It was supposed to be a victory lap. Instead, by 1:47 a.m. Saturday, one of the most decorated bull riders in ProRodeo history was on the sidewalk outside the Wynn, shirt untucked, arguing with someone on FaceTime while a very well-dressed woman in a fringed white mini-dress waited two paces behind him, pretending not to listen.
Four separate witnesses — three of them wearing NFR contestant credentials — described the same scene to Chute 6. Two of them recorded video. We've reviewed 41 seconds of footage. We're not publishing it. Yet.
"He was fine at the awards. He was fine at the dinner. He was fine at the first party," said one traveling partner, speaking on condition of anonymity because, in his words, 'the circuit is smaller than my hometown and I still have to sleep in his trailer next week.' "By the time we got to the Encore, he was not fine."
The girlfriend — a former Miss Rodeo state titleholder who has been posting cryptic Bible verses since Tuesday — was seen leaving the party alone at 12:15 a.m. in an Uber. Her Instagram Story at 12:41 a.m. was a single black square. It has since been deleted.
We reached the champ's PR handler at 4:12 a.m. Saturday for comment. His response: 'He's tired. Everyone's tired. Please don't run this.'
We'll run it when the receipts hit. Until then, watch that girlfriend's follower count. It's already down 900 since sunrise.
The Comments (612)