The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, a Petaluma tradition, just got incredibly ugly after the 2016 contest closed on June 24.
The title of winner of this year’s event went to a rough-skinned, nearly hairless little monster named SweePee Rambo. The 17-year-old Chinese crested blind dog has a bent spine, problems with her bowel movements and a severe lack of teeth, which likely makes her difficult to snacking on that pizza she loves.
One of the contest judges, former “Survivor” contestant and Three Twins ice cream founder Neal Gottlieb, made a remark about what the AP called a “painful oozing– a comment that would later prove to be surprisingly controversial.
“Judge Neal Gottlieb seemed particularly impressed with a leg wound from SweePee,” said the Santa Rosa Press Democrat wrote“noting that the dogs get extra points for the stringer.”
However, this “wound” that appeared in Associated Press headlines across the country in reference to SweePee should never have been attributed to the winner, according to an angry email sent to the Press Democrat several days later. the competition and initially taken over by The Guardian.
“You wrote that my dog, SWEEPEE, the winner of the ugliest dog in the world, has oozing sores!” the email would have read. “It wasn’t my dog. There was a dog there that had terrible sores but it wasn’t my dog! That kind of lying makes me look like an irresponsible pet owner.”
The letter was from an unknown sender but was allegedly written by a friend of SweePee owner Jason Wurtz.
“People are saying how awful I look online!!!” added the writer. “And it really took something really cool away from me and it embarrasses me. I want this fixed immediately and I want an apology. Where did you get this bad information from?!?!?” !”
Wurtz also noted that the notorious pus was indeed not seen on SweePee, and must have been seen on a less ugly but seemingly more repulsive contestant named Icky, who “had really bad acne”.
“The owner put it on stage on the judge’s table and it grossed everyone out,” he said.
On Wednesday, Gottlieb denied Wurtz’s claim and clarified his comment on Twitter, writing that it was a scratch, not a wound, and that blood flowed from it “like me on ‘Survivor’.” .
The former reality TV contestant dealt with his own “oozing sore” during “Survivor,” and claims he was just comparing the oozing of wounds.
SFGATE has contacted the Sonoma-Marin Fair, which hosts the annual contest, and will update if we discover the true origin of the spurt.
[Via The Guardian]
Alyssa Pereira is a writer for SFGATE. Am here here on Twitter.
