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Captain Brien gets the opportunity to interview a beauty queen! Miss Estero, Kelsey Craft, joins Captain Brien to discuss what it was like being a part of the Miss Florida competition. Kelsey finished in the top 5!!!
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Watch Full Video —————> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOSq4lBmCE&t=59s
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Check Kelsey Craft out and show her some love at:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelsey.craft.3
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelsey.craft_
PODCAST RECAP
Miss something on one of our episodes of the #naplescaptainslog? Don’t worry we got you covered! Here you will find a full transcript from this episode of the #naplescaptainslog!
Captain Brien: Welcome back, this show is just for the guys. This is Miss Estero,Kelsey Craft who just competed in Miss Florida USA, right?
Kelsey Craft: Yes, last weekend.
Captain Brien: I’m so excited. Kelsey’s been on the show many times but I don’t think you ever sat shotgun, did you?
Kelsey Craft: Yes, when I gave you your Botox.
Captain Brien: Oh, you did when you gave me the Botox.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: All right. So now it’s all about you today, it’s all about you.
Kelsey Craft: Uh oh.
Captain Brien: Yes, I need to know all the good stuff. So you competed. First of all, you did a whole regiment getting up, getting ready for this?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: How long did you get ready for it? Tell me the moves.
Kelsey Craft: You know, it was a lot of mental preparation, but I think I officially decided to compete in September.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And originally, the pageant was supposed to be in November and they pushed it back to January. So I had a little more time to mentally prepare, and physically prepare.
Captain Brien: Oh wow, they moved it? I got a little lucky. Yeah, they did.
Kelsey Craft: Why’d they move it?
Captain Brien: Because the Chrisley’s, you know from Chrisley Knows Best, Todd Chrisley, they own that franchise, the Florida USA. So Chrisley productions was putting it on and based on their production team and stuff, they needed a preview day.
Captain Brien: Gotcha. The damn production always screws things up. It screws up my comedy shows, it screws up everything. The only production team I really like is the one on the Captains Log.
Kelsey Craft: Oh okay, of course.
Captain Brien: It’s like legit.
Kelsey Craft: You’re hard to please.
Captain Brien: Yeah. They always are on time. They know what I wanna know. They know what I’m thinkin’. It’s amazing.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah well, but you wouldn’t do good in pageants then because a lot of is hurry up, wait, and do the things that you need to do to be a part of a team that’s making a production.
Captain Brien: All right, so tell me you put your mind to it. You were like, you told me like, Captain, I’m gonna do, I’m gonna run, this is my last time. Because I guess they have a certain restrictions, correct?
Kelsey Craft: Gosh, I know. I don’t know who decided that a random age of under 28 is the requirement to be a Miss, but.
Captain Brien: Wow, right?
Kelsey Craft: I aged out, yeah.
Captain Brien: So, you basically started, you started working out, I know that.
Kelsey Craft: I didn’t start working out.
Captain Brien: No, but you got serious about it.
Kelsey Craft: You know, the working out has never been an issue, it’s the meal preparation.
Captain Brien: Ah!
Kelsey Craft: It really is. When you’ve been active your whole life, that people talk about like the last five pounds and things like that.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: To be stage ready versus, Florida beach ready is a different concept.
Captain Brien: So wait, so there’s two different ones?
Kelsey Craft: I think so, yeah.
Captain Brien: We need to post a before and after like the Florida beach picture versus stage picture. So you’re skinnier on the stage one or the beach one?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Which one is better?
Kelsey Craft: Stage.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: ‘Cause there’s a difference between okay, I’m goin’ to the beach, I’m minding my own business and like laying there, I don’t care what everybody else is doing.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: But when you’re on stage in front of hundreds of people, thousands including those watching online, you wanna look good.
Captain Brien: So you had to like, be banging.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, I lost 11 pounds.
Captain Brien: Did you really?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, I did.
Captain Brien: Oh, my goodness.
Kelsey Craft: And it’s so interesting ’cause so many people will go, you don’t need to lost weight or you know, when they see you in my scrubs.
Captain Brien: Where did it come, did it come from, did it come straight off the booty?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: What!
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: You added to the booty?
Kelsey Craft: You know, you do exercises to keep it the right size. It really is changing your physic. I mean, I dwindled my waist a little bit, my legs were slimmer, they gotta look long on stage.
Captain Brien: Did you have to get a trainer?
Kelsey Craft: I had a trainer that was training me virtually from Rhode Island.
Captain Brien: Oh my goodness. So, oh, so you were like Face Timing?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, like we would text all the time and–
Captain Brien: Walk me through it, were you like, how’s this look daddy? Eh, eh.
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: No, it wasn’t like that?
Kelsey Craft: They’re a very respectable and respectful–
Captain Brien: All right, ’cause I thought they might do that.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, my trainer actually, I was recommended him by a friend who’d worked with him before.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: He’s actually got a long wait list so I felt very fortunate that he accepted me.
Captain Brien: He put you to the top damn it! You were gonna freakin’ be Miss USA.
Kelsey Craft: I was going–
Captain Brien: He better!
Kelsey Craft: I was like this is serious, I’m giving it 100%.
