MeatUp Contest Judges - The MeatUp USA

Head JUDGE - skip

Hailing from Palm Springs, California for the past nineteen years Skip Mlaker, Meat Up West 25 is a long-time member of Palm Springs Leather Order of the Desert (PSLOD) serving as a past President and Palm Springs Leather Pride Weekend Chairman. His leather journey began in Washington DC where he was Mr. DC Eagle 1999 and a member of the Centaur Motorcycle Club. His modded voyage began 3 years ago with the help of some great counselors, which have been his mission over the past year to be open and available for anyone seeing advice discussion and monitorship. Skip’s other interests include motorcycles, cigars, gym, and serving the local Palm Springs leather community.

JUDGE - Jeffrey Wayne

Jeffrey Wayne (he/him) is a resident of Sonoma County, CA. He is a Producer for Mr. GayDays Leather, an Associate Producer of the Mr. San Francisco Bear, and serves on the production committee for the four SF Eagle titles. He served as Mr. GayDays Leather 2022 and placed top 20 at International Mr. Leather. Originally from North Carolina, Jeff holds a Masters of Fine Arts in theatre design. He is a professor of design at Solano College, runs a costume shop for a children’s theatre company, and is self-taught in the art of leather crafting. He identifies as a submissive and a brat and enjoys quality role play, impact play, and bondage.

JUDGE - TJ WILLIS RN

T.J. Willis is serving as Mr. Regiment 2026. He is an alumnus of Cleveland State and works by day in West Hollywood as an AIDS Certified Registered Nurse. He is a 18 year member of the Tennessee Gryphons Leather BDSM Club. His hobbies include piss play, bears, cruising, cigars, ripe pits, muscle worship and leather and uniform play. His advocacy includes volunteerism in many of our local leather/uniform productions including Encuerado Leather, Off Sunset, LALC, Mr. Eagle and Mr. Bullet Bar Leather. As Mr. Regiment he has raised over $2,000 worth of toys for both the Eagle LA and Core Bar Christmas toy drives and is actively raising awareness and money for the Trans Lifeline as well as several local queer community services in the greater Los Angeles area. His aspiration is to show by example that leather is an expression of sexual liberation, freedom from social constraints and is accessible to people of all body types. He is honored to be a contestant for the upcoming Mr. LA Leather contest in March 2026.

JUDGE - Earl Gray

Earl began his leather journey over twenty years ago, leading fundraising events and participating in leather runs that raised over $100,000 for minority and transgender youth organizations. While serving as Mr. San Diego Eagle 2023, he traveled to Sacramento to meet with state representatives, helping secure $71 million in funding for STI and overdose-prevention programs across California. As Mr. San Diego Leather 2024, Earl focused on increasing visibility and acceptance of the leather and kink communities by creating a Leather 101 class series where people can explore without judgment or apology. Earl has been recognized by the City of San Diego and the United States Congress for his continued work in HIV and AIDS prevention. He currently serves as Secretary for the Leather Boys of San Diego and produces the Mr. San Diego Eagle, Leather Boy San Diego, and upcoming Pup San Diego contests.

Judge - Tony Vega

Tony Vega is the founder and producer of the MeatUp USA, a nonprofit bicoastal fetish weekend for body-modified individuals and their admirers. In 2023, Tony launched the Phallic Frolic dance party; an event to promote even more awareness and visibility around safer medical practices within the body modification community, while promoting local artists and raising money for local non-profits that are close to his heart. Tony currently hosts leather night at Barcodes Orlando and is co-producer of Mr Barcodes Leather. His past titles include Mr LA Leather Bear 2024, Mr GayDays Leather 2023 and Mr Pig Week 2020.

Den Daddy - Kaiju

Kaiju is a resident of Wilton Manors, FL and the current title holder for MeatUp East 2025! Kai brings his unique and relentless joie de vie to everything he puts energy into, and we are happy to have him with us in Palm Springs this year as our Den Daddy. He will be responsible for corralling our contestants, and making sure they all have what’s needed to complete the competition cycle, and have a great time doing it!

Tally Master - Chris Joseph

Chris Joseph, Mr. Fire Island Leather 2024, is a Long Island NY native and is happy to attend his 6th MeatUp event. He is active in the leather community in the northeast and beyond. As a long time enthusiast of large bulges, Chris began pumping in 2023 and also enjoys an occasional saline infusion. He is thankful for the connections he has made through MeatUp events. Especially meeting his Daddy, Mr. MeatUp East 2025, Daddy Adrian.