Miss California vs. Miss Rhode Island: Is There a Double Standard over Racy Photos?

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," May 11, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Some racy pictures of Miss California could end up costing her her crown. But is there a double standard at play here? Take a look at this picture. This is Miss Rhode Island USA posing in "Maxim" magazine before she won her crown.

So why isn't she in danger of losing her crown? And what does Miss Rhode Island think about this controversy.

Joining us is live is Miss Rhode Island USA, Alysha Castonguay. Nice to see you, Alysha.

ALYSHA CASTONGUAY, MISS RHODE ISLAND USA: Nice to see you. Thank you for having me.

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm glad to have you here. So what you think, should Miss California lose her crown or not?

CASTONGUAY: Absolutely not. I don't think it's something that she should lose her crown over if it's just the photos. And I know there are a lot of other things that are going on right now, but for the photos, definitely not.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know her at all?

CASTONGUAY: We met briefly. We were at Miss USA for about 17 days. So we talked a few times. She's a very nice girl.

VAN SUSTEREN: So you're not close friends or anything like that?

CASTONGUAY: No.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, your situation, your pictures -- you had your pictures taken before you competed, is that right?

CASTONGUAY: Yes, I did. I had them -- they were taken in February 2008, and I was crowned in September of 2008.

VAN SUSTEREN: When you competed, did the pageant people know that those photos were out there of you?

CASTONGUAY: Yes. I contacted the Miss Rhode Island staff, and I submitted the photos because they were published, and I knew that somebody could get their hands on them.

And to eliminate a catastrophe from happening, I sent them in to the Miss Rhode Island staff, and they sent them to Miss Universe, and that left me with three weeks to prepare for Miss Rhode Island USA. I was waiting on a response from the Miss Universe organization on whether or not they cleared the pictures, and they did.

VAN SUSTEREN: So it wasn't the Rhode Island pageant that Okayed the, but the Miss Universe, the umbrella organization, which would presumably be over Miss California and every other state, right?

CASTONGUAY: Yes.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know, does that go all the way up to Donald Trump, or is that a separate entity, if you know?

CASTONGUAY: I am not sure. I don't k now if they would bother Donald Trump with something like that. But I think that they have some staff that works out situations like that.

I'm not really sure how high it went, but I know that it went into the hands of some staff members of the Miss Universe organization.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now that you are Miss Rhode Island, if you went out and took those pictures, is there anything in your contract or your agreement that would prevent you from going out and just doing those pictures like that yourself, now?

CASTONGUAY: Yes. Now that I'm Miss Rhode Island, yes, it's contracted. It's in our contract.

And I didn't know if it was something we had to submit from before, but in order to eliminate anything, I just submitted them just so that they would know that it's out there and everything would be laid out on the table before I entered Miss Rhode Island.

VAN SUSTEREN: When you compete in this contest, do they ask you on an application, are there any pictures sitting out there someplace that might be embarrassing? Is there any sort of application or anything that you are obliged to tell them before you compete?

CASTONGUAY: They ask you if you have you a Facebook, if you have a MySpace, if you have any photos on there, anything that you've done previously.

I mean, to me, if I took those photos for "Maxim" and they never used them, I don't know if I would tell the Miss Universe organization about them. If they weren't published, I don't know if I would come forward with saying that if they didn't use them.

And I feel that's what happened to her. I feel she probably took these photos for a job or a possibility, a chance at modeling. It's nothing less than what you would see in a Victoria's Secret catalogue, or anything like that.

So I don't know if she just didn't submit them because they weren't published, or what happened with that. But the reason why I submitted mine is because they were published and they were out there.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you have a sense that her answer to her question is haunting her in any way or is going to sort of play into the decision, or is it simply the pictures?

CASTONGUAY: I think it has a lot to do with her answer to her question, that final night. I think that's part of the reason why that picture's out there.

She answered a question with her honest opinion, and I don't think that America was ready for that question to be answered both ways. And I think that when a question like that is answered, you need to be prepared to receive that answer both ways that it can go.

It's somebody's opinion. We're 51 girls that represent the United States, and we're 51 individual girls with our own opinions. So, I mean, it's not just her opinion. I'm sure there are other girls out there who have the same opinion as her. And, unfortunately, this had to come of it.

VAN SUSTEREN: What do you do now? What is the job of Miss Rhode Island now that the Miss USA Pageant's over? What's your obligation?

CASTONGUAY: We have appearances in Rhode Island. My state isn't really as big as many of the other states. But I travel around Rhode Island doing different things, different events. There are a lot of parades coming up for Memorial Day. And I just did a charity event the other day.

There's a lot of different things that come up. You just make appearances, anything.

VAN SUSTEREN: Alysha, thank you very much, and you do a great job representing Rhode Island, I suspect. I think you probably do a really good job. Thank you.

CASTONGUAY: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
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