Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo Keeps Crown After Photo Flap
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo can keep her crown after "unladylike" photos of her were sent to pageant officials, directors of the pageant decided on Thursday.
"The directors are in unanimous agreement ... Amy Polumbo should continue her reign as Miss New Jersey," said Mark Soifer, a representative for the Miss New Jersey pageant.
A smiling Polumbo blew kisses to audience members during the announcement at a press conference.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I'm very happy about this decision, and I look forward to resuming my agenda as Miss New Jersey," she said.
The beauty pageant winner apologized for the trouble the pictures had caused and thanked the pageant board for their support.
"I want to thank the public," Polumbo said. "I also want to thank God for getting me through this ... I feel like I’ve been crowned again."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polumbo also said the photos were just "silly college fun" and that she was wanted to spread the message that "nothing you publish on the Internet is private."
She also extended her sympathy to the alleged blackmailer or blackmailers.
"I do think they are a very miserable person and because of that I am praying for them," she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polumbo released the photos Thursday morning, telling NBC's "Today" show that the pictures show her "not in a ladylike manner" and that she felt "sick to her stomach."
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"I want to end this," Polumbo said hours before she was to meet with pageant officials. Polumbo will represent the Garden State in the Miss America pageant.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The pictures include one showing what Polumbo said was her boyfriend apparently biting her breast through her shirt, another of Polumbo in a limousine wearing jeans with her legs spread in the air and another of her in what appears to be a Halloween costume dress holding two small pumpkins up to her breasts.
"It's not in a ladylike manner. I'm not a robot. I'm a human being," Polumbo said.
There were also photos of Polumbo drinking, but the 22-year-old college student said she was of legal age when they were taken.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polumbo said she didn't think the pictures should lead to the loss of her crown but said other people might interpret them differently.
"What I think is OK, someone else's eyebrows could be raised," she said.
The directors had to decide whether the photos violate a morals clause in the contract that Miss America hopefuls sign when entering the pageant or its state contests.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polumbo's mother, Jennifer Wagner, told FOX News Thursday morning that the pictures, which were taken before she got the crown, were just "normal college pictures."
Polumbo's lawyer, Anthony Caruso, said that a person or persons claiming to be The Committee to Save Miss America threatened to make the photos public unless she resigned her title.
The photos were taken from Polumbo's former Facebook Web page, which has since been taken offline.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Polumbo described many of the photos as they were shown. Of the shot of her boyfriend appearing to bite her breast through her shirt, she said, "He's being silly and immature. This was meant to be private. It was not accessible to the general public. It was supposed to be between my friends and I."
Soifer said the photos weren't bad, "but the captions on the pictures were hurtful." He also described the photos as "kids having a good time at a party," according to the Associated Press.
Board President Nancy Johnson described the photos as "college theater kids" just "doing the silly things they do."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pageant field director Sylvia Barthold said she didn't believe the attached captions were from Polumbo.
The Associated Press and the New York Post contributed to this report.