Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin Resigns, Says Pageant Is Rigged

by uInterviewJune 6, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin has relinquished her state crown in the Miss USA pageant because, according to her, the competition was fixed. The pageant organizers, on the other hand, say Monnin's decision to quit is a publicity stunt and was actually based on her disapproval of new rules allowing transgendered people to compete.

"I will relay to you the reasoning behind my resignation. I witnessed another contestant who said she saw the list of the Top 5 BEFORE THE SHOW EVER STARTED proceed to call out in order who the Top 5 were before they were announced on stage," Monnin wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday. "Apparently the morning of June 3rd she saw a folder lying open to a page that said 'FINAL SHOW Telecast, June 3, 2012' and she saw the places for Top 5 already filled in. After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew the show must be rigged; I decided at that moment to distance myself from an organization who did not allow fair play and whose morals did not match my own."

The Miss Universe Organization, ownership of which is shared by NBC Universal and Donald Trump, said that Monnin is not being honest about why she quit following the crowning of this year's Miss USA winner, Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo. "The Miss Universe Organization can confirm the resignation of the Pennsylvania titleholder after she did not place in the Top 16 at the Miss USA pageant. In an e-mail to state pageant organizers, she cited the Miss Universe Organization’s policy regarding transgendered contestants, implemented two months ago, as the reason for her resignation," the organization said in a statement. "Today she has changed her story by publicly making false accusations claiming that the pageant was fixed; however, the contestant she privately sourced as her reference has vehemently refuted her most recent claim."

Miss Universe offered proof with an e-mail they received from Monnin before the time of her Facebook post. "I am officially and irrevocably resigning the title of Miss Pennsylvania USA 2012," the e-mail released by Miss Universe said. "I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it. This goes against every moral fiber of my being. I believe in integrity, high moral character, and fair play, none of which are part of this system any longer. I hereby return the title of Miss Pennsylvania USA 2012."