Reality Check: Raising beauty queens down on the farm
September 13, 2014 12:00 AM- GAC
Leechburg's Chet Welch stars in the debut of Great American Country's new series 'Farm Queens.'
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Chet Welch considered the question, as a calf bawled in the background.
"Which is easier to deal with — a farm load of animals or a bunch of beauty queens? Huh. I'm going to say a farm load of animals. You have a dozen beauty queens, you have to deal with 12 different personalities. They are all great girls in their own right, but when you have to work with them as a group, it's a bit difficult at times."
Mr. Welch, 54, is expert in dealing with both. Having lived in the country most of his life — "my grandparents had a dairy farm; I am kind of the only one in the family who got the farm gene" — he moved from Ford City to Leechburg, Armstrong County, when he and partner Bob Cherry bought 102 acres six years ago. Mr. Welch is also the executive director of Pennsylvania's Miss America pageant, having worked with the organization for 32 years.
It is any surprise that his life has become a reality show? "Farm Queens" debuts Sunday with a four-episode mini-binge at 6 p.m. on Great American County. Mr. Welch is no stranger to reality television, having been a contestant on "Survivor: Micronesia" and occasional guest on GAC's "Farm Kings," which is shot in Butler County.
The show is a result of a project to find the next big reality star. Producer Bob Kusbit and casting director Ellen Berkman Davis worked with Steeltown's Pittsburgh Innovative Media Incubator and chose Mr. Welch, who trains beauty queens at his farm. Great American County liked the idea and sent a crew to film over the summer.
"It's a show about my life, and that's pretty scary," said Mr. Welch, who also had a career in the pharmaceutical business. He got started in pageants as a member of the local Kittanning Jaycees. It happened the year its county pageant needed a coordinator, and Mr. Welch, who has a penchant for bringing out beauty, discovered he was good at the job.
"They thought since I showed cattle, I could show pageant girls. At that point, I knew nothing about pageants and gowns. But I've made some great friends. I had 14 Miss Pennsylvanias when I was running the Miss Armstrong County pageant, girls who went on to become doctors and lawyers, producers."
The Miss Pennsylvania winner is coached by Mr. Welch on everything from poise to makeup. This week, he's in Atlantic City to confer with Carnegie Mellon University student Amanda Fallon Smith. Preliminary rounds were held throughout the week, and the big show is Sunday night on ABC.
"If you think about it, the Miss America pageant was the first reality show," he said. "One day your neighbor next door was just anybody, the next, she's Miss America. It's like a Cinderella story, and people enjoy seeing that."
In addition to coaching the Pennsylvania winner, Mr. Welch conducts workshops for aspiring beauty queens. There might be anywhere from two to 20 ladies on the farm learning the ropes. Mr. Welch said he incorporates daily chores into pageant lessons, and it's this aspect that intrigued the GAC camera crews.
An online preview showed a bevy of women sloshing something into a trough, milking cows and painting fences. There was nary a sash or bauble in sight.
"We show them real quick there's no place for high heels on a farm," Mr. Welch said.
'America's Got Talent'
The Wednesday results show of NBC's "America's Got Talent" was remarkable for various reasons, not the least of which was the appearance of The Muppets. That Miss Piggy, now there's a talent. (We could have done without that "It's Raining Men" number, though).
There also was the return of Pine Township native Jackie Evancho, the Season 5 runner-up who has become arguably the biggest "AGT" alum. But it was the end of the line for Peters Township mystifier Mike Super, who clearly impressed the judges last Tuesday by predicting the serial numbers on a dollar bill chosen at random by host Nick Cannon.
Mr. Super, however, did not get enough votes to earn a spot in the six-act finale. In a season loaded with magic acts, three of the top 12 were illusionists. Matt Franco was the lone magician to advance.
'Abby's Studio Rescue'
A new episode of "Abby's Studio Rescue" on Lifetime airs Tuesday at 8. It will be followed by a new episode of "Dance Moms." A clip from the show confirms that it's business as usual for the Penn Hills-based studio: Ms. Miller complains that the girls don't know how to "scoot," while upstairs, old and new Moms clash over the dance pecking order.
This show writes itself, doesn't it?
'Rival Survival'
Ever wonder what would happen if you stranded two polar opposite politicians on a deserted island for a week and they had to work together? (This idea was possibly stolen from the 1985 film, "Enemy Mine," starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr., but go with it anyway).
In Discovery's "Rival Survival," which premieres Oct. 29, conservative U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and liberal Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., are dropped onto Eru in the Marshall Islands. The coral reefs have venomous fish and beyond is a shark sanctuary. There is no natural water source.
How will these two work together to find food, shelter, water? Will they pass the rest of the six days and six nights arguing immigration law? Let's hope this thing's better than "Utopia."
Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1478 or @MariaSciulloPG.
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