From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ingrid Marie Rivera Santos (born in Luquillo, Puerto Rico on October 8, 1983) is Miss Puerto Rico 2008 and is a former Miss Mundo de Puerto Rico who obtained the title of Miss Caribbean when she placed 2nd Runner-up at the 2005 Miss World pageant. Ingrid will now compete at the Miss Universe 2008 pageant to be held in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (December 2007).

On Sunday, November 25, 2007, two days after winning the 2008 Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant, Rivera asserted that her competition gown and her makeup had caused a strange reaction on her skin. Pageant organizers claimed that someone had doused her personal items with pepper spray. ^{[1] [2]}

On Friday, November 30, 2007, the island's Forensic Science Institute announced that no traces of pepper spray had been found on the garment or her makeup brushes, which had been submitted for testing by pageant organizers on Tuesday, November 27.^{[3] [4]} However, FSI spokesperson Abigail Marrero did point out that the test was not conclusive.^{[5] [6]} Nevertheless, during an on-air interview of the incident at San Juan's Channel 4 WAPA-TV, Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo stated that he would look into what he called false accusations as well as the possibility of pressing perjury charges. He said he would not tolerate the use of public resources for publicity purposes. ^[7]

Journalist Adria Cruz from the local newspaper Primera Hora and local TV show host Millie Cangiano condemned the ensuing media circus. Cangiano was especially critical of how the Miss Puerto Rico Universe franchise owner, Magali Febles, had handled the situation, alleging she had used the pepper spray accusation to distract the public from fraud allegations regarding the way the pageant was settled in favor of Rivera, a former juror in last year's pageant and supposedly a friend of Febles's. Rivera's participation, however, was in full compliance with standing pageant rules. Still, Cangiano volunteered her opinion that the finalists and their handlers had been slandered and could sue the Miss Puerto Rico Universe organization for libel. She also called into question the security company hired for the event for supposedly allowing such attempts to be made against Rivera.

Helga Rivera, President of Perfect Partners, a public relations firm, commented on November 30 on the local TV program A Calzón Quita'o, that "this certainly exposes Ingrid internationally, giving her an early start and recognition advantage over her peers for the next Miss Universe pageant. She is the only contestant (for Miss Universe), besides Miss USA, to have met with Donald Trump, who is known for his taste for scandals, and the personnel of the Miss Universe Organization. She has been very apt and able in the way she has used this situation with all the international media exposure."

After her U.S. media tour, where she participated on national shows such as the Today Show, Showbiz Tonight, The O'Reilly Factor and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, among others, Rivera was well received in Puerto Rico and her home town of Dorado after the results of the forensic tests had been made public. Following the advice of Febles, the franchise owner, she refrained from making comments to the press.

Television interviewer Cangiano harshly criticized the 2008 Miss Puerto Rico Pageant on her commercial talk show, Sacando Chispa (Grinding Sparks), pointing to public relations events involving Rivera held prior to the actual contest and alleging the pepper spray charges were inconsistent. She alleged that different versions of the incident had been given to the media. According to Cangiano, the first claim was that the dress had been sprayed during the preliminary competition, then it was claimed it had been the bathing suit, and finally that the incident had occurred during the final competition involving both dress and make-up. In fact, several acts were perpetrated against Rivera throughout the contest. Certain persons presented as security experts and interviewed on Cangiano's show commented that the effects typically attributed to pepper spray are not consistent with the purported claims. Cangiano also said on the November 30th edition of her show that Ingrid went from "villain to victim to scrutinized liar in a week."

On December 5, 2007, Rivera was interviewed again on NBC's Today Show. Her comments inadvertently added fuel to the controversy when they were interpreted as yet another version of the pepper spray attack.^[8] Skeptics and detractors in Puerto Rico have posted online close-ups of Rivera on the night she won the competition and have asked why she shows no redness or swelling. Rivera has always maintained that her face was affected during the preliminary round, not the finals. Detractors have also wondered why Rivera kept the dress on for post-pageant photos if it was causing her so much pain. Rivera did not address this issue in Meredith Vieira's interview on the Today Show.

Reacting to Rivera's Today interview, Police Superintendent Toledo insisted that he would continue to pursue any false allegations, press for felony charges, and would not accept further evidence that might have been tampered with. He also said he wouldn't dismiss the possibility of administering polygraph tests to all suspects, including Febles and Rivera, in order to close the case.

A subsequent, exhaustive investigation by FSI conclusively determined that someone had indeed doused Rivera's garments with pepper spray.^[9] Lt. Eddie Hernández, a Puerto Rico Police spokesman, admitted on December 19, 2007, that "Miss Puerto Rico Universe was speaking the truth. She was being sincere about the allegations."^[10] Evidence has been forwarded to the district attorney's office for possible criminal prosecution.

• Miss Barranquitas World 2002 (designated)
• Miss Puerto Rico Hawaiian Tropic 2002 (designated)
• Miss Puerto Rico Global Queen 2003 (designated)
• Miss Global Queen 2003
• Miss Dorado World 2005 (designated)
• Miss World Puerto Rico 2005
• Miss World Caribbean 2005
• Miss Dorado Universe 2008 (designated)
• Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2008

• Ingrid's bio on the Miss World Website
• Ingrid Marie Rivera at the Internet Movie Database

This Puerto Rican biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

 This biography article about a model is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.