Fat Bear Week was a lot of fun! Go Fat Bears!

There may have been fraud in the Fat Bear Week voting for 2026. The results between Bear 910 and Backpack Bear are very close.

Originally I rooted for Bear 909. Her sister, Bear 910, who maybe stole her cubs, beat her out in the earlier rounds. So at the end I was stuck rooting for 910 to win.

I think 910’s shot from the side, instead of from the front, is actually why Backpack Bear wins. You get the front shot of Backpack, so you see the big broad shoulders of an impressive bear.

I suspect, due to the closeness of the votes, that there may be fraud in the results.

Something a little surprising is the final margins by year. The margin difference in 2026 is 2.5 percent. The next lowest is 2022, and it is a 9 percent difference. In 2022 there was known fraud. They had to remove votes, and that determined ultimately who the winner was.

So there may be fraud here in favor of Backpack Bear.

You can read all about my analysis here, where my robot helped build it out:

https://fat-bear-week-analysis.garrypolley.com/

Post written with AI assistance. – kind of, I did come in and hand edit this.