PORTLAND, Maine — Is Jordon Hudson on her way to becoming the Buffalo Bills of beauty pageants?
Perhaps that’s too strong, but the 24-year-old girlfriend of the 73-year-old North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick has now logged consecutive close-but-no-cigar finishes on the runaway. And she’s trending in the wrong direction. One year after emerging as “first runner-up” in the Miss Maine USA pageant, Hudson finished as second runner-up, or third place, this time around. The finals were held Sunday afternoon at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, with Shelby Ann Howell of Bangor named Miss Maine for 2025.
But the day was not a total loss for Hudson. With Belichick again seated in the front row, as he was during the prelims Saturday night, Hudson received a sort of consolation prize by being named recipient of the “most stylish” award.
And she absolutely nailed her performance when five Miss Maine finalists participated in a brief question-and-answer session.
“I’m feeling an immense amount of pride right now,” Hudson said after being introduced. “I’m hoping that anyone who’s watching this finds the strength to push through whatever it is they’re going through and embodies that hate never wins.”
And then came “the question,” which Hudson randomly chose from an array of cards presented to her.
The question: “If you could relive one moment in your life, what would it be and why?”
Hudson’s answer: “I would go back to the days where I was on my family’s fishing boat in Hancock, Maine. And I think about this really often because there’s a mass exodus of fishermen that’s occurring in the rural areas of Maine, and I don’t want to see more fishermen displaced. As your next Miss Maine USA, I would make it a point to go into the communities, to go to the legislature, to go into the government to advocate for these people so that they don’t have to think about these memories as a past moment.”
Hudson hung around the room for a while after the pageant ended, talking with and hugging other contestants, but she was not available to the media. We don’t know, then, if her remark that “hate never wins” was in any way connected with the firestorm of criticism, tsk-tsking and snarky comments that have rained from the sky about her relationship with Belichick.
Jordon Hudson sports sour look on her face after failing to win Miss Maine USA pageant in front of beau Bill Belichick https://t.co/tvdjqPwvKD pic.twitter.com/zcZACq1uRw
— New York Post (@nypost) May 11, 2025
As for that question about if she could relive one moment in her life and what would it be and why, I’m probably not the only person who instantly wondered if she’d bring up Belichick’s recent “CBS Mornings” interview with Tony Dokoupil. What a great opportunity it would have been for Hudson to put it out there she wishes she could relive that moment — only this time without interrupting the interview to say, “We’re not talking about that,” after Dokoupil asked Belichick how the coach and Hudson met.
Right? Well, no. No way was Hudson going there. Nor should she have, not when the entire pageant seemed to be set up in such a way as to downplay Belichick’s presence. (Other than one of the hosts referring to the upcoming Miss USA pageant as “the Super Bowl of all pageants” during Saturday’s preliminary round.)
Besides, Hudson’s stump speech about the Maine fishing industry was pretty good. Yes, it’s a time-honored tradition for contestants in beauty pageants to deliver hopeful messages about doing good deeds and making the world a better place for all of us, and so on. But Hudson’s response had a timely, grassroots ring to it. So give her credit for that.
While being “second runner-up” was a step back from last year’s “first runner-up” status for Hudson, the difference may have been razor thin. As was later revealed by the hosts, the voters had a really hard time whittling 10 semifinalists to five finalists (out of 17 contestants). First, there was a four-way tie. And then two more ties. Insert your joke here about NFL tiebreakers, but, yes, Belichick’s 2002 Patriots had a 9-7 record but lost a playoff spot to the 9-7 Jets because of the third tiebreaker: best won-loss percentage in common games.
Did Hudson have a very tiny slip when she entered the stage during Sunday’s evening gown competition? Or was it merely a dip? Whatever it was, did it cost her?
Also not known is how Hudson will move ahead in the highly competitive beauty contest business. Will she or won’t she be competing for Miss Maine USA in 2026? While we’re at it, will she or won’t she be part of the UNC football program in 2025?
So many questions. However all this plays out, rest assured, it’ll be very public. Their protestations notwithstanding, that’s exactly the way Belichick and Hudson seem to want it.
(Photo of Jordon Hudson speaking with contestants and attendees after the Miss Maine USA pageant: Steve Buckley / The Athletic)
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