Captain Brien: Right, yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And I need to be accountable to somebody and there were before photos, progress photos, weigh-ins, and not like the cheat weigh-ins where I’m like, okay I’m gonna weigh-in on my best day and send in a picture from a few months ago.
Captain Brien: Yeah, like it’s seven in the morning.
Kelsey Craft: It was like feet on the scale, like holding your phone.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: But I didn’t do feet on the scale ’cause I was like my phone’s gonna add like half a pound.
Captain Brien: I do that at the gym.
Kelsey Craft: So I got off the scale and took a picture of it.
Captain Brien: So you took the, I get it, I get it yeah.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Because you don’t want the phone, the phone weighs something.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, exactly.
Captain Brien: Yeah, so did you do it naked?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: The scale every day?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: You posted those?
Kelsey Craft: Just the feet.
Captain Brien: Oh just the feet, damn! I thought we were trying to get followers over here.
Kelsey Craft: Sorry, yeah no. Then I would be disqualified which is inappropriate.
Captain Brien: Yeah, were they strict about like everything because you didn’t wanna be on some of the shows because of the topics that we talked about some time, right?
Kelsey Craft: I don’t think that it actually had anything to do with what the production team would necessarily say because it is my profession, being a healthcare provider.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: But just in the sense of who’s watching, you gotta be neutral to all your audience and I wanna be a positive influence to young girls, so talking about certain topics might not be the best.
Captain Brien: Absolutely.
Kelsey Craft: For seventh graders to see.
Captain Brien: Of course, yeah because they follow you
Kelsey Craft: Yes.
Captain Brien: And they respect you and they wanna be, they aspire to be you. Who doesn’t wanna be a beauty queen, right?
Kelsey Craft: Right.
Captain Brien: So this is, how many, what number pageant was the last one? You did so many and I know that you were Miss International in 2017.
Kelsey Craft: Yes.
Captain Brien: So that’s huge.
Kelsey Craft: That yeah, that was huge.
Captain Brien: And that was–
Kelsey Craft: So some people would think I’m crazy, like why wouldn’t you just retire on top? Why wouldn’t you just like, go out with a bang? Why would you put yourself through that again? And I think that some people set limitations on you and you shouldn’t listen to that, so.
Captain Brien: Yeah, I know, I don’t listen to anyone.
Kelsey Craft: I am a late bloomer in pageant world. I didn’t start until I was 21. So I didn’t do the young stuff, I didn’t do teenage pageants, I didn’t even–
Captain Brien: Which probably was better. By the time you’re 21–
Captain Brien: You never know. You’re doing that non-stop like, don’t they start young?
Kelsey Craft: Some people start young, but I can’t really say better or not. You know, some people, this is a lifelong dream to be a role model and to have that experience and friendly competition.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: And each year you learn something–
Captain Brien: Is it friendly? Don’t tell me it’s friendly.
Kelsey Craft: I have been very fortunate.
Captain Brien: Those girls were catty. They must have been like, this bitch!
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: No, never? They never gave you any of this, like shit?
Kelsey Craft: That’s such a misconception.
Captain Brien: I would have thought so.
Kelsey Craft: I think that some people in pageant world, and in the world in general, so we gotta apply this that people have this preconceived notions about pageantry. And you can completely apply it to real life. So if you go in to any competition or any pageant worrying about other people, all your energy is gonna be focused on those other people instead of focusing on being the best you.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: You know, so it’s like you’re playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.
Captain Brien: Yeah, so that’s a good positive inspiration for everybody watching right now.
Kelsey Craft: Oh gosh, yeah.
Captain Brien: Not just, not just on the big stage.
Kelsey Craft: Right.
Captain Brien: Okay, was the Miss International stage bigger because that’s was the final level? Or was this at the state level, like a bigger platform for you?
Kelsey Craft: Numbers wise, it’s interesting. So Miss International spans women from all over the world.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: Okay? The theater itself was bigger, the price package in the sense of being an international title holder seems of grand scale. But I think when I competed for Miss International there was about 50 girls.
Captain Brien: Yeah, okay.
Kelsey Craft: And last weekend at Florida USA there were 68 women competing.
Captain Brien: 68 women, okay. So now, this is the question I have. You represented Estero?
Kelsey Craft: Yes.
Captain Brien: How did you get to become to Miss Estero?
Kelsey Craft: Okay, so to be considered to compete in the pageant you have to submit an application.
Captain Brien: From your city?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, I filled out, you just fill out an application of why you wanna participate in Miss Florida USA, what your goals are, what you do, just kind of a little resume. And then the director or the executive producer will actually call you and kinda interview you, get to know you, make sure you have best of intentions and make sure that you’ll represent the organization well.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: The title is based on where you live. So you know, secret’s out, I live in Estero.
Captain Brien: So what if there was no people in Estero?
Kelsey Craft: Then, you know, We had a Miss Fort Myers, we had a Miss Lee County, we had a Miss Naples.
Captain Brien: Get them on the phone, I need them on the show.
Kelsey Craft: Cassidy.
Captain Brien: I need Miss Naples, Miss Fort Myers.
Kelsey Craft: Monique.
