Los Angeles: Tara Conner handed over her Miss USA tiara on Friday to aspiring journalist Miss Tennessee, Rachel Smith, after a year of pageant scandals that boosted interest in an industry struggling for 21st century relevance.
Smith, 21, a brunette, was chosen from 51 contestants at the end of a two-hour televised show that embraced Conner's highly publicised stint in rehab for underage drinking and drug taking as a story of courage and female empowerment.
Conner, now 21, saved her crown last December by tearfullly agreeing to go to rehab - a move that tarnished the image of the wholesome pageant princess but gave the 55-year-old competition unprecedented publicity.
Without detailing Conner's other admissions of using cocaine and being abused as a child, Friday's show opened with clips of the December news conference when Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump declared he was going to give the beauty queen a second chance.
Conner, a Kentucky blonde, then appeared alone on stage at the Kodak Theatre and declared, to huge applause: "It has been the most unforgettable year of my life, and I am back and better than ever."
Presenter Tim Vincent called her a "courageous titleholder" adding; "I don't think there's been a story like this ever in Miss USA."
Beauty contests have tried for years to reinvent themselves in the face of sagging TV audience ratings, competition from racy reality TV shows and attacks by feminists who see them as demeaning.
Friday's show seemed to revel in the challenge, incorporating reality TV style back stage clips of the contestants getting ready and rehearsing their runway walks.
Smith, who worked as a volunteer in South Africa with Oprah Winfrey's new school for girls, could have a hard act to follow.
Scandals involving Conner and two other pageant princesses overshadowed the official mission of Miss USA 2006 to travel the nation as an advocate for breast and ovarian cancer education and research.
Trump fired Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, after racy photos of her surfaced online and Miss New Jersey, Ashley Harder, quit when she became pregnant, against Miss USA rules.
Conner ended her reign saying she was grateful to Trump for the chance to embrace a new cause - that of sobriety.
She told "Access Hollywood" this week she thought the pageant would benefit from her experience.
"I think it is going to bring out a whole different era of people. The new girl will bring a new flavor to the title, just like I brought a very strange flavor to the title," Conner told the television show.
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