The HTF BIG BROTHER 8 Top Ten Challenge *** Patrick Sun Wins! *** (1 Viewer)

[RAF]

*** FINAL *** Scores (low score wins)
as of Wednesday September 19, 2007

48 RyanAn
39 Patrick Sun ***WINNER (via tiebreaker)***
47 RAF
42 NYSandy
39 mike caronia
40 phil-w
46 Randy B A
40 Joseph S
44 Dheiner


Congratulations to Patrick Sun for winning via the tie breaker. Neither he nor mike caronia had Dick in their Top Ten, but Patrick picked 2nd place finalist Daniele to finish 1st which was closer than mike's prediction that she would finish 9th.


LINK TO CURRENT EXCEL SPREADSHEET HERE
(requires MS Excel or spreadsheet utility to view)
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Based on the favorable response to the "Top Ten Challenge" format that we introduced with American Idol 6 I am setting up a Top Ten Challenge for Big Brother 8. The program starts tonight (July 5, 2007) so it's time for those interested to start doing their homework. You have a little over 1 week to do some research and you can go to the Official Big Brother 8 web site here to get some information.

For those not familiar with the format, a "Top Ten Challenge" involves entrants picking the order in which they believe that the top ten finalists of a reality program will finish once the smoke clears. The rules are spelled out below which should clarify most of this.

Here are rules (as developed for the American Idol 6 contest and refined by the HTF participants):

• Only ONE entry per member.
• List your top ten in numerical order (1-10).
• Your list must be unique. No duplicate lists allowed. For duplicate lists, first submission gets that list.
• Once you submit a list, it is FINAL. No edited lists are allowed (unless your original list is invalid due to a mistake or a duplication.)
• Scoring is as follows: You are assigned 1 point for each position that your prediction is away from the final position of each contestant. For example, if you predict a contestant to come in 3rd and he or she comes in 7th you get 4 points. If that contestant comes in 12th you get 9 points. A 2nd place finish gets you 1 point. And so forth.
• Lowest total points wins (with a score of 0 points being the best possible score.)
• In the event of a tie the contest winner will be the entrant who was the fewest spots away from picking the winner. If it's still a tie, then we'll move down the list and determine who was closest to predicting the second spot, and so on, until the tie is eventually broken.

Entries close at 8:00p.m. EDT on Friday, July 13, 2007. No exceptions please.


Here are a couple of words of explanation regarding this particular contest and the rationale behind the setup.

• Since there are, according to the Big Brother 8 web site, fourteen entrants and you are picking a top ten there will be some contestants that you will not be picking. This will not change the scoring as indicated above. You choose only ten contestants and some might not even make it to the top ten (which adds a bit more of a challenge to the contest.)
• Big Brother, as many of these reality shows, is known for its unpredictability so it is quite possible that an ousted house member might return. This past season on American Idol 6 two contestants were voted off the same night so instead of a "5th" and "6th" position we decided to assign two "5.5" positions for the purposes of scoring. That's why the rules clearly specify the "final" position of ouster for each contestant. It's not over until it's over, and who knows what twists this season will bring? And if there are unforeseen circumstances we will make a determination that will be fair to all entrants as much as possible. (Otherwise we will return your entry fee ).
• I realize that this is short notice regarding the start of Big Brother 8 (it kind of snuck up on me) but you still have about a week to make your selections. The format allows for a huge number of valid entrants (I hope it remains manageable) so you don't have to worry about getting your entry in quickly so that your favorable house member is at the top of your list. The only restriction is that no two lists submitted may be identical. In that case, the one with the earliest submission is accepted and the other submission must be revised by the deadline.
• We all know that the descriptions provided by web sites are often misleading (sometimes intentionally I often suspect to make the show more intriguing) and that there is no substitute for actually seeing the house guests and listening to what comes out of their mouths. That's why I provide a bit of a preview period and the deadline won't be until a week from Friday. This also lets us see if there are some special situations that we must take into account before making our final choices.
• The choice of Friday July 13, 2007 for entries is not really as arbitrary as it might first appear. (And no, it has nothing to do with spilling salt, or walking under ladders, or black cats crossing your path). I will be attending the HTF EMA Event in Las Vegas the following week and a 07/13/07 deadline will allow me time to see everything up before I leave. While I'm confident that I will have Internet Access there I'm not sure how much time I'll have to actually monitor the contest during that time. It also turns out that scoring will not actually begin until after the conference (based on the usual procedure of one houseguest going home each week) so this works out quite conveniently.

There are probably other things that I haven't thought of but we can deal with them as the show progresses. The one thing that I ask of all entrants (other than making sure that their list is unique) is that you follow the following format when submitting your entry:

01. House guest
02. House guest
03. House guest
04. House guest
05. House guest
06. House guest
07. House guest
08. House guest
09. House guest
10. House guest

This will help me when I set up the spreadsheet to monitor the scoring.

And (if the Big Brother 8 web site is accurate) it appears that no house guests share the same first name (unless there are some surprises during Week #1). Therefore I am asking that you please limit your lists to first names only. Here's an alphabetical listing of all house guests at the moment:

Amber
Carol
Daniele
Dick
Dustin
Eric
Jameka
Jen
Jessica
Joe
Kail
Mike
Nick
Zach

Please submit your entries using the above terminology and not any nicknames that might surface during the show (especially if Howie ever shows up in the house again!)

