It could be the pressure of the occasion or a lack of academic heavy-lifting that causes some beauty pageant hopefuls to bumble through the simplest of questions.
Either way, when they do, their ill-considered explanations can quickly become viral video gold.
At the recent Miss Universe pageant Venezuela's entry seemed to ignore the question altogether and blurt out a bizarre series of non-sequiturs.
Australia's own Jesinta Campbell had no choice but to pause and laugh as she rambled her way through an answer on skincare while a Miss Teen USA hopeful made headlines around the world with her telling answer about why many Americans couldn’t locate their nation on a map.
Click through to see some of the most hilarious awkward beauty pageant answers.