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Miss Universe Puerto Rico willing to take polygraph

Ingrid Marie Rivera is willing to take a lie detector test to prove that she’s telling the truth about breaking out in hives and experiencing itching and swelling before being crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico last month.
/ Source: TODAY contributor

Ingrid Marie Rivera is willing to take a lie detector test to prove that she’s telling the truth about breaking out in hives and experiencing itching and swelling before being crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico last month.

“Did you lie?” TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira asked Rivera point-blank during an exclusive interview Wednesday with the pageant queen.

“No, not at all, absolutely not,” Rivera replied from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. “I wouldn’t jeopardize my participation or the dream to become Miss Puerto Rico Universe. I know and have faith in God that the truth will come over.”

Asked whether she’s willing to take a polygraph test, she said, “Yes, of course. Absolutely.”

After being crowned Miss Universe Puerto Rico on Nov. 23 in San Juan, Rivera revealed that after refreshing her makeup during the contest preliminary on Nov. 18, she experienced redness, itching and swelling of her face and broke out in hives. She said she also experienced severe itching around the edges of her evening gown during the finals of the event.

Pageant security personnel suggested someone might have sabotaged her makeup and clothing with pepper spray, but Puerto Rico Police forensic investigators last week announced that they found no evidence of pepper spray and suggested someone connected with the pageant was lying about what happened. Investigators did not test for other contaminants.

“The investigation hasn’t concluded,” Rivera told Vieira. “It still continues. There’s more evidence. They’re analyzing still the evidence they have, and also they have new evidence.” She would not say what the new evidence is.

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She said police also continue to question everyone connected with the pageant. “They’ve been interrogating us — the personnel of the Miss Universe Puerto Rico organization and also myself and my family,” she said.

Police have not yet asked her to take a polygraph exam, she said.

“But I know what happened,” she continued, noting that she never said that it was pepper spray that caused her distress. “The suggestion of pepper spray was made by the national director of security. But something definitely affected me in the preliminary and the final night.”

Skeptics in Puerto Rico have posted close-ups of her face online on the night she won the competition and have asked why she shows no redness or swelling. Rivera said that her face was affected during the preliminary round and not at the final.

They also wonder why Rivera kept the dress on for post-pageant photos if it was causing her so much pain, an issue she did not address with Vieira despite a direct question.

“I don’t have to be scared about anything,” she said. “I just have to give time for all the investigators to do their job. I trust the department of police back home. I‘m still preparing for doing my job, which is represent Puerto Rico at Vietnam.”

Rivera will represent Puerto Rico at the Miss Universe Pageant to be held in Vietnam next summer. The pageant is co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC Universal and will be broadcast by NBC.