The Miss America pageant is walking away from the swimsuit competition.

The Miss America Organization was considering the change as part of an effort to refocus the pageant away from the contestants’ personal appearance and toward their goals and achievements. In seeking to remain relevant, the nearly 100-year-old organization, under a new group of women leaders, including former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, is looking to reverse declining viewership.

On Tuesday, five months after that debate-filled winter retreat, Carlson announced the board had unanimously voted to scrap the swimsuit event and replace it with televised interviews with contestants. The news was largely applauded by former Miss Americas – but not all. While some former winners called the contest’s end long overdue, at least one argued that it has been a fundamental part of the pageant’s history.

Here to talk about it is Former Mrs Alabama, Tara Hooper.

Tara Hooper is an image consultant who began competing in pageants at the age of 14. She’s the former Mrs. Alabama United States and was in the top five in the Mrs. Texas International Pageant.