Top 10 Geography Blunders

While cartographic whizzes from schools across the country compete in National Geographic Bee Finals in Washington on May 20, TIME takes a look at 10 people who could use some remedial lessons.

The Swimsuit Competition Is More Her Thing

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Asked during the 2007 Miss Teen USA Pageant why she thinks a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a map, Caitlin Upton (a.k.a. Miss South Carolina) notoriously stumbled into a thicket of gibberish and couldn't find her way out. "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education, like, such as, South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future. For."

Upton, who placed third despite the performance, soon got a chance to redeem herself on the Today show. "Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map," she said. Right next to the Iraq?

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