Amy Polumbo (born November 20, 1984) was crowned
Miss New Jersey
The Miss New Jersey competition is an annual pageant held to select the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.
Two Miss New Jersey winners have gone on to hold the title of Miss America: Bette Cooper who won in ...
2007. She is from
Howell Township,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, where she graduated from
Howell High School in 2003. She graduated from
Wagner College
Wagner College is a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City. Founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Wagner is known for its academic program, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. It ...
, where she studied musical theatre and psychology. She left college for some time to star as Ariel in The Voyage of The Little Mermaid in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. She received her master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from The School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Memphis.
Polumbo is working on a narrative about her Miss New Jersey experiences. She was a subject of some controversy in July 2007 when compromising photos from her private
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
account were mailed to the pageant board by a group calling itself "The Committee to Save Miss America." These photos were later released to the media and the issue received national attention. In an interview on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's ''
Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
'', Amy Polumbo said the photos show no
nudity,
pornography or
underage drinking
The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different from the age when it can be purchased in some countries. These laws vary between ...
. In a later interview on The Today Show, the photos were released and were received by the public as anything but scandalous. Her
attorney has denied the
rumor
A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...
s that the incident was a
publicity stunt
In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...
. In addition to The Today Show, Polumbo appeared on The O'Reilly Factor and MSNBC with Dan Abrams. However, she turned down numerous interview opportunities and considered changing her name because of this incident.
Tri Town News Front Page
Polumbo was the winner of the Miss America: Reality Check trivia competition which won the Red Team an advantage in the final stage. Polumbo won a Non-finalist Talent Award at the 2008 Miss America Pageant
References
External links
Official site
NBC Today show photographs
1984 births
Living people
Howell High School (New Jersey) alumni
People from Howell Township, New Jersey
Miss America 2008 delegates
Wagner College alumni
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