Rancho Mirage, Nov 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Miss California is crowned and it is bagged by the lovely Miss Nicole Johnson. She is just 24 years old and hails from Sherwood in Ventura.

The competition was stiff. She was crowned over other 133 contestants on Sunday night at a pageant at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage. “I think it was my presentation,” Johnson said. “I was very confident on the stage, and I stood out in a red gown. So I think maybe that was it.”

Nicole Johnson beat out the apparent crowd favorite, Nana Meriwether, who was representing Beverly Hills. Finally Meriwether was chosen as the runner-up and she would fill in for Nicole Johnson if she were unable to fulfill her Miss California duties.

Miss California title was won last year, by Carrie Prejean and her reign was controversial to say the least. She was stripped off her title because her sextapes surfaced later during her reign. Miss California organizers have a stipulated contract that there should not be any sex tapes/videos which have the beauty queens in them. So she was stripped of her title.