Kelsey Craft: Oh my God, Miss Bonita.
Captain Brien: I’m calling all you, Sarah.
Captain Brien: Freakin’ everyone! Miss Marco Island, I’m bringing them all damn it!
Kelsey Craft: We will load your car with all the pageant queens from West Florida.
Captain Brien: Yes!
Kelsey Craft: We represented well, yeah.
Captain Brien: So was anybody on your turf, and they were like, oh, damn Kelsey is in Estero, I better move to Bonita?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: No, no one did?
Kelsey Craft: Actually, my very first question in my interview was, so where is Estero? And I have to do it in reference, you know, it’s we’re 20 minutes north of Naples and I’m like, I’m here to put it on the map.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: So hopefully, those people watching me from Estero are proud.
Captain Brien: You did Estero good.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: You did, you did, you really banged it out.
Kelsey Craft: Thank you.
Captain Brien: But no, come on! Seriously like, so how does only one person represent each city? I’m serious about that. So if somebody was like in Estero and they wanna do it too, would you have to compete?
Kelsey Craft: They might have to have a different title. So, we have to have delicate title for reference and where we’re representing and leading up to the pageant and afterwards. Where are you doing your most community service?
Captain Brien: You better tell, you better tell–
Kelsey Craft: You can have an East Orlando and a West Orlando, you can break it up.
Captain Brien: Ah!
Kelsey Craft: According to someone, they said that there were 1,200 applications received for the Miss and Teen, and they accepted 150. So it was a really big deal to even get to the point of being able to compete, very competitive.
Captain Brien: For the–
Kelsey Craft: For Miss Florida USA.
Captain Brien: Yeah. So there was 1,200 applicants.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: How many in those 1,200 in your mind were like, they flaked out after they sent the application?
Kelsey Craft: That is a concern, some probably were not accepted. But flaking out, there is something to be said about social media. There have been girls to see their competition and then bailout, because they’re worried like, why would I compete if so and so is gonna beat me? Which is just a losing mindset in and of itself.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: So they shouldn’t be worried about who else is competing. I try to not concern myself with–
Captain Brien: Plus it’s about the message, right?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: It’s not about who wins, or loses.
Kelsey Craft: Gosh! It should be about who wins in the sense of like, obviously you won it. Like I wasn’t training four to five days a week and eating out of Tupperware–
Captain Brien: Correct.
Kelsey Craft: If I wasn’t serious.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: But there’s something about the process, you learn, you become a better person, you become disciplined. That when you’re preparing for something of an end goal, and this was actually my on-stage question.
Captain Brien: What was it?
Kelsey Craft: One of my on-stage questions was–
Captain Brien: Ooh, God!
Kelsey Craft: Are we hot?
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: Okay. So one of my on-stage questions was, what is your biggest flaw and what do you do to overcome it? So first of all I was like, how come I got a negative question? But it really was of self-awareness. And I said, what are my biggest–
Captain Brien: But you killed the question.
Kelsey Craft: Thank you.
Captain Brien: You were the superstar.
Kelsey Craft: Thank you.
Captain Brien: I saw that on your Instagram, right?
Kelsey Craft: Oh, so I posted one of two, you haven’t seen the other one.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: The top five question I got was, what’s your biggest flaw and what have you done to overcome it? And that was like, oh you gotta think on the fly. I’m thinking, I snooze my alarm clock, I don’t call my grandma enough. But in reality my biggest flaw is sometimes I get so goal oriented that my life is broken up in segments of, okay, in three months I’m gonna compete for Florida USA.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And then in six months I wanna buy a house. And then, you know, you get to, but there’s beauty in the process. And I said, sometimes if we get so tunnel vision on what we’re trying to achieve, we miss the beauty all around us in what you’re learning, the relationships you’re building and how much you grow on the journey. So, that was mine.
Captain Brien: And they liked it?
Kelsey Craft: I think so.
Captain Brien: How many rounds were there?
Kelsey Craft: We did the interview, which is private, which no one gets to see. So sometimes when people go to watch the on-stage they have their favorite and they’re like, well, how did so and so get in the top? And I didn’t like their gown. Well, there’s an individual interview that goes on behind the scenes before we ever get to the stage. So that factors into a third of your score. And then everyone competes in swimsuit, and then everybody competes in the evening gown. Based on those three scores–
Captain Brien: What color swimsuit did you wear?
Kelsey Craft: I wore red. I was the only blonde in red.
Captain Brien: Red?
Kelsey Craft: Which apparently is like a bold move.
Captain Brien: Strong!
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Strong move.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: A thong, or regular?
Kelsey Craft: No, full.
Captain Brien: Oh!
Kelsey Craft: Full covered.
Kelsey Craft: Role model.
Captain Brien: I would have guessed thong.
Kelsey Craft: I wish.
Captain Brien: No.
Kelsey Craft: No, just kidding.
Captain Brien: I’m joking.
Kelsey Craft: Good coverage, you actually use glue to keep your swimsuit–
Captain Brien: Do you have a special one that you have to wear, ’cause I think– I’m assuming that everyone has to wear like pre-approved bathing suits.
