I was mistaken. The year was 2003, not 2002. The contest was the Night of Champions at the Beacon Theater. After much nagging, Wayne Demilia delivered us a pair of first row seats, directly behind the judges table. As the bodybuilders were being compared, I and a fellow longtime GB member leaned forward and snuck peeks at the scorecards. Sitting directly in front of me sat a young black judge, and on either side of him sat Steve Weinberger and the forementioned Bev Francis (Steve's wife). Both Steve and Bev took great interest in the middle guy's scoresheet, each of them reaching over at different times to cross off his numbers and insert their own onto his score sheet. I am pretty sure they weren't playing 'Guess my Age' or 'Tic Tac Toe'.
Incidentally, our very own Bob took 6th that evening behind Victor (in his first win), Pavel Jablonicky, Titus, Kamali, and JOJ. This show was notable primarily because not only were Kamali and Titus mocking each other on stage but Kelly Ryan and Barb Kamali were screaming at the tops of their lungs every time the two were on stage together. All together, it made for a pretty memorable prejudging and night show.
I still have a nice black and white photo I took of the top five, in which you can see the tops of the judges' heads in the forefront. But I'm sure the 'anti-conspiracy' theorist will probably claim it's been doctored by the Warren Commission.
Anyway, in all fairness and gayness, I don't really care that the show is fixed any more than I care if the Miss Universe is fixed. Like most schmoes, I'm there to look at the ebony and ivory moutains of salacious muscle, not bankrupt the Orleans Sportsbook, which for some strange reason won't take bets on the Olympia.
