Apparently there was a ruckus during the Best In Show competition. Did you notice when the announcer, who is always flawless, sounded like he had a stroke, and kept getting the dogs wrong? A couple of PeTA-types were on the floor protesting something-or-other.
After all that fuss, I don't blame the judge for going with the safe choice.
Sadie wasn’t the “safe” choice, she actually is an incredible dog. It’s tough to judge those things, but it comes down to the smallest perfections and imperfections at that point, and that night, Sadie had the fewest imperfections. They are not judged against each other, they are judged against their own breed standards.
I think the PA guy was new. He didn’t sound like the fellow that had been doing it for years. The current PA guy kept making flubs and mistakes.