How was there cheating in Alaska’s fat bear contest?

Every year since 2014, Alaska’s Katmai National Park has hosted Fat Bear Week, an online event in which viewers can vote for the park’s portliest brown bear as they fatten themselves up for winter hibernation. Normally it’s all fun and games, but this year’s semifinals saw a voting scandal.

As it turns out, you can “stuff” a virtual ballot box. Park officials noticed an irregularity in the semifinals over the weekend, in which bear 435, known as Holly, received 9,000 votes in a suspiciously short amount of time. This netted her the top spot and moved her on to the finals. After determining which votes were fraudulent and retallying, the results put bear 747 ahead of Holly, sending him on to the finals instead.

The field started at 12 bears, selected by Katmai park rangers. Participants are presented with two photos of each bear, one taken in mid-July and one in early September. They also receive some background information on the bears to help inform their decision. Voting for the final competition took place on Tuesday, with the winner expected to be announced Wednesday.