Kelsey Craft: Okay, so we all got to choose our own swim wear. We were trying to set the tone for Florida USA being fashion forward, think Miami swim week vibe. So people got to wear prints and colors and styles. And then the top 15, which I made, we were sponsored by Vizcaya Swimwear and they gave each of the top 15 a standard white swimsuit to wear.
Captain Brien: Wait, so everybody had to be in the same one?
Kelsey Craft: In the same swimsuit.
Captain Brien: Wow, so then you’re really going apples to apples.
Kelsey Craft: Uh, you think about integrity–
Captain Brien: Literally on the apples.
Kelsey Craft: Oh my gosh.
Captain Brien: I’m joking.
Kelsey Craft: You think about integrity in certain situations and pageantry can really show people’s true colors, too. ‘Cause I think back after the fact of how I act, how I behave, how I treat people. And we show up, once we were announced in the top 15, we show up to a station. They know who made the top 15 and they set up our bag and our clothes. And you have a table of everything that you need to get ready for.
Captain Brien: Is it all in the same day?
Kelsey Craft: Well, prelims were one day and the we show up.
Captain Brien: So then, the day you show up, there’s 15?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: Oh!
Kelsey Craft: So, we show up and we compete on stage on Friday.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: All 68, yes. On Saturday, everyone shows up and is lined up on stage. So when the audience is finding out who the 15 is, so are we.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: So, imagine the nerves, like.
Captain Brien: So you are, like.
Kelsey Craft: I couldn’t ask my friends to buy tickets to both shows. So I was like, okay well, let’s hope I make top 15 so you can actually watch me compete.
Captain Brien: Oh damn!
Kelsey Craft: So it’s like, don’t come to Saturday.
Captain Brien: ‘Cause they could have been and weren’t there?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, exactly.
Captain Brien: But you are.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: My gal! All right.
Kelsey Craft: You’re standing up on stage with all of the other women and you’re just hoping that they announce your name. There was like six people before before me, and I was like, now you’re doing the math like, oh, there’s only nine spots left so now I’m one in nine shot.
Captain Brien: Yeah. And it just goes down and down.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah. And so that’s really interesting.
Captain Brien: At what point were you like, holy crap-ola! I don’t know if I’m gonna do it.
Kelsey Craft: When they announced top six, the first six, and there’s no order.
Captain Brien: There was nine left.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah. I think I was the seventh or something, I don’t remember when I was announced.
Captain Brien: Oh my God!
Kelsey Craft: I wasn’t–
Captain Brien: What if it went down to like number two?
Kelsey Craft: The last one!
Captain Brien: Would you have been dying?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah. So, what they do is you’re announced in the top 15 and then everyone else goes back stage, and then the top 15 will be brought out individually for their own stage question, which is the one I shared with you.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: We can share later.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And then, after you’re introduced as hello, I’m Miss Estero here’s my question, then everyone re-competes in the swimsuit and evening gowns. Scores are wiped clean, so now it’s only you versus the other 14.
Captain Brien: And you’re telling me the girls aren’t talking about the girls in the swimsuits. Regular girls at the beach are talking about girls on the beach.
Kelsey Craft: Maybe. Okay, we showed up to day one. We do an orientation, we do one hour, hello! Welcome, get ready for an exciting weekend. By the way we’re doing a photoshoot, so go get your bikinis on and we’re gonna go outside the hotel in front of the fountain. So we’re all standing there, don’t even know first name basis and talk about staying in your lane and not comparing yourself to other people. And you’re standing there in your bikini going, okay, who’s got a better body?
Captain Brien: Right!
Kelsey Craft: And do I have a shot?
Captain Brien: You must have been thinking?
Kelsey Craft: I was like, don’t look at other people.
Captain Brien: You had to be weeding some out.
Kelsey Craft: No, ’cause really what my thought process was is–
Captain Brien: I would have totally been. I would have been, got them!
Kelsey Craft: I got a four-pack, they only got a two-pack.
Captain Brien: Damn, I got them! Ooh damn, that guy is good. I’d have been, yeah.
Kelsey Craft: I went in really trying to be focused on myself. And I went in with the confidence of saying, I did everything that I can do and there’s no going back, so seven if someone has a better physique, I know I had three months to prepare, I was strict with that, I made it very known. I was open with my co-workers, my friends. And at that point there’s nothing you can do to change it. So who cares who has a better body, it’s also how you carry yourself.
Captain Brien: Absolutely!
Kelsey Craft: The confidence that you have the style, the walk.
Captain Brien: It’s all about your swagger.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, it is.
Captain Brien: Okay, so keep going, I got a bunch of questions.
Kelsey Craft: Oh, so we walk into, we are now set in the top 15 and we go into the back room, the dressing room, and they’re like, next phase of competition you’re putting on a sponsored swimsuit. Well, we haven’t been sized or anything, so here I got at my station and my swimsuit is just in a bag and you’re like, I hope this fits!
Captain Brien: Right, so what the heck, how did they know?
Kelsey Craft: They just–
Captain Brien: You had to send your size?
