NEW YORK, Aug 19, 2001/ --- Hit the books and sharpen your claws, girls, this year's Miss America Pageant will be taking its cues from reality TV. New features in the 81st annual show will include a trivia drill and an opportunity for also-rans to vote for the winner.

Hoping to boost ratings that have slipped from a 1970 peak of 22 million households to last year's 12.6 million viewers, the Miss America Organization is orchestrating a major face-lift. Bob Bain, the mastermind behind Fox hits like "Britney Spears in Hawaii" and "Teen Choice Awards," has been recruited to produce this year's three-hour show.

The telecast will include such nail-biting elements as a "knowledge and understanding" quiz in which the top five finalists will be drilled on current events, American history and U.S. government. A wrong answer won't eliminate them as it would on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" but it will factor into their final score.

Their peers' votes will also factor into that fateful number. TV viewers will be granted a peek into a beauty queen "tribal council" of sorts, as the 41 runners-up discuss the 10 finalists and cast votes for the woman they think should win.

Pageant competitions are also being renamed. The infamous swimsuit competition is now "Lifestyle and Fitness," and will feature bikini-clad beauties as well as videos chronicling the exercise routines that got them those six-packs. Miss America Organization President and CEO Robert M. Renneisen said the fitness activities portrayed could even include "ATV riding or bungee jumping ... something that gives a broader picture of what her life is all about."

The eveningwear competition is now "Presence and Poise," and contestants will be escorted on stage by their boyfriend, father or another significant male in their lives.

Finally, pageant organizers are promising fewer song-and-dance routines, and the top 20 semi-finalists will be featured more prominently in the first hour of the show. Pageant officials will also encourage Atlantic City audience members to take some cues from their "Price is Right" counterparts, and wield flags and posters in support of contestants.

So is the Miss America Organization simply riding the coattails of successful shows like "Big Brother" or "The Weakest Link"? Not according to Renneisen. "People are out there inventing things like "Survivor" and portraying it as reality TV," he explained in an interview yesterday. "But in fact the Miss America telecast has been providing viewers with high-stakes reality television since its broadcast debut in 1954."