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Miss America 2015 is Kira Kazantsev, who channeled Anna Kendrick

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The Miss America pageant certainly loves New York: For the third year in a row, the crown went to the contestant from that state in a night that included cup-tapping, ventriloquism and a flash of white panties for those who were watching very, very closely.

Miss New York Kira Kazantsev took the Miss America 2015 tiara on Sunday night from last year’s winner, Nina Davuluri, the first Indian American to hold the title.

The first runner-up at the Atlantic City, N.J., event was Miss Virginia Courtney Paige Garrett, with Miss Arkansas Ashton Jo Campbell, Miss Florida Victoria Cowen and Miss Massachusetts Lauren Kuhn rounding out the judges’ top five in descending order. Miss North Dakota Jacky Arness was voted Miss Congeniality by her peers.

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Kazantsev was notable for her unusual display of talent, in which she sat down on the stage in a bright blue Kora Rae jumpsuit and sang Pharrell’s “Happy,” accompanying herself by tapping and flipping a red plastic cup, a la Anna Kendrick’s character in the movie “Pitch Perfect.” Was it unusual? Yes. Was it successful? Well, the audience response was a lot more enthusiastic to the following number, Miss Alabama’s ballet interpretation of the hit “Frozen” tune “Let It Go.”

“So I guess @Pharrell and I can’t stop collaborating. #MissAmerica #WhatIsHappening??,” Kendrick said Sunday night via Twitter.

Kazantsev told the Associated Press after the pageant that she’d gone with the cup thing because “I wanted every single little girl in America to be able to see that you can do that talent — you can do whatever talent you want on national television — even with a red cup — and still be Miss America and have the time of your life.

“I literally in that minute and 30 seconds had the most fun I’ve ever had,” she said, “and that’s because I stayed true to myself and I did what I wanted to do for my talent, no matter what everybody else told me, and it paid off. I’m very happy about it.”

Other talents included more singing, more dancing, a piano performance and an insanely high-speed display of ventriloquism by Miss Ohio, who “wants to take Al Roker’s job,” according to one of the info tidbits floating on screen during the performance.

Mackenzie Bart and her Muppet-esque dummy ripped through the “Mary Poppins” classic “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in fine form, proving that a radiant smile flashing all those big white teeth is pretty effective at hiding moving lips.

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Bart had indeed taken home a preliminary prize for talent awarded last Tuesday, the first night of the pageant.

Of course, the broadcast had its own mini-scandal as well. Wearing a short skirt and seated behind host Chris Harrison as he introduced the evening gown competition, Miss Nebraska Megan Swanson leaned over to another contestant without paying attention to where her legs were positioned.

Yup, she accidentally flashed her crotch on national television, coincidentally just as Harrison was correcting himself after saying the judges would be “looking through” the contestants’ gowns.

“Not literally, that would be wrong,” he said.

But back to Miss New York, who handled herself well during the dreaded question portion of the contest. She wasn’t tripped up by a question about what issue the 20 women in the Senate should take the lead on, ahead of their male colleagues.

“I really believe that sexual assault in our military is an issue that these women have gone to fight for, and every single woman that fights in our military deserves the right to be safe, to be happy and to be respected by those she serves with,” said Kazantsev, who will speak out against domestic violence while she holds her title. “So those women should go to fight and they are, and I’m so proud to be one of their constituents.”

Thankfully, one of the senators from New York is indeed a woman.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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