Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo called whoever is trying to force her to drop out of the beauty pageant a “miserable person” on the Today show this morning.
Polumbo, who was crowned Miss New Jersey last month and claims someone is trying to blackmail her with relatively tame photos lifted from a private Web page, insists that she has no idea who might have assembled the packages sent last week.
“I really don’t know,” she said. “Whoever this is, I think they are a miserable person and I really feel bad for them.”
Polumbo doubts a relative or friend would want her our of the upcoming pageant and hopes the alleged blackmailer isn’t another contestant.
“We don’t know [who sent the packages.] It really could be anyone,” Polumbo said during an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer. “It’s really disheartening to think it could be a contestant.”
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is trying to identify whoever mailed two sets of photographs and typewritten letters last week to Miss America and Miss New Jersey pageant officials. Although Polumbo said she has seen the photos in the first package, she has not seen the photos in a separate one received over the weekend.
Yesterday Polumbo’s mother said her daughter did nothing to warrant becoming a blackmail target.
“It’s not her fault what has happened,” said Jennifer Wagner.
Wagner, 51, strongly denied that the photos – which her daughter had posted on her Facebook page – showed Polumbo drinking alcohol while underage. “There wasn’t any underage drinking in the pictures. I swear on my kids’ life,” she said.