Kelsey Craft: No, I mean, they just kind, you know, mediums are safe bet and whatever. Well, I got next to the girl who, her physic was larger than mine, not overweight, I’m saying that she just had bigger chested naturally, things like that. So she gets in her bag and her top is an extra small. And she’s like, this is not gonna work.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And I was like, you know, I’m really proud of myself looking back, I was like–
Captain Brien: Wait, did she have–
Kelsey Craft: You can have my–
Captain Brien: Did she have some surgery?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: They weren’t enhanced?
Kelsey Craft: This is not important.
Captain Brien: That’s important to me!
Kelsey Craft: The important part is, I looked at her and said, you know what, you cannot wear an extra small. You can have my medium.
Captain Brien: You took one for the team.
Kelsey Craft: And I took the extra small. Not even realizing like maybe it’s gonna look bad on me. Is this gonna affect my score? It was, you know what, I was being kind in that moment.
Captain Brien: Sure.
Kelsey Craft: Looking back, ’cause in my photos I’m like I could have done with a little bit larger top, but it’s okay. It’s okay!
Captain Brien: I need to see those, I’ll be the judge of that.
Kelsey Craft: Okay.
Captain Brien: I’m gonna make sure.
Kelsey Craft: I did the swimsuit and then you go in, you re-compete in the evening gown. And after the evening gown, the top 15 come out and they announce the top five.
Captain Brien: That’s it?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Right then?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Oh my God!
Kelsey Craft: So you can be– There’s like an intermission and then you’re all in the gown again. You’re lined up with all 15 hoping they call your name when they announce the top five.
Captain Brien: And then, was there any good drama? Did any of the girls just totally break down and cry?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: No one argued?
Kelsey Craft: I’m really proud of–
Captain Brien: They weren’t like, this little B, I’m? Nothing?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: You guys were professional.
Kelsey Craft: If it happened, I was unaware.
Captain Brien: You were on the top five, the other girls and the ones in the back they were arguing.
Kelsey Craft: There is always gonna be a level of disappointment, but I think that the women that I competed with I just got so lucky that everyone was mature, well-rounded, there for to really be exceptional women.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: I don’t really think I have anything negative to say about anyone who competed or their experience.
Captain Brien: No, I don’t think so, but there could have been other women that weren’t as sweet, kind, and professional as you.
Kelsey Craft: Maybe, hopefully no–
Captain Brien: That would be the fun part to hear about.
Kelsey Craft: Hopefully nobody was talking poorly of me when they were watching me on the stage though.
Captain Brien: So what were the ages?
Kelsey Craft: So the ages for Miss, I believe are 19 or 18 to 27.
Captain Brien: And there was women that were at the bottom of that age?
Kelsey Craft: You know, there were some 20-year-olds for sure. I don’t know everybody’s age. Like I said, there were 68 people.
Captain Brien: Were they all pros? I don’t know if they’re professional, but I would consider you a professional since you’ve been doing this and you were successful at it. Were they some like first-timers?
Kelsey Craft: They were first-timers for sure.
Captain Brien: Really?
Kelsey Craft: There were first-timers. And that’s an amazing thing, because you gotta do it your first time at some point.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: I started late, like I said. And then there was some seasoned vets. I mean, I was in the top five with a girl that– The girl who won was first runners up last year, and then in the top five the year before that. So, she was seasoned.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: Another girl in top five was Miss Texas America, so she’s already competed in Miss America.
Captain Brien: Well wait, so what, now she’s representing Florida? Then she cheated.
Kelsey Craft: She lives in Texas, but she’s from Naples. If you live, work, spend majority of your time in a certain state, you can represent your home state.
Captain Brien: Really?
Kelsey Craft: So at the time she was at home in Texas.
Captain Brien: Oh okay, so before.
Kelsey Craft: Before.
Captain Brien: At a different year.
Kelsey Craft: Yes, a different year.
Captain Brien: Gotcha!
Kelsey Craft: She was representing Texas.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: And this year she snow resides in Naples, works in Naples, spends most of the time there.
Captain Brien: When she represented Texas, did she go to the big dance?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, she went to Miss America.
Captain Brien: She did?
Captain Brien: Oh wow!
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, she was Miss Texas America.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: So here I am, formerly Miss International, top five. The runner up from last year was in the top five.
Captain Brien: Right.
Kelsey Craft: Miss Texas America from, I don’t know what year, but she was amazing. Another girl who, I think it was her first time at Florida USA, I’m not sure, but she had represented Puerto Rico at some worldwide pageant.
Captain Brien: Oh wow!
Kelsey Craft: And then another
Captain Brien: I’m trying to read Scott’s. Is she gonna be your new spokesperson supermodel?
Kelsey Craft: Rum and vodka.
Captain Brien: Yeah, well you know, she does it on the side.
Kelsey Craft: I gotta keep the figure, so I don’t know how much.
Captain Brien: Right, right
Kelsey Craft: And then the last girl that was in the top five, she was representing her platform and she was going and competing and giving it her all, first pageant ever, and had just gone through chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Captain Brien: Oh my gosh!
Kelsey Craft: At a young age.
Captain Brien: God bless her.
Kelsey Craft: In her 20s.
Captain Brien: Wow!
