Cheryl Tiegs -- Pageants Were Fixed ... Back in the Day!

Ageless supermodel Cheryl Tiegs thinks beauty pageants were fixed back in the day ... a practice she compares to the "fixing" of today's popular reality shows.

Our photog caught up the 64-year-old beauty outside Madeo on Friday night ... where she told us she believes the scripting of reality television might be bleeding over into the pageant world.

As TMZ first reported, Donald Trump followed through on his threats and filed a defamation claim against Miss Pennsylvania for claiming this year's Miss USA Pageant was rigged.