Second Miss USA Contestant Comes Forward Saying The Pageant is Rigged

Just days after Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin claimed the Miss USA contest is rigged, another contestant has come forward to back her up. There’s just one problem.

The pageant participant won’t reveal her identity. The mystery woman spoke to FOXNews.com and said she heard Karina Brez, Miss Florida, disclose the finalists before the top 15 were even announced.
The unnamed contestant said Miss Florida was “very, very flustered and upset” when she saw her backstage. Miss Florida gave up four of the five names who did indeed go on to be in the top. The only reason she didn’t name all five was because she was so upset she couldn’t remember the fifth.

Last week, Monnin accused the Miss USA pageant, owned by Donald Trump, of rigging the competition. She posted on Facebook that Brez saw a folder that was open to a page that said “FINAL SHOW Telecast, June 3, 2012.” The places for the top 5 were already filled in. After she and another contestant who also knew the top 5 waited to see if the list matched the actual top 5 contestants, she said she knew the show had to be rigged.

“I feel an injustice has been done, not only to the other people who were not in the top five, but to the thousands of pageant girls across the country who competed, believing this is an honest system,” Monnin told “Today.”

However, the Miss Universe pageant, Brez, and Trump have all denied the allegations. Brez claims that she was joking, in the stress of the pageant circumstances, about the paper she saw having the names of the final contestants.

Trump cited “loser’s remorse” as the reason Monnin came forward with the allegations.
The organization said that the judging is completely without prejudice and that the scores are entered into the computer system by the judges in real time. A source also noted that the results are verified by Ernst & Young in real time.

Monnin has resigned and given back her crown, the woman who has proof of the organization’s dishonest practices refuses to be named, and now pageants everywhere will likely be criticized and scrutinized even more closely than they always have been.

What’s your take on this messy situation? Are beauty pageants rigged?