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Jordon Hudson won’t be making it to Miss USA.
The 24-year-old pageant queen earned third place at the Miss Maine competition on Sunday night. She lost the crown to Shelby Howell, a real-estate agent from Bangor.
Hudson’s boyfriend, 73-year-old NFL coaching legend Bill Belichick, was in the front row cheering her on throughout the competition.
Hudson and Belichick’s presence brought major media attention to the small pageant, which was held over the weekend at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.
Headlines have swirled about their relationship ever since the couple went public in June 2024, but they’ve intensified in recent weeks after Hudson was seen interrupting Belichick’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview in April.
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The New York Times reported that Hudson seemingly referred to the increased scrutiny while she was onstage at the Miss Maine pageant.
“I’m feeling an immense amount of pride right now,” she said. “I’m hoping that anybody who’s watching this finds the strength to push through whatever it is that they’re going through, and embodies that hate never wins.”
According to the Times, the new Miss Maine’s press conference was cut short on Sunday after an official stopped Howell from answering questions about Belichick and the inclusion of transgender contestants. This year’s competition featured the first transgender contestant in Miss Maine’s history.
Hudson, who was representing her hometown of Hancock, has a long career in pageants.
She placed third runner-up at the 2020 Miss Massachusetts Teen USA competition and first runner-up at Miss Maine USA 2024.
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In January, Hudson wrote an Instagram post explaining why she believes “beauty queens are the contemporary suffragettes.”
“Like feminism, pageantry is malleable & looks a lot different now than it did 104 years ago, however, the essence and mission to perpetuate Women’s Rights and Empowerment is never-changing,” Hudson said.
“Sure, both ‘feminism’ & ‘pageantry’ have flaws and connotative aspects (as does every other ‘industry’), but we are all dedicated to finding the solutions to all of these issues,” she continued. “Let it not be mistaken that our intentions are anything aside from deep and pure.”
It will be up to Bangor to try to win the national crown for Maine. The state has never won Miss USA in the pageant’s 73-year history.
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