Former Miss USA, and current DUI defendant, Rima Fakih is picking up some crisis management tips from two of her beauty queen sisters ... one of whom is no stranger to controversy. 

Fakih was arrested back on December 3 for driving under the influence. Cops said Fakih's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner -- who almost lost her crown over "inappropriate behavior" and allegations of drug use -- tells us she reached out to Fakih because, "I know how horrible it feels to have the media air your dirty laundry and it is important to have a support system."

Fakih also got a call from Miss USA 1995 Shanna Moakler who says, "I told Rima the transition to life after the crown can be tough, but we’re a sisterhood and we help each other out."

Rima, Tara, and Shanna are meeting up this weekend in Las Vegas for the Miss Nevada USA pageant. To be a fly on that wall ...

The "Dancing with the Stars" finale is only a week away -- and TMZ caught up with a few of the rejects last night, giving their picks. Check out who Jane Seymour, Mark Cuban and dancer Tony Dovolani chose as the winners.


Also out on the town: former Mess USA Tara Conner, sign-happy Jason Alexander, a solo Ron Jeremy, attention whore Michael Lohan and Hilary Duff, who was in NYC with boyfriend Mike Comrie.

All this and more in today's "Get ready to rumba!" edition of Star Catcher.

Disgraced Miss USA Tara Conner landed herself a "Laguna Beach" bud -- and he's entertaining the rehabbed beauty queen at some risky places.


TMZ caught the recovering addict at Hyde last night with Talan Torriero, ex-boyfriend of Kimberly Stewart and Nicole Scherzinger.

The two went up to the front door briefly, but then walked away -- only to sneak in the back door! They left in the same car at the end of the night.

Former Miss USA Tara Conner's stint in rehab has left a permanent mark on the nearly dethroned beauty -- literally!

TMZ spies spotted the 21-year-old ex party girl Sunday brunching with five male pals at Quality on L.A.'s trendy West Third Street -- sporting an AA-inspired tat on each wrist. Guess rehab wasn't just a Trump PR stunt! Tara had the words "Let Go" inscribed on her left wrist and "Let God" on the right. Both terms are oft-recited mantras in 12-step recovery programs.

TMZ congratulates Tara for overcoming her demons -- partying and Donald Trump!

Now that she's no longer under the watchful eye of Donald Trump and the Miss USA Organization, Tara Conner has started surrounding herself with a more adult crowd -- like adult film star Tera Patrick!

The former Mess USA turned it out on the red carpet at Spike TV's "Guy's Choice" Awards on Saturday, by posing with her new buxom porntress pal. Let's be friends!

Tara may have gone to rehab to save face, but, unfortunately, her pancake makeup leaves her sporting a porn face. Someone give these ladies a facial!

Mess USA Tara Conner isn't letting a little thing like 90 days of sobriety get in the way of her partying!

The rehabbed beauty queen celebrated her first three months of sobriety with a party at a Hollywood nightclub. Cheers! 51 of Tara's closest pageant contestant friends -- and the press -- came out to Social Hollywood to, er, toast Tara on her crowning achievement. Trump that!

Unfortunately, no beauty queen mouth-to-mouth was reported.

With only 11 days left in her tumultuous reign as Miss USA, Tara Conner's got a new strategy for staying relevant -- by donning a bikini for a sexy photo shoot. Wreckariffic!

"EXTRA" caught the rehabbed party girl, and 51 other swimsuit-clad beauties who will compete for Tara's tarnished crown to be the next Miss USA, posed for a group photo outside the of Universal Studios Hollywood earlier today.

Though the competition doesn't take place until March 23, a few of the ladies wanted the spotlight today, and jumped into a fountain to splash around for photogs.

One lucky SOB is going to spend a day with Miss USA Tara Conner, and 51 of her hottest friends. Too bad she's cleaned up her act.

Up for grabs is a luncheon with the rehabbed beauty queen and 51 Miss USA 2007 contestants. The prize is being offered as a Universal Studios Hollywood promotion. It's a safe bet that booze will probably not be served. We all know what happens to Tara when she drinks...

To enter the contest, go to www.universalstudioshollywood.com, but you better hurry, the contest ends March 8.

Fresh from a post-rehab press tour, Mess USA Tara Conner hooked up with Miss Teen USA Katie Blair once again ... this time on a runway.

The two beauty queens, rumored to have been more than sashed bosom buddies, took part in the Tadashi Shoji runway show Sunday morning, doubling as pageant-level arm candy for the designer.

Conner continued her tour of contrition clad in a vampy black number as her "little sister" wore a short gold dress. This time, there was none of that impromptu girl-on-girl action that these two, and other pageant girls have become infamous for. Sorry.

Tara Conner apologized to America on "Today," but not everyone's buying it.

Miss USA 2005 Chelsea Cooley, in an interview airing Monday on "The Dr. Keith Ablow Show," said the news of Tara's drug and alcohol use was "very disappointing" and "unfortunate," and left her wondering if Conner ever "looked at it (being Miss USA) as a job."

Tara's runner-up, Miss California Tamiko Nash, also appears on the show and says she hoped Donald Trump would give her Conner's crown, adding that she would have felt guilty if crowned at Conner's expense. Riiiiight.

The two also weigh-in on Miss Nevada Katie Rees and the girl-on-girl action shots that got her dethroned, saying that they thought it was "fair" and "justified."

In her first television interview since leaving rehab, Conner sat with "Today's" Matt Lauer and admitted to abusing alcohol and cocaine, as well as other drugs, and suggested that an abusive childhood may have contributed to her woes.

Tara also characterized the pre-rehab Tara as "manipulative" and "dishonest" and said that she would regularly sneak out of her Trump Plaza apartment to party all over Manhattan. She said she'd never had a legal drink, as all her boozing went down before her 21st birthday in December, and she fessed up to doing cocaine, but denied knowing whether she had tested positive for the drug.

Conner, dressed in a demure beige suit, then fidgeted awkwardly when asked by Lauer about being abused as a youth. Out of "respect" for her family, she wouldn't address specific questions about what kind of abuse Lauer meant, but admitted that it had happened. She also flatly rejected any possibility she would pose for Playboy and said that she had been sober for more than 50 days.

Lauer and Conner will continue their talk on "Dateline," which will include footage of her doling out meals at a soup kitchen in lower Manhattan.