Pa. Beauty Queen Shenna Monnin says she's shocked by $5 million ruling

Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin competes during the 2012 Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 3, 2012, in Las Vegas. / Isaac Brekken/Getty Images

Shenna Monnin, the former Miss Pennsylvania USA who resigned after alleging that the Miss USA pageant had been fixed, says she is stunned by an arbitrator's ruling that she must pay the pageant organization $5 million for defamation.

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Tarnished tiaras

Monnin tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the "most logical course" would be to contest the ruling, but she's considering her options.

Arbitrator Theodore Katz says Monnin's allegations that finalists had been selected in advance were false, harmful and malicious and cost the pageant a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor.

Monnin points to a Miss USA contract clause giving top pageant officials the power to pick the top five finalists and the winner, but a company official calls that a catch-all that's never been used.

[heliocracy_2]

So it is fixed. If the contract gives pageant officials the right to pick finalists and the winner, then the contest is inherently unfair. When do you suppose they might use that so-called 'catch-all?' The answer: Any time they disagree with the results of the judging. Therefore, you can never rely on the fact that the judging will actually be respected, so for all intents and purposes, the pageant is fixed. You don't need to put in the fix as long as long as you agree with the judging, but that doesn't make it any less fixed.

[heliocracy_2]

Or look at it this way...if a prize fighter is paid to take a fall in the second round, but gets knocked out in the first, was the fight still fixed? Yes it was.