My god that video was hard to watch, cringey haha
What was cringy about it? I'd say it's just sad that this contest was held in a blasted conference room. This is supposed to be a world championship, the allegedly best non-steroid using bodybuilder on the planet.
How many people are there who aren't friends nor relatives of the competitors?
I'd argue that one of the reasons shows like these lag in popularity is decisions like letting this super-short guy beat guys like Hansen or O'Hearn. And he only gets $1000, I think (based on that's what Hanson got for winning this show the following year in 1996).