2017 has been, all things considered, a bit of an up and down year for the Wings of Strength led pro Female Bodybuilding circus. In the first few shows of the season, the line-ups were a bit thin on quality, but Maria Mikola made a welcome return from the Physique division. Then there was the whole Aleesha debacle in Omaha before Brittney O'Veal's winning pro debut and Elena Oana Hreapca's victory in the first ever Ms Wings International made Chicago memorable, and the Norfolk Pro saw fan favourite Theresa Ivancik make her pro debut. Finally, at the beginning of the month, Tampa provided us with a "proper" line-up and a contest to match, ensuring at least that the qualification series for the Rising Phoenix ended on a high.
That high didn't last long. As soon as the list of women qualified and invited for the Rising Phoenix was published on August 9th, the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan, and the unlikely source of the shit was Wings of Strength co-owner herself, Kristal Wood. I am absolutely disgusted with the Wings of Strength list for the Rising Phoenix!!! she wrote (in a since deleted post) on her Facebook page. What the HELL!
Kristal's issue was that those women who had received the so-called "special invites" (Jay Fuchs and Aleesha were mentioned by name, the other two - Janeen Lankowski and Cristina Franzoso not) were less deserving of their place at the show than those, Angela Rayburn was cited as deserving woman #1, for example, who had finished just outside of the qualifying places in the points list.
But why was Kristal, 50% of Wings of Strength, having a pop at her own organisation?
We are getting divorced.
Oh.
As FBBs such as Sharon Mould, Melody Spetko, Noelle Rockwell, Olivia Terry and Michelle Brent weighed in, it became apparent that there wasn't very much sympathy for Aleesha among some members of the so-called "iron sisterhood".
Quite the opposite in fact.
Michelle Brent: So Aleesha cry baby's [sic] and disrespects and then gets invited?
Sharon Mould: I think I need to message you [Michelle] private as there's so much more to all this than you can possibly imagine.
Aleesha: Message away dear and keep talking shit. I'll just keep training and being the best version of myself that I can... I'm really feeling the love from this supposed iron sisterhood that you often speak of. Have a great day y'all.
(At that point some random called "Fritz Talon" gets stuck into Aleesha on a personal level. Kristal and Noelle Rockwell leap to her defence and put the cretin in his place. Sharon Mould, however, hasn't finished.)
Sharon: Wtf is your problem, not everything is about you. Feeling a little paranoid? Get over it. And if there's a sisterhood lacking well that's because you obviously like it that way, no one is talking about you [er, yes, you were] as we have better things to focus on. Have a great day.
Noelle Rockwell: Feel like I'm watching an episode of "Wings of Strength Gone Wild"...
Where to begin?!
Well, on the plus side Aleesha at the Rising Phoenix has got to be something most of us can get behind. After Omaha and before her "special invite" she was never going to compete again. Right now she's on a mission, and Michelle and Sharon have fuelled her fire nicely. Thank you, ladies. Shame about Kristal and Jake. This can't be good for Wings of Strength and therefore can't be good for pro Female Bodybuilding, though at the same time I can't help feeling there are probably some chaps, maybe even FMS readers, out there, less married chaps than I, who are thinking to themselves that the prospect of Kristal being a single woman again isn't necessarily bad news!
With Margie and Alina not competing, and Sheila Bleck qualifying twice (from her finish at last year's RP and as the Tampa 2017 winner), three of the five pre-qualified places were already redundant. It would have been good if it had been announced what was going to happen to those places before a list was put out there. Since that first, apparently controversial, list was published, another, revised one has been put out which includes Kim McGuire, Virginia Sanchez, Tischa Thomas and Angela Rayburn - all with 3 points and the next best qualifiers. That seems fair.
Sadly, Brittney O'Veal has decided not to take up her place. So what - if anything - is going to happen to the list now Jake alone knows. Will the next woman or women in the points qualifying get to go? Will there be one more "special invite"? Sharon Mould perhaps?! Jake could sell tickets for the Aleesha-Sharon backstage showdown...
The "special invite" thing has one major flaw. If you are going to hand them out after Tampa then you are giving a Female Bodybuilder, who perhaps has been in her off-season for some time, well under two months to prepare for the biggest female muscle show on Earth. Not ideal. However, a "special invite" is given at the discretion of Wings of Strength - like them or not, this much at least has been clear right from the very first Rising Phoenix. So there doesn't need to be any rhyme or reason to them. They are, now him and Kristal are going their separate ways, Jake's toy to play with.
And much as I find the idea of Kristal's (actual) dirty laundry appealing, she shouldn't have aired it (the proverbial) in public, and the fact that the Facebook post has since been removed would, I guess, demonstrate that she realises as much.
Wings of Strength Gone Wild - Tuesdays, 9.00pm EST on CBS.
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