Underhanded Underwater?

Further allegations of cheating have surfaced with the discovery of several tethered flathead in the Manning River.

Items found near the flathead indicate that suspended entrant DTrain Cousteau may be involved.  An expert diver, Cousteau is believed to be the only person with the knowledge to pull off such a stunt.

At this stage it is not clear whether this is an attempt to discredit the MPFC or whether it is an attempt by some competitors to gain an unfair advantage in the contest.

An insider in the Mangrove camp says that "there was a lot of activity last night with a flashy looking boat circling for hours around the Manning River and neither Mangrove or Barnacle could be found anywhere."

Barnacle was unavailable for comment, referring us to the BOSS in boating.

Meanwhile, specialist dive teams are checking the entire river for other similarly tethered flathead.

Marcus Copperi, on an emergency site visit, is reported to have said that "any flathead found tethered will be released into the care of Newcastle Fish Coop until the end of the tournament."