Kelsey Craft: So like four days after the pageant she actually went through the double mastectomy surgery.
Captain Brien: Oh my gosh!
Kelsey Craft: So talk about inspirational.
Captain Brien: Yeah, no kidding!
Kelsey Craft: Talk about competitive, and talk about stories worth sharing.
Captain Brien: Yeah, tough girl.
Kelsey Craft: So just to be in the top five, you’re disappointed it’s like, dang, I would have loved to go to Miss USA and I wanted to win. But it really just sit back and be just proud of the accomplishment making top five is huge.
Captain Brien: It’s huge.
Kelsey Craft: And even, for those who don’t make the top five or don’t make the top 15, just showing up is huge. Because there are thousands of people who don’t have that opportunity or are not brave enough to do so. So, props to everyone, because people judge pageants all they want, but it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there.
Captain Brien: It takes huge! Are you kidding me? Wait, people judge it? I don’t judge it.
Kelsey Craft: You don’t judge ’cause you like all the girls in swimsuits, but people have their preconceived notions about pageantry.
Captain Brien: Why do you just go right to the swimsuits?
Kelsey Craft: Because you just asked me for photo of those.
Captain Brien: This is embarrassing Kelsey. You’re talking and just saying I only like girls in swimsuits.
Kelsey Craft: You live in Florida.
Captain Brien: Well, I like the beach.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: That’s what it is.
Kelsey Craft: I wonder why! So yeah, there’s a lot to be said just about showing up for things, putting yourself out there.
Captain Brien: Absolutely! I can’t imagine! Okay, it’s gotta be super hard too, when you get to question and you’ve seen all the fail videos, right.
Kelsey Craft: Right.
Captain Brien: And now it’s gonna even more pressure on, you know?
Kelsey Craft: You know, looking back, you know the phrase hindsight 20/20. Looking back, there’s ways that I could have answered my question better. And you always think like, oh in that moment that was the best I could have done. And I reflect, and it depends on what your focus is.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: Because my thing was, is I just wanna be likable, relatable and I wanna be real. So I went in and that was my answer.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: However, in my heart, I had told everyone, okay I have a plan, I know I’d be a great Florida USA because of X, Y and Z. Well, if you don’t communicate that in your opportunity to do in your individual interview or your on-stage question, the judges don’t know that. You can’t make an assumption that people can read your mind. Like, she’d be a great Florida USA because she plans to do X, Y, Z, if you do not verbalize it. So there was a fear of messing up, there’s always a fear of misspeaking.
Captain Brien: Speaking of messing up, what was your talent? Did you have a talent?
Kelsey Craft: There was no talent in ours.
Captain Brien: Wait! There’s no talent competition?
Kelsey Craft: In the Miss America Pageant there’s the talent.
Captain Brien: So Miss USA no?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, Miss USA no talent.
Captain Brien: Miss USA all the talent goes to the swimsuit competition.
Kelsey Craft: Miss USA is 30% interview, you know, a third interview, a third swimsuit, a third evening gown, and then on-stage question.
Captain Brien: I was close then, I was close.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: They mix it up. So te evening gown, how did you pick out your evening gown?
Kelsey Craft: Oh my gosh! Back in June I was in Rhode Island with a friend, she works at a gown store. It sounds so bizarre, but I was in Providence and I go, that’s a beautiful gown. I go, if I decide to do Florida USA that’s the gown I’m wearing.
Captain Brien: What color was it?
Kelsey Craft: It was blue.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Kelsey Craft: And they were like, oh okay. I said, can I try it on now so I know? And it was too expensive, so they were like, okay, you can’t try this on unless you’re planning on buying a gown from us.
Captain Brien: No way!
Kelsey Craft: So I go, well, that’s my gown if I compete and I didn’t even get to try it on. Well, they ended up having a sale and remembered me saying how much I love that gown, even just in the bag. And they were so serendipitous, they messaged me, this gown is going on sale and before we bring it to a trunk show we wanna offer it to you, so it’s 40% off.
Captain Brien: Really?
Kelsey Craft: And then it was my gown. Then this is in October.
Captain Brien: That was made for you. That’s why.
Kelsey Craft: I picked it out in June and it was still available in October 40% off, and I pride myself, I’m never buying anything full price and I was like, yeah.
Captain Brien: Yeah. I like to buy a deal too.
Kelsey Craft: You got yourself a deal.
Captain Brien: I get deals.
Kelsey Craft: It just made it that much prettier to know that it was cheap.
Captain Brien: 100%, I feel the same way. If I get a deal on suit, I’m loving that suit. It’s like, yeah!
Kelsey Craft: And this gown was so beautiful, but then I got upset when I lost weight and the gown was too big, one week before the pageant that I actually had an amazing alteration.
Captain Brien: Jocelyn says it was gorgeous.
Kelsey Craft: Aw, thank you Jocelyn, oh she’s so sweet. I know her from previous pageants. And so I got upset because I had lost weight, and so if you need alterations in Naples, First Class Alterations on 41, they’re awesome. They are awesome.
Captain Brien: Where are they?
Kelsey Craft: They’re on 41. Oh my gosh, and there’s also a jewelry store that I always go to, Beckner Jewelry.
