A beauty queen who claimed this year's Miss USA contest was fixed has been ordered to pay the pageant organization $5 million for defamation. In a decision signed last week, an arbitrator found that the comments from Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin were false, harmful and malicious. Monnin had alleged that the five finalists had been selected in advance of the pageant's live telecast. The arbitrator, Theodore Katz, said Monnin had two motives: "She was a disgruntled contestant who failed to make it past the preliminary competition" and she objected to the pageant's decision to allow transgender contestants. He wrote that the way the contest is judged "precludes any reasonable possibility that the judging was rigged." Monnin, of Cranberry, Pa., resigned her state title after the pageant. Her allegations on Facebook and NBC's "Today" show cost the pageant a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor, Katz said.

Back in July, Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin abruptly quit the Miss USA pageant, declaring that the parent organization was "fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy" because they had allowed a "natural born male" to compete in Canada . Both would have represented their respective nations at Miss Universe had they won. Monnin went on to claim that Miss USA had been rigged and that another contestant had seen the names of the five finalists in advance of the show. That's when the Trump-owned pageant filed suit for defamation. Today we learn this Monnin will doubtlessly appeal, but you may now snicker in satisfaction.The transgender Miss Canada contestant, Jenna Talackova , finished in the top twelve. The winner of Miss USA, Miss Rhode Island, announced her support for trans beauty queens shortly before her crowning. Last night she was crowned Miss Universe.

Labels: beauty pageants, Donald Trump, lawsuits, losers, Miss Universe, Miss USA, transgender issues