New champion named in American Royal World Series of Barbecue Open after errors made
A new grand champion has been named for this year’s American Royal World Series of Barbecue Open competition after errors were discovered in the tabulation of results, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Rod Gray, chief executive officer of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, apologized to this year’s competitors for the errors in tabulating and reporting of the results in the open contest, saying the society accepted full responsibility for the “serious errors.”
“Following a thorough audit of the four meat categories, inaccurate results were identified and corrected,” Gray said. “We understand how this impacts teams and ultimately names a new Grand Champion.”
Janky Leg BBQ has now been named the overall open contest champion, according to updated contest results on the American Royal’s website, as well as a photo uploaded Thursday night to its Facebook page.
Attempts to reach Gray on Friday were unsuccessful. The American Royal barbecue is a sanctioned contest through the Kansas City Barbeque Society, which handles the scoring and tabulating of results.
The error was caused by a technical data issue with the scoring system, said Allyssa King, director of communications for the American Royal.
“The American Royal sympathizes with our barbecue teams affected by the technical data issue with the Kansas City Barbeque Society scoring system,” Ken Wagner, chairman of the American Royal board of directors and Jackie McClaskey, American Royal president and CEO, said in an email. “The American Royal has a rich history in producing high-quality events and experiences, which remains our highest priority, and we share in the disappointment and frustrations experienced by our teams.”
They said the American Royal appreciated the transparency of the Kansas City Barbeque Society and will work with them to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
“We share the disappointment of our competitors and express our apologies for the entire situation,” Wagner and McClaskey said.
More than 480 teams competed in the contest held at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, according to results.
“To the competitors affected and our valued partner for 37 years, the American Royal, we extend our sincere apologies, recognizing the trust placed in us by the barbeque community,” Gray said in the Facebook post.
The barbeque society said it is committed to understanding the root causes of the errors so it could implement preventative measures moving forward.
“We will patiently address all issues to educate everyone about what occurred and the steps taken to correct it,” Gray said in the post.
