On the December 20, 2025, edition of the Menace Podcast, Shawn Ray stirred the pot with his take on the Mr. Olympia finals. While debating the length of judging rounds, Ray revealed why calling everybody on stage is "embarrassing" during the finals.

While fellow former IFBB Pro and host Milos Sarcev argued that the number comapsiron rounds wasn't a problem, Shawn Ray saw it as a waste of time.

"If you got the top 10 or the top 15 guys, yeah, compare them. Do whatever you got to do, real briefly, because they already know after prejudging. But you don’t need these other guys standing there like window dressing. It’s a waste of their time. It’s embarrassing for them," argued Ray.

According to Shawn Ray, it not only hurts the integrity of sports but also hurts the bodybuilders.

He added, “If I’m not going to be able to do the same thing my top 10 guys are doing, I want to stand on stage like this and be ignored. Why?”

However, Milos Sarcev also stood by his argument and even went one step further with examples.

Milos Sarcev's counterargument to Shawn Ray

During the debate, Milos Sarcev went as far as to say that he believes there aren't enough comparison rounds. That's because, unlike Ray, he believes that not everything is set in stone when pre-judging begins.

Sarcev recalled the 2004 Mr. Olympia, where even Denis James competed. "Gustavo Badell was the 13th guy called out. So, 12 guys were already there, so he was not really literally in the top-10," said Sarcev. However, that's not where Badell finished.

"He moved up to top-10, to top eight, and six, and four and finish third, because he was given a chance multiple comparison," Sarcev told Shawn Ray. He didn't just stop at Badell's example.

"Listen, when Ronnie won in 1998, he was nowhere at the prejudging, and then he worked his way in," claimed the former Mr. Universe.

So which side of the argument are you on? Tell us in the comments.

Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi