Miss California (at 8-to-1) tops Miss USA odds field; Miss Nevada 25-to-1

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, June 16, 2011 | 9:35 p.m.

To say Miss California USA Alyssa Campanella was in a rush to make this year’s pageant is to belabor the obvious.

As Campanella offered Tuesday during an OPI Products appearance at Michael Boychuck’s salon Color at Caesars Palace, she drove herself to the pageant.

She drove a Mazda CX-5, to be specific, and made the trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 3½ hours. It was late at night and early in the morning and, well, she was in quite a hurry.

We can’t say if Campanella’s enthusiasm for the pageant (and, evidently, driving) is the reason Wynn Las Vegas Executive Director of Race and Sports Johnny Avello made her the odds-on favorite to win Sunday’s Miss USA Pageant, to be broadcast from Planet Hollywood's Theater for Performing Arts at 9 p.m. on KSNV Channel 3 (tape delayed from the 6 p.m. live show).

In reasoning his 8-to-1 posting (for entertainment purposes), Avello noted that Campanella is Italian and hails from Manalapan, N.J. (she was even the first runner-up in that state’s Miss Teen New Jersey contest in 2007). Possibly, if Campanella does not win the pageant, a stint on a Bravo reality TV show could be in the offing.

Next in line in the Top Five on Avello’s odds sheet (again, for entertainment purposes) is Miss Alabama Madeline Mitchell at 11-to-1, followed by Miss South Carolina Courtney Hope Turner (12-to-1), Miss Hawaii Angela Byrd (14-to-1) and Miss Arizona Brittany Dawn Brannon (15-to-1).

As for Miss Nevada Sarah Chapman, she’s with a group of three contestants (Miss Idaho Erza Haliti and Miss Missouri Hope Driskill) at 25-to-1. That’s in the upper-third of favorites.

Hit this link for the full odds sheet furnished by Avello.

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