full size Jess Dresses Up for a Night of Fun in New Girl Season 1, Episode 13: "Valentine's Day"
Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FOX ©2012 Fox Broadcasting Co.
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Jess Dresses Up for a Night of Fun in New Girl Season 1, Episode 13: "Valentine's Day"

So uncool.

New Girl star Zooey Deschanel (Jess) entered a beauty pageant when she was 14, mistaking it for a talent competition. She spilled to the March issue of Company magazine (via the Belfast Telegraph), "It was basically all the trappings of a beauty pageant, without the swimsuit round! You had to do a big musical opening number and answer the sort of questions they ask in beauty pageants, about charity. I was horrified when I realized what it was. [...] But I'm not a quitter, so I stuck it out, and my mom and sister laughed at me the entire time. I didn't win. A girl who played the viola did."

Source: Belfast Telegraph