A beauty pageant is rattling the news while its contestants are perfecting walks, rehearsing talents and — yes — skinning snakes.
Sweetwater's "Miss Snake Charmer" pageant is a west Texas tradition known for mixing the glamorous world of pageantry with the largest "rattlesnake roundup," according to CNN.
“We probably are the only beauty pageant that does kill and skin snakes,” Cyera Pieper, a high school sophomore and contestant, told CNN.
The winner of the pageant will pose for photos, attend community events, and climb into a pit of poisonous snakes, decapitate and skin them, according to CNN.
"My guy friends are like, ‘No, I’m not doing that. I don’t know how you do that,’” Pieper told CNN. “Woman power.”
The pageant is part of a festival that brings more than 6,000 pounds of rattlesnakes and 50,000 people, CNN reported.
“This event pays for basically everything we do in the community for a year,” Rob McCann, a community member, told CNN.
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