Backpack, a large brown bear from Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, has been named the champion of this year’s Fat Bear Week competition, narrowly edging out a female contender known as Dancing Queen. The contest, which reached its 12th iteration in 2026, featured 16 of the park’s largest bears competing in an online public vote to celebrate their seasonal weight gain as they prepare for winter hibernation.

Backpack, also known as Bear 89, secured victory with just over 103,000 votes, edging past Dancing Queen (Bear 910), who received approximately 98,000 votes. The final round alone saw more than 200,000 votes cast, contributing to a total of over 2.3 million online votes throughout the event. The winning announcement came late Tuesday after the conclusion of the tournament, which follows a single-elimination bracket format.

The competition draws significant public interest in Katmai’s population of nearly 2,200 brown bears, highlighting their ability to bulk up by feasting on the park’s abundant wild salmon return to the Brooks River each summer. Park rangers and observers often emphasize that success in the contest reflects the bears’ health and readiness to survive the winter months.

Backpack, estimated to weigh about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms), is known for a relatively gentle and calm demeanor compared to other males of his size. According to contest organisers and park staff, he is a familiar figure to viewers, having been monitored closely through live webcams since 2012. His name stems from an observed behavior as a cub, when he would climb on the back of his mother, Holly, who was herself a previous Fat Bear Week champion, nicknamed the Queen of Corpulence.

Dancing Queen, the runner-up, is notable for her distinctive fishing technique, which earned her nickname among enthusiasts. She, too, descends from a previous winner, illustrating a family lineage of successful fat bear competitors.

Park ranger Sara Bruce noted that the primary measure of success is the bears’ ability to gain substantial weight over the summer rather than just popularity. Photographs showing their before-and-after summer transformations demonstrate their preparation to endure the months-long hibernation. Despite past incidents of vote tampering in the competition’s history, public engagement has continued to grow year over year.

This event has become a celebrated annual tradition that both raises awareness of the Katmai brown bear population and provides a lighthearted way for people to connect with wildlife conservation efforts in Alaska. The U.S. Department of the Interior congratulated Backpack on social media following his win, affectionately referring to him as the "lord of lard, earl of girth."