America: This should have been a time of celebration for Tara Conner, the reigning Miss USA who turned 21 last week. Instead, she checked into rehab just before Christmas after three weeks of serious partying in New York landed her on the front pages, complete with reports of her kissing various men and women, including Katie Blair, Miss Teen USA.
Apart from underage drinking, Conner is alleged to have failed a drug test, a charge she has neither confirmed nor denied.
The New York Post quoted one "nightlife denizen" who claimed "there wasn't anyone that didn't get a piece of Miss USA" at her favourite club.
For a while, it looked as if Conner was about to lose her crown but Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA, Miss Universe and Miss Teen USA competitions, decided last week to give her a reprieve.
"She left a small town in Kentucky, and she was telling me that she got caught up in the whirlwind that is New York. I've always had a belief in second chances. Tara is going to be given a second chance," he said.
Blair was also allowed to keep her crown, although Mothers Against Drunk Driving severed its ties with Miss Teen USA, saying she could no longer be an effective spokeswoman against underage drinking.
Miss Nevada, 22-year-old Katie Rees, was the unluckiest beauty queen of all, stripped of her title four days before Christmas after pictures appeared on the internet showing her kissing other young women, exposing one of her breasts and pulling down her pants to show her thong underwear at a party in Tampa, Florida.
The pictures were taken five years ago, when Rees was just 17, but Trump has not yet decided to grant Miss Nevada a reprieve. "Those pictures were very serious," he said this week.
Conner was properly grateful for Trump's mercy, agreeing to check into the Caron Foundation in Wernersville, Pennsylvania (which has treated Liza Minnelli, Courtney Love and Tatum O'Neal) and promising tearfully to do "whatever it takes" to redeem herself.
"Walking in this morning, in no way did I think it would be possible for a second chance," she said. "I've had a very big blessing bestowed upon me - you'll never know how much I appreciate Mr Trump for saving me on this one. He could have said: 'You're fired.' He's a very, very compassionate person."
While Trump basked in his unexpected role as Mother Theresa with a comb-over and enjoyed days of free publicity for his beauty pageants, it was all too much for comedian Rosie O'Donnell.
"Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America. Donald, sit and spin, my friend," she said on her daytime TV talk show, The View.
Trump responded with all the poise and restraint that has characterised his career as a property developer, reality show star and self-publicist: "This woman is totally out of control. I'm worth billions of dollars, and I have to listen to this fat slob?"
After suggesting that O'Donnell, who is gay, is attracted to Miss USA, Trump threatened to send one of his friends to steal the comedian's girlfriend.
"Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting, I mean both inside and out. Take a look at her, she's a slob. She talks like a truck driver," he said.
After a brief Christmas truce, the feud erupted again on Thursday after O'Donnell compared Trump to a pimp and he responded by describing the comedian as "a stone-cold loser".
Meanwhile, as Miss USA rings in the New Year in rehab, the counsellors may find their work cut out for them in dealing with their latest celebrity client.
Before she checked in, Conner said it would be "pushing the envelope a little bit" to say she was an alcoholic.
"I wouldn't say that I have a big drinking problem . . . Anytime anyone gives you free anything, like therapy or rehab, you take it," she said.
