Miss Utah Marissa Powell Explains Response At Miss USA Pageant

Miss Utah Marissa Powell gave a scatterbrained answer during the Q and A portion of the Miss USA Pageant, and now she’s speaking out about her epic fail.

When asked by telecast judge NeNe Leakes, “A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does that say about society?”, Powell gave a less-than-Mensa-level answer.

“We can relate this back to education and how we are continuing how to strive to…," said Powell with a long pause and nervous smiling, "figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem and I think especially, the men, are seen as the leaders of this and we need to figure out how to create education better, so we can solve this problem.”

Powell is determined not to let her painful awkward answer get the best of her. “So when I very first heard it, it was a little bit confusing to me," Powell told E!, "but honestly I did not process the question before I started answering. I don’t know why I didn’t just ask [Leaks], ‘Can you repeat the question?’ That’s the first thing I should’ve done but I didn’t even— I just started talking."

Powell says she hopes to have a career in the entertainment business.