Captain Brien: Is that right next to Jimmy P’s?
Kelsey Craft: I don’t know, my geography is terrible.
Captain Brien: Is it across from cheesecake factory?
Kelsey Craft: No, I don’t know. I’m representing Estero, not Naples, so Google Map First Class Alterations.
Captain Brien: Yeah!
Kelsey Craft: ‘Cause they’re awesome. Tell them Kelsey sent you, they’re just so sweet. And they’ve done six of my gowns, and if I can trust them with my gowns you can trust them with your suits and your pants.
Captain Brien: Totally!
Kelsey Craft: And all that.
Captain Brien: Totally, yeah! I think I use them once in a while.
Kelsey Craft: They’re so great.
Captain Brien: If I remember where they are.
Kelsey Craft: Thinking about that, when you’re preparing for something that’s so big, one thing I’ve learned through competing and preparing for pageants is that people should not be getting in your way. Does that make sense? Like you think, I don’t have the time, I can’t call so and so, I can’t go see my friends. And you get so tunnel focused on what you’re doing that you don’t realize that there’s people around you that you actually need to help you. You know?
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: I needed a good alterations person. I needed an accountable trainer, I needed an interview practice coach.
Captain Brien: I thought I was doing that for you, the interviewing?
Kelsey Craft: I guess you could have.
Captain Brien: I guess that’s why you made so many Captain’s Log appearances.
Kelsey Craft: What would you have asked me if you were a judge on the pageant?
Captain Brien: Oh, if I was a judge.
Kelsey Craft: If you were a judge on the pageant what would you ask?
Captain Brien: Legit?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: If I was a judge I would say, good evening Kelsey, thank you for joining us tonight. We appreciate it, your gown is beautiful. I’d like to know what your views are on the world economy today.
Kelsey Craft: Wow! So would you consider that political or just economical?
Captain Brien: No, I’d say that’s just economical.
Kelsey Craft: Okay. Do you want me to answer?
Captain Brien: Yeah, maybe let’s play. Let’s play a little.
Captain Brien: Let’s play a game, okay. There’s definitely room for improvement in our economy right now. To be in debt nationwide, trillions of dollars is unacceptable. And we’re giving back to certain organizations and other countries before taking care of ourselves and making sure that we’re protected from a security standpoint, a military standpoint, and education.
Captain Brien: Knocked it out of the park. I would have said you killed it.
Captain Brien: Okay.
Captain Brien: Right?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, we shouldn’t be in debt.
Captain Brien: I agree 100%, it’s wild.
Kelsey Craft: There are some questions that–
Captain Brien: If we ran our business the way the government runs it, we’d all be out of it.
Kelsey Craft: We’d have 14,000 credit card.
Captain Brien: What would we do? Sorry, I had to–
Kelsey Craft: He’s not watching, why is he not watching?
Captain Brien: I don’t know what he’s doing.
Kelsey Craft: Why does he know you’re doing this?
Captain Brien: Unbelievable, I get no respect for my dad he’s not watching.
Kelsey Craft: But I joked about this with Dr. Dollar actually. We were at work and we were talking about questions that you can mentally be prepared for. And some of these questions that you’ll see online, people messing up their answers and stuff. I’m really sarcastic. So I think like, if I knew the answer to that question I would not be here, I’d be political office, vice president already.
Captain Brien: Right, exactly! I agree totally, I heard some of these questions, it’s like, who’s asking that question? Like, really where did you get that question? I feel the same way.
Kelsey Craft: So you have to remember if you’re ever watching a pageant on TV, if you watch the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, Miss USA, whatever it is, be gracious to the girls that are answering. Because it’s not necessarily I have this solution to all of the world problems. It’s how you conduct yourself under pressure, how do you speak, how are you relatable? How are you gonna deal when you get asked questions on the fly if were at an appearance representing this organization, and that’s more important.
Captain Brien: That’s exactly, I think, something you hit right on the head. Because, first of all, even if they give the world’s best question, answer to the question, what is someone gonna do? They’re not really gonna act on it right then and there. So it’s like, they just wanna know how you act under those circumstances of the pressure I think.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Right? They’re not asking questions that you’re gonna solve. Are they?
Kelsey Craft: I don’t think so. I mean, maybe someone was watching and was like, good idea, let’s do that.
Captain Brien: That would be amazing, then it would be all worth it.
Kelsey Craft: What’s interesting is that Miss Naples was asked, her question I believe was something like, what would be a law, if you could create any law what would it be? And hers had something to do with balancing the budget. I don’t know how that’s a law.
Captain Brien: And she did good?
Kelsey Craft: I don’t know, I didn’t watch. ‘Cause when I say you gotta stay in your lane and you gotta be your best, it’s la-la-la, I’m not listening to what they’re saying.
Captain Brien: Yeah, because if you listen, what if they knocked it out of the park and you’re like, oh my God!
Kelsey Craft: You’re right.
Captain Brien: And you’re just dying, right, so much pressure.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: And I liked my first question when I was in top 15 better than my second question when I was in the top five. Because my top five question was, what’s your biggest flaw? But my top 15 question was, what do you wanna be remembered by? That’s the one that you watched online.
