Max and PJ
sweep the competition at the 2003 "Battle of the
Biceps" in Vegas (Oct. 25th, 2003)
This
year’s battle of the bicep competition was even bigger
joke than last year with the huge mistake of inadvertently
announcing the pre-picked winner to the audience
before he had even competed!
They had the semi-annual winner from the Florida
competition stand on stage during the event (because he had
big arms and made a good stage prop) and about halfway
through the competition the MC came over and asked him who
he thought would win so far. His answer was “Hank” but
the problem with that answer was that Hank hadn’t had his
turn yet! He
quickly realized what he had said and followed up with, “I
hope”. At that point to crowd started shrinking as people
started to drop out and walk away realizing the contest was
fixed.
Max
and PJ had already performed their curls and had everyone
beat by a margin, but realizing that Hank wouldn’t have
the chance to beat or even match them, the judge
(Garrett Downing) just claimed Max and PJ’s reps weren’t
“good enough form” to take them out of the running and
leave the door open for Hank. PJ duplicated the form of
last year’s winner (Al Jr.) who was judged by Garrett but he
conveniently changed his judging criteria and labeled it
improper for this year so Hank could win.
PJ
brought the video camera this time so he could record all
the competitors and prove the contest was a sham. Click the
video links below and see for yourself (Windows Media Player
format). Max
got 73 reps and PJ a few more (some of which weren’t
recorded in the beginning because he forgot to tell Max that
there was a short delay after the record
button is pressed).
You
can see PJ having a conversation with Garrett in the middle of
his performance because Garrett kept giving him conflicting signals
on what was proper (click here for a link to PJ's video
clip). At the end of Max’s taping you can watch Garrett
looking stupid and shrugging his shoulders after rendering his decision
because the crowd was protesting (click here for a link to
Max's video clip). You’ll also see Hank’s performance of 66 reps – all of which were
counted despite his pendulum-swinging style which was
outlawed last year (click here for a link to Hank's video
clip) and hear the MC giving him much more encouragement
than any other competitor and
mentioning multiple times how "good" his form was
to set him up for the win with as little dispute as
possible. Both PJ and Max
ended up getting more reps than anyone-even including the
“cheat rep” contestants!
Max
and PJ realized ahead of time the contest would be
fixed because of PJ’s experience last year.
PJ realizes they will never let him win simply
because they need the winner to have big arms since his picture is printed
in Muscle and Fitness Magazine. He
figured Max might have a chance this year because he does
have big arms but Max just did too well so they had
to take him out of the running too. If Max had gone after
Hank and toned it down a little bit to only get 65 reps, he
might have placed second, but he had no way of knowing this
because he went in the second group and Hank hadn’t been mentioned
yet as the pre-picked winner.
Last
year’s winners, Al senior and Al Jr., came up to PJ and
Max after the competition and ask them to stand together for
a photo because they wanted to have a picture “of the real
winners”. Al Sr. also commented that all the competitors
backstage thought Max and PJ won as well. Al Jr. even said PJ’s form this year was better than his own
form last year! The crowd seemed to agree too because
there was little to no applause during the awards
presentation and the crowd had shrunk to less than half by
that point. Max and PJ even had people approaching
them in the hotel after the contest commenting to them about
how ripped off they were.
The
biggest joke was Garrett Downing, one of the judges and a
“bodybuilder wannabe” (because he hasn’t won anything
better than sixth place since he turned pro). Garrett is the
only recurring Judge on the panel each year because he’s
the one who controls the outcome and the first-place winner
to get the best story for Muscle and Fitness Magazine. The
winner of the contest needs to have big arms so the magazine
readers who are mostly bodybuilders see "one of their own"
winning the contest. Because
PJ only has 15 inch arms he knows he will never win the
competition but plans on entering every chance he gets
simply to be a thorn in Garrett’s side and force him to
come up with new excuses each time why he shouldn’t win.
This will make Garrett continue to look sillier every year and that alone will give PJ enough
satisfaction to make it worth competing.
In
case you missed the contest write-up last year, PJ’s reps
were reduced by Garrett Downing after the contest ended
because if he let them stand, PJ would have split the first and
second place winners who were a father and son, and made a
better story for Muscle and Fitness. He ended up knocking PJ
into 3rd place so the father and son wouldn't be split. The thing that made
Garrett’s sham the most obvious was the fact that Garrett
wasn't even PJ’s Judge for that contest! Garrett was
supposed to be watching and counting the reps of
person on the opposite side of the stage from PJ, but
apparently his eyes work like a lizard and can watch
two separate things at the same time. PJ’s judge said his reps were fine but Garrett overruled
him right before the awards presentation. That was the crowds
first exposure to Garrett’s fraudulent judging practices
and this year was just a repeat of it. Each
year more people will catch on and pretty soon the
reputation of the contest will be irreparably damaged by
Garrett Downing.
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