Feeling reassured, Ashleigh texted Rodriguez back to learn more.

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Rodriguez instructed Ashleigh to email modeling photos to ifindtalent@aol.com. After she sent four PG-rated photos, a woman who identified herself as Jazmine Mitchell of Life Talent Ltd asked Ashleigh what type of modeling/acting she would be open to, specifying that "our Agency does G to X rated modeling assignments." Ashleigh politely said she would prefer only "implied nudity" and referenced her childhood modeling work with Osh Kosh B'Gosh. Rodriguez also asked Ashleigh to send him a photo to show his "magazine contacts," so she texted him one of herself in a pink bikini, posing against a living room couch. "Is there anything else I can do in the meantime?" she texted. "I would love the chance to model for pretty much any assignment!"

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Five minutes later, Rodriguez responded: the magazine wanted her on the cover and she'd pocket 80% of the paycheck, but they had to meet in person to discuss the terms of the agreement. Ashleigh thought it was odd that he couldn't discuss the contract over Skype, but agreed to meet him at a Starbucks in Tracy; Miss California USA had confirmed he was legit and Rodriguez had told her via text that "there is an interest we need to sell it now." In the days before the meeting, Rodriquez sent her inspirational texts: "Keep smiling…visualize success."

When the two met later that week, Rodriguez showed up without any paperwork and asked Ashleigh to get inside his car. She felt uncomfortable but got inside; he was an official Miss USA recruiter, after all, and she had come this far. Once the doors were closed, Rodriguez told Ashleigh that the agreement wasn't written. It was oral.

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"Basically, I had to give him head and other ‘sexual favors' if I wanted to be on the cover of the magazine," Ashleigh said. Rodriguez explained that this was simply the "fast track" that 90% of all successful actors and models took to the top: if she performed additional sexual favors for the powerful men on the modeling circuit, her path to fame would be guaranteed.

Ashleigh said Rodriguez asked her to "prove herself" right there in the Starbucks parking lot. When she looked upset, he let her out of the car and told her to think it over. Instead, she spoke with an officer at the Tracy Police Department the very next day. But because Rodriguez hadn't actually forced her to go down on him, the incident was a civil matter, not a criminal one.

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The Miss Universe pageant and recruitment ecosystem.

Next, Ashleigh contacted Keith Lewis, the State Director for Miss California USA and Miss California Teen USA and co-director of K2 Productions, the company that produces the pageants and vouched for Rodriguez. Lewis told Ashleigh in an email that he was horrified by her experience and would remedy the situation, but advised her to keep her story under wraps "to prevent the possibility of tainting the outcome." Whether he was referring to the outcome of the pageant — which he encouraged Ashleigh to still apply for — or the investigation was unclear.

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Two days later, Lewis wrote to Ashleigh that K2's official recruitment company, Chase the Crown, had agreed to relieve Rodriguez of his recruiting responsibilities. Lewis told her he had spoken at length to the detective assigned to Ashleigh's complaint – but unfortunately, he wrote, neither the police nor he would be able to follow up any further. Lewis was sympathetic, and he told Ashleigh he was trying to find her an "appropriate therapist" near her apartment. Thoughtful, perhaps, although Ashleigh had never asked for counseling in the first place — and that was the last she heard from Lewis on the matter. According to the police officer who received Ashleigh's report, no one from K2 Productions ever contacted him or any other law enforcement authority. Lewis never found Ashleigh that "appropriate" therapist, either.

That's when Ashleigh decided she was out. "I no longer wanted to be affiliated with the Miss USA brand," she said with a sarcastic laugh. Ashleigh uploaded a video to YouTube (below) in hopes of spreading her story, but no one seemed to take notice.

http://allynacktenteens.wikidot.com/blog:14

Big Breaks for Blowjobs: The Dark Underbelly of the Miss USA Pageant