Miss USA contestant Sheena Monnin has resigned her title, saying the pageant was rigged and the finalists were chosen before the show even took place. INSIDE EDITION talks to pageant owner Donald Trump about the claims he says are false.
Was last Sunday's Miss USA pageant rigged?
That's the shocking claim being made by Miss Pennsylvania, Sheena Monnin, who says the top five contestants were determined before the live TV broadcast.
Miss Pennsylvania says she's resigning her title in disgust. Monnin posted her resignation on her Facebook page for all the world to see:
"In good conscience I can no longer be affiliated in any way with an organization I consider to be fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy," wrote Monnin.
She also made this disturbing allegation:
"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. After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew the show must be rigged," said Monnin.
INSIDE EDITION's Diane McInerney caught up with Donald Trump, owner of the Miss USA pageant, today in New York.
"What do you make of these allegations from Miss Pennsylvania?" asked McInerney.
"Well, it's totally false. It's so ridiculous. Ernst and Young are the most respected accounting firm, tabulates every single vote, and the list that she saw was a rehearsal list," replied Trump.
"What is your personal opinion of Miss Pennsylvania?" asked McInerney.
"Certainly she wouldn't have qualified in my book for the Top 15," said Trump.
Ouch. We also spoke to the young woman who won the coveted Miss USA crown—Miss Rhode Island, Olivia Culpo.
"I do know Miss Pennsylvania, because Pennsylvania and Rhode Island alphabetically are just in order, so I was always with her, really," said Culpo.
"What was your first reaction when you heard that she was resigning, claiming that the show was rigged?" asked McInerney.
"It seems like poor sportsmanship to me," replied Culpo.
In a statement, the Miss Universe organization says the real reason Miss Pennsylvania is upset is because she objected to the pageant's decision to permit transgendered contestant Jenna Talackova to compete in the Miss Universe Canada contest.
"All this is is loser's remorse. She lost, she felt badly about it. And if she felt strongly about transgender—which I don't believe she does—but if she did she shouldn't have been in the contest, she should have left then," said Trump.
