The winners of a fishing competition appeared to have been caught cheating.
Footage shared on social media shows lead balls being pulled out of the fish at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT) championship held in Gordon Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
Director Jason Fischer yelled out ‘We got weights in the fish’ after he cut open the winning catch presented by duo Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyon.
A crowd quickly gathered around the pair, with some participants stopping short of physically attacking the accused.
‘Holy f***, oh my god,’ many gasped in anger as Mr Fischer continued to remove the weights stuffed inside the animals’ guts.
A man could be heard yelling off-camera: ‘Open all of them, every single one of the fish. Look at that, Jesus Christ.’
‘They need to be arrested and prosecuted. Call the cops,’ another shouted.
Mr Cominsky and Mr Runyon’s catch initially weighted almost 33lbs (15kg) – nearly double their closest competitor, the Daily Mail reported.
This is yet another sport recently rocked by accusations of fraud as the world of chess is still grappling with rumours of anal beads and artificial intelligence used to win a game.
Suspicions first arose because of the extraordinary weight of the fish presented by Mr Cominsky and Mr Runyon.
Something did not seem right and Mr Fischer decided to gut it.
Each fish contained several lead balls thought to be designed to increase the overall poundage and win them the team-of-the-year award and a £4,500 cash prize ($5,000).
Alongside the seven individual weights were also slices of other fish fillets also stuffed into the bodies of the catch.
A video posted by Brett Holland on Facebook showed Mr Fischer asking the pair to leave Gordon Park after which he continues to pull out more and more balls.
‘We all knew it. They have been doing it this entire time,’ many roared.
Mr Cominsky and Mr Runyon were both disqualified from the event over the allegations this weekend.
This is also not the first time the two have been accused of cheating.
They have already claimed several first-place prizes and earned a considerable sum of money in various LEWT events including last year’s tournament.
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Questions are now being raised if their previous wins should also be investigated.
A statement on the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship official Facebook event page: ‘Disgusted guys and gals, Iam sorry for letting you down for so long and I am glad I caught cheating taking place in your LEWT at the same time.
‘I can’t think enough to post results, but congrats Tsczyko and French and Toy Hendricks and Ulmer. Same goes to the yak and open winners.
‘I hope you know now that when I say ”you built this LEWT and I will defend its integrity at all costs”, I mean it. You all deserve the best.’
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