"It was unanimous" - Bob Cicherillo dismantles criticism of judging at the 2023 Arnold Classic

Almost a week after the 2023 Arnold Classic, serious criticism of the judges' scorecards has been expressed by many. This includes Nick Trigili and Samir Bannout, who have expressed their concerns over the way the competitors were scored, something that saw Samson Dauda score perfectly.

Former IFBB professional Bob Cicherillo does not share the same sentiment of others. In a recent episode on Voice of Bodybuilding, Bob spoke up against the disregard shown towards the judges by many in the sport.

Replying to Trigili's criticism of Dauda's win, Cicherillo reiterated the point that Dauda's win was unanimous.

"At the end of the day, it’s the judges’ opinions that count. Even if I take you for what you originally had, it’s wrong, you still don’t have it right. Because Samson Dauda was never winning with across the board ones, this was not a case that we had that it was across the board – it was unanimous. That’s just simply not the case."

In a previous video criticizing the judges, Nick Trigili spoke of how the judges at the Arnold Classic scored the contestants incorrectly.

Trigili had said that five out of the seven judges had somehow given Dauda a perfect score. Debunking this, Cicherillo pointed out that the bigger shows such as the Arnold Classic and the Olympia have more than seven judges and two scores from both extremities (highs and lows) are cut out:

"The judging criteria is based on a placement system. That means you get a number based on the placing they think you’re in. If you’re in second place, you get a two, if you’re in fourth place, you get a four and so on and so forth. Number two, there’s not seven judges, Nick. Once again, we did this last year. There are more than seven judges at the big shows – and they don’t cut out a high and a low, they cut out two highs and two lows. This makes your math completely irrelevant to why you’re trying to achieve here."

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2023 Arnold Classic - Bob Cicherillo "had him (Samson Dauda) winning" right from the get go

Despite the concerns of many respectable figures in the sport, Bob Cicherillo has no doubt that Samson Dauda was the one and only clear victor at the Arnold Classic.

He said that Big Ramy, another contender at the event, had made significant improvements to his physique but was still 'off'.

"I do believe Samson was winning from the prejudging from the onset. I had him winning. I thought it was pretty much one, two, three. Him, Nick, and Andrew Jacked were all battling from the start, I think anybody could see that. Ramy was maybe a little bit improved from the Olympia but he was still off."

Continuing his monologue on how Samson Dauda was dominant, Cicherillo added:

"Samson comes out and dominates right off the bat because he has a superior physique. Size, symmetry, shape, and proportions, those are the first things that the judges are looking at."

Regardless of the differing opinions amongst critics, Samson Dauda is the winner of the Arnold Classic. His victory makes him, along with Derek Lunsford, the front-runner to try and dethrone Hadi Choopan at the 2023 Olympia in November.