Heart/will of a champion- Miss PR wins pageant despite pepper spray sabotage attempt

Ingrid Marie Rivera smiles during a beauty pageant in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Friday, Nov. 23, 2007. Rivera, beat 29 rivals to become the island's 2008 Miss Universe contestant, despite applying makeup and wearing evening gowns that had been coated with pepper spray, pageant spokesman Harold Rosario said. (AP Photo/Ricardo D� Serrano)





PR pageant officials probe pepper spray

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/puerto_rico_pageant_pranks_5;_ylt=AsG89KoeM16Td6L.nAROt4nlWMcF

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Beauty pageant organizers were investigating Sunday who doused a contestant's evening gowns with pepper spray and spiked her makeup, causing her to break out in hives.

Beauty queen Ingrid Marie Rivera beat 29 rivals to become the island's 2008 Miss Universe contestant, despite applying makeup and wearing evening gowns that had been coated with pepper spray, pageant spokesman Harold Rosario said.

Rivera was composed while appearing before cameras and judges throughout the competition. But once backstage, she had to strip off her clothes and apply ice bags to her face and body, which swelled and broke out in hives twice.

That evening gown doused with pepper spray competition is pretty stiff. Pageants just aren't what they used to be...

...and tough enough not to let it keep her from competing and winning.