YouTube Tori Meehan during her "On Stage Interview" for Miss Oklahoma 2019.
Although Tori Meehan may now be best known for being one of the 18 castaways on “Survivor 42,” many Tulsans and Oklahomans may already know her as a Miss Oklahoma contestant, which she did four years in a row before competing on “Survivor.” There, the young Tori showed off an array of talents.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tori Competed in Miss Oklahoma From 2016 to 2019, Where She Put the Money Toward Her Tuition
Tori’s most prominent Miss Oklahoma appearance may have been in 2018, when she was 21. As Miss Tulsa, she competed in the swimsuit competition (which she won, according to the Miss Oklahoma website), and performed Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You” for the talent section. For her “On Stage Question,” Tori spoke about her “Total Health” program, which sought to aid people’s mental and physical health simultaneously, and would lead to the “MINDSET Approach” she now uses for therapy.
Preliminary Night One Results… Congratulations!! Swimsuit – Tori Meehan, Miss Tulsa
Rookie Talent (tie) – Abigail Chitwood, Miss Ada and Carli Manwell, Miss SE Oklahoma
Overall Talent – Carrigan Bradley, Miss NSU
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Photography by: @LeighPhotog
In June 2019, Tori would go on to compete in Miss Oklahoma for the final time. That time, for the talent section, she played “Dueling Banjos” on the flute, and would make it to the final round. For her “On Stage Interview,” she was asked about what traits she looked for in an elected official, where she responded with “authenticity” – a theme that seems to dovetail quite well with her “Survivor” season.
“Any person who is in a position of power, they are seen as a role model,” Tori said, “and as Miss Oklahoma, we get to be a role model. So [for] all role models, I want them to be authentic. They don’t have to have it all together, they don’t have to live a perfect life, they need to be authentic and live with integrity so that what they do behind the scenes is the same [as what] they do in front of people.”
In her CBS bio, though she did not name Miss Oklahoma by name, she wrote about how competing in pageants helped her pay for her academic tuition, for which she is very proud. “I graduated 100% debt-free from my undergraduate degree and paid for 50% of my master’s degree by competing in pageants and by earning academic scholarships,” she wrote.
In addition, in a 2018 Instagram post celebrating her time at the Miss Oklahoma competition that year, she revealed that she earned $3,000 in scholarship, which she would put towards her master’s degree in Christian Counseling from Oral Roberts University.
Tori Came out in Support of Eliminating the Swimsuit Competition
Although Tori was a two-time winner of the Miss Oklahoma Swimsuit Competition, she made a lengthy post on Instagram shortly before she competed in Miss Oklahoma 2019 in which she detailed why she supported Miss America‘s decision the previous year to end the swimsuit competition across the board.
Tori, a therapist who specializes in eating disorders caused from stress, wrote about how the Swimsuit Competition has led to “unhealthy, unsustainable eating behaviors,” which is the opposite of its ostensible intention of showcasing a competitor’s healthy eating and fitness habits.
She revealed that training for the Swimsuit Competition led her to an extremely unhealthy lifestyle, largely because she went to extreme lengths in an attempt to achieve an “ideal body type.” “I worked out 7 days a week for at least 2 hours,” she wrote. “I tracked every calorie that I consumed. I stuck to a very strict meal plan.” In the end, she said, “I WAS MISERABLE. I repeat: I WAS MISERABLE.”
Tori, who says on her website that she aims to make therapy “practical, relatable, and cool,” mostly focuses on helping women “find freedom” from their eating disorders by “developing a sustainable relationship with food, exercise, and body image.” She also has a YouTube channel which she dedicates to helping those with eating disorders, even going so far as to share her own personal experience with an eating disorder in one video.
“Survivor 42” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS. The three-hour finale airs Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
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WATCH: Tori Meehan Competes in Miss Oklahoma 2018 & 2019