Throne for a loss
New evidence emerged yesterday that Miss USA Tara Conner shares her boozing ways with her younger roommate Miss Teen USA, and both of their crowns could be in peril.
Sources told the Daily News that Miss Teen USA Katie Blair, 18, has been spotted in clubs chugging shots with the 20-year-old Conner. Both beauty queens are under the legal age to be drinking, and public guzzling also violates the pageant's rules.
Bar-hopping could also end Blair's reign as national spokeswoman for Mother's Against Drunk Driving, an official with the organization said. "They shouldn't be in a bar in the first place," MADD spokeswoman Heidi Castle said. "It's illegal and dangerous for them to drink alcohol at that age."
Conner, who failed a drug test for cocaine and embarrassed the pageant with her wild partying, is waiting to hear her fate from pageant owner Donald Trump on Tuesday. She may be taking down Blair with her.
Multiple witnesses told the Daily News that Conner and Blair drank at the Chelsea club Ultra on Dec. 8 in a group led by fashion photographer Fadil Berisha, who has shot for the Donald Trump-owned pageants for several years.
"He was buying the girls drinks," one source said. "They definitely had a good time, dancing on the couches, rounds of shots and a pretty late night. They had fun."
Berisha could not be reached for comment.
Blair refused to answer the allegations last night at a charity event for the mentally disabled in Miami Beach.
"The title has brought me a great opportunity to work with this organization," Blair told The News before handlers whisked her away. "And that's what I'm here to do."
Pageant officials denied the allegations. "Neither Miss USA nor Miss Teen USA were at Ultra on Friday night," pageant spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton said. "Katie was at dinner with her grandmother. Tara was home."
Actress Vivica A. Fox, who also attended the Best Buddies fund-raiser in Miami last night, said both beauty queens should lose their tiaras. "I'm not a beauty pageant babe, but I think it's unfortunate that they didn't have respect for the crown," Fox said. She said the pageant should "give somebody else a chance. ... They're just not being good role models."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/480972p-404654c.html