So ladies and gents - start your engines (or fire up your DVRs). Watch the show, do your homework and get your entries in before the 7/13 deadline.

Good luck!

Updated suggestion: Obviously, most people entering would probably like to wait until next Thursday evening (7/12/07) to see who gets voted out of the house. That's fully understandable and not a problem. However, in order to make adminstration of these things a bit easier I would appreciate it if potential entrants would be kind enough to post PLACEHOLDERS (as several members have already done). This will let us see what size pool we are dealing with and would be appreciated. Remember, your list submission doesn't become "Official" (and final) until you actually submit the list, not the placeholder. The date and time of your list submission will determine who gets the list in cases of duplicate entries. The submission of a PLACEHOLDER is not a requirement to submit a list, just a courtesy.

Thank you.

 

[RyanAn]

01. Eric
02. Kail
03. Dustin
04. Nick
05. Jameka
06. Dick
07. Daniele
08. Amber
09. Joe
10. Zach

I'm gonna be so wrong, but I'm gonna pick Eric to win it!

 

[RAF]

Thanks, RyanAn. Duly noted. With all the twists and turns I fully expect a lot of people to go in different directions with their selections - especially since there are the 11 "regulars" and the 3 "enemy" house guests. Who knows who will make the top ten, let alone the final order of finish. Kudos for starting the ball rolling. I fully expect it to pick up momentum by late Thursday (7/12). Friday should be a busy day for me as I set everything up.

 

[Patrick Sun]

1 Daniele
2 Amber
3 Eric
4 Nick
5 Dustin
6 Zach
7 Kail
8 Mike
9 Joe
10 Jameka

 

[RAF]

Good idea, Patrick! While the order of a member's entry isn't an advantage (other than in case of a duplicate list then the one who submits it first, chronologically, gets that list) having potential entrants submit PLACEholder notices will at least let me set up the spreadsheet and have at least a rough estimate regarding the number of entrants this season.

Accordingly,

consider this my PLACEHOLDER.

(I'm going to go over to the BB8 thread and suggest placeholders to the group).

And now, my picks:

01. Nick
02. Kail
03. Eric
04. Mike
05. Zach
06. Jameka
07. Danielle
08. Dick
09. Dustin
10. Amber

 

[NYSandy]

01. Kail
02. Eric
03. Jameka
04. Daniele
05. Amber
06. Mike
07. Dustin
08. Zach
09. Dick
10. Jessica

 

[mike caronia]

OK.....definitely not the order I WANT to see them come in, but Dick is a goner next week no matter what..

1. nick
2. dustin
3. jameka
4. eric
5. amber
6. zach
7. jen
8. mike
9. danielle
10. joe

 

[Jake Gove]

PLACEHOLDER

Entry not submitted by deadline

 

[phil-w]

1.Zack
2. Kail
3. Nick
4.Mike
5.Danielle
6. Eric
7.Amber
8. Jameka
9. Joe
10.Jenn

 

[Randy B A]

I guess I will Get in

01. Nick
02. Eric
03. Carol
04. Mike
05. Zach
06. Amber
07. Daniele
08. Dustin
09. Kail
10. Jessica

 

[Joseph S]

1. Jen (Chilltown's tribute to Janelle)
2. Kail
3. Danielle
4. Eric
5. Dick
6. Nick
7. Amber
8. Jameka
9. Jessica
10. Zach

 

[RAF]

Yes, all of Jen's "assets" seem to reside below her neck, Joseph.



Thanks for the entry. 9 and counting at this point (assuming all placeholders are eventually replaced with actual lists). I'll post a link to an Excel spreadsheet once the deadline (tonight at 8 EDT) has passed.

Good luck all...

 

[Dheiner]

1.Nick
2.Mike
3.Eric
4.Danielle
5.Dustin
6.Amber
7.Kail
8.Jessica
9.Joe
10.Jameka

 

[RAF]

O.K. The entries are now closed. We have a small "select" group of nine (9) participants and a wide open contest due to a pool of 14 house members for the top ten (although everyone but Randy BA chose to wait until Carol was evicted before posting. I'm going to list the current scores (probably updated each Thursday unless I'm away and have to wait to watch the show on my DVR) at the top of the first message in this thread. There will also be a link to an Excel Spreadsheet if you wish to see a breakdown of everybody's scores.

Since the group is small, here's a summary of everyone's picks (cut and pasted from the spreadsheet). All lists are unique.

Good luck, all!!

RyanAn
1 Eric
2 Kail
3 Dustin
4 Nick
5 Jameka
6 Dick
7 Daniele
8 Amber
9 Joe
10 Zach

Patrick Sun
1 Daniele
2 Amber
3 Eric
4 Nick
5 Dustin
6 Zach
7 Kail
8 Mike
9 Joe
10 Jameka

RAF
1 Nick
2 Kail
3 Eric
4 Mike
5 Zach
6 Jameka
7 Daniele
8 Dick
9 Dustin
10 Amber

NYSandy
1 Kail
2 Eric
3 Jameka
4 Daniele
5 Amber
6 Mike
7 Dustin
8 Zach
9 Dick
10 Jessica

mike caronia
1 Nick