Beauty pageants are a lot scarier than they used to be. Remember that Sandra Bullock movie, “Miss Congeniality?” Whoever would have thought it would be so accurate… and so eerily foreboding. A few months ago Miss New Jersey was blackmailed with some not-very-racy photos that had been on her Facebook page. Now Miss Puerto Rico, Ingrid Marie Rivera, has been poisoned with pepper spray… in a manner of speaking. At first it seemed that one of the other contestants had sprayed it on her gown and makeup. She broke out in a painful rash, and her makeup bag supposedly went missing for a while.

Beating 29 rivals, Rivera took home the crown and the chance to vie in the Miss Universe pageant. Throughout the competition, Rivera was composed while appearing before the cameras and panel of judges. But once off-camera, she was forced to shed her clothes and apply ice bags to her face and body, which twice swelled and broke out in hives, the Associated Press reports.

“We thought at first it was an allergic reaction, or maybe nerves,” said pageant spokesman Harold Rosario. “But the second time, we knew it couldn’t have been a coincidence.” Later, Rivera’s garments and cosmetics tested positive for pepper spray. Rivera’s bag containing her gowns, makeup and credit cards reportedly had also been stolen before the pageant. Saying that she had wavered about remaining in the competition, Rivera, 24, told reporters at a Sunday news conference, “It was a lot of sacrifice, and my tears were genuine,” reports Reuters.

[From People]

Now authorities seem to be pointing the finger at Rivera, since she was able to turn the waterworks off and on at will during Saturday’s competition. That seems like a pretty extreme measure to go to in order to win a pageant, and it could have very easily backfired. Call me naïve, but I’m more likely to believe that she’s just a consummate professional… or at least someone who can pull it together for something she really wants.

Rivera said the same about herself to Vieira and claimed, contrary to reports of police skepticism over the fact that Rivera’s condition only seemed to occur when she was backstage, that her accusations about the pepper spray are genuine.

“It’s not funny,” she said. “It’s real. I had to go through so much … itchy, burning, reddish, swelling … a horrible feeling.” Crime-lab tests on Rivera’s dress and makeup are to begin Wednesday, says NBC News.

[From People]

If nothing else, it seems most beauty pageant contestants are freakishly determined, at least when they get to the national level. It seems unlikely that someone would do that to themselves to get attention… if nothing else, there’s less unattractive ways to get people to feel sorry for you. In a competition focused on appearance, why would someone sabotage the way they look? I generally refuse to watch pageants, but now I’m intrigued. Maybe someone will come down with Chicken Pox at the Miss Universe competition, and then blame that chicken that was lurking around the dressing rooms all day.