Fat Bear Week contestant disqualified in ‘scandal’
Posted October 11, 2022 3:30 pm.
Last Updated October 11, 2022 3:31 pm.
A contestant in this year’s Fat Bear Week in Alaska’s Katmai National Park has been knocked out of the running due to a “scandal.”
The always-popular contest tries to crown the biggest, best brown bear in the park. It happens each year.
The contest relies on votes from the public, with people clicking on photos of the bears on the park’s website to choose a winner through a bracket system.
However, it turns out someone was spamming the online vote in favour of the extra-chonky “Bear 435.”
Stopped by TSA for smuggling salmon, 435 missed her connection while jumbo jet 747 cleared the runway. This capacious cargo carrier cruised to the finals w/ a triumphant tailwind. Go to https://t.co/thJwxpa4kn at 8am AK to vote in 10/10's #FatBearWeek match of fur-ocious females. pic.twitter.com/N7Lag7RcCN
— Katmai National Park (@KatmaiNPS) October 10, 2022
“It appears someone has decided to spam the Fat Bear Week poll, but fortunately it is easy for us to tell which votes are fraudulent,” Katmai National Park wrote on Twitter. “We have discarded the fake votes.”
Once park staff figured it out, they posted official totals of the votes. “Bear 435” — also known as Holly — received a total of 30,430 votes, while “Bear 747” got 37,940 votes, staying in the running.
Fat Bear Week runs from Oct. 5 to 11 this year. The winner of the contest will be crowed on Tuesday, after voting closes at 6 p.m. Pacific.