Captain Brien: Oh, that’s the one I liked. You really did good with it.
Kelsey Craft: Thank you.
Captain Brien: And I liked the whole, the charisma that you delivered it with, it was amazing.
Kelsey Craft: I almost started crying on stage, you could see how transparent I was. They’re like, how are you today? And it’s not like, I’m so blessed to be here. I was like, holy smokes, I have 10 people in the audience and I’m freaking out.
Captain Brien: You were worried?
Kelsey Craft: No, it was really special.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: I said I’ve never had that much support at one event.
Captain Brien: That’s right, you said that.
Kelsey Craft: That’s a very meaningful moment to just– And they were people that I have encountered, they were friends from previous pageants, friends from work.
Captain Brien: They came.
Kelsey Craft: People from Orlando, people from this coast.
Captain Brien: I didn’t get an invite. No invite for me guys.
Kelsey Craft: Everyone was invited.
Captain Brien:I didn’t get the invite, I woulda went.
Kelsey Craft: And I had people that were helping me prepare via Skype sessions, I was doing makeup lessons on my patio. My neighbor was like, I’d be playing music and I’d be practicing my makeup in the true natural light, ’cause I didn’t know how to do my makeup until like two weeks before the pageant. So shout out to Constantine ’cause he taught me everything I know.
Captain Brien: Should we piggy-back right behind this guy?
Kelsey Craft: Yeah, just follow him right through. And all of a sudden I hear my neighbor underneath my patio going, where’d the music go? So even my neighbor knew that I was preparing. And like when you have something that’s so important to you, you have to share it with the world. And I think that’s another lesson too. ‘Cause had I just gone in timid, people who go into something afraid to fail, or embarrassed they’re doing it, won’t have a good outcome.
Captain Brien: I agree.
Kelsey Craft: I was telling everybody, I’m competing for Miss Florida USA don’t let me eat the cookies from the farm wraps. My neighbor knew, my friends knew, my co-workers knew.
Captain Brien: It motivates you.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah. And it keeps you accountable.
Captain Brien: It does.
Kelsey Craft: And I think those things with the vision boards and setting goals is so important.
Captain Brien: Well, this was a pleasure. Thank you for dealing with all my jokes.
Kelsey Craft: Just drop me off.
Captain Brien: I gotta get rid of her. This is it guys, with the Captain’s Log again. We’ve reached the final end here.
Kelsey Craft: Let’s get you signed up to judge a local pageant.
Captain Brien: Oh, I would love to do that.
Kelsey Craft: ‘Cause you know what they do–
Captain Brien: I judged a chili competition once, is it the same?
Kelsey Craft: No, that’s food tasting.
Captain Brien: Oh, damn.
Kelsey Craft: You don’t get to do that.
Captain Brien: All right, well I’ll do it.
Kelsey Craft: I think that we can get you signed up because what they do with the judges is they’re reputable people out in the community, business leaders, entrepreneurs.
Captain Brien: I would love that.
Kelsey Craft: Motivational speakers, previous pageant contestants. But you’re involved in the community. So if we have a local pageant I think that–
Captain Brien: Can I go live and I’ll just video myself judging?
Kelsey Craft: That’s weird. ‘Cause you’re obviously sitting there.
Captain Brien: Well, I don’t know, they might not want the whole pageant live.
Kelsey Craft: I think that you can document your experience and how positive that it’s been.
Captain Brien: That would be awesome.
Kelsey Craft: ‘Cause I think you should put positive pageantry on the map.
Captain Brien: I would love to do that.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Thank you so much.
Kelsey Craft: You cannot sponsor it with your alcohol though.
Captain Brien: I can’t?
Kelsey Craft: No.
Captain Brien: Damn it! All right, well, I’ll try. I’ll put it out there and see what they say and then they’ll say no and I’ll say, okay, we’ll sponsor it just with off the hook comedy.
Captain Brien: Put my logo in the magazine.
Captain Brien: All right, thank you so much for joining me. And I know you just got off work and you’ve had a long day, so it’s been a pleasure.
Kelsey Craft: Thank you. And if people have questions they can–
Captain Brien: Oh yeah, tell them how they can get a hold of you.
Kelsey Craft: Well, I think that my link is now on here. So if people are watching and they’re interested in their kids doing pageants
Captain Brien: Yes.
Kelsey Craft: And they want an honest feedback, I’ve done different systems and have had a great experience. So if people wanna do that–
Captain Brien: Yeah, like coaching.
Kelsey Craft: I can do that, too.
Captain Brien: Or mentoring.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Yeah.
Kelsey Craft: Absolutely, I do that. I actually have a consulting company that I don’t share it too much, ’cause I’m busy. I’m happy to help in that regard. If you have local appearances that you want me at as Miss Estero or anything else I’m happy to do that. I’m actually going and hanging out with the girl scouts tonight. So even though the competition is over you still can do great things through that.
Captain Brien: Yeah, it never ends.
Kelsey Craft: Yeah.
Captain Brien: Except this show ends.
Kelsey Craft: This show ends.
Captain Brien: Bye guys, we’ll be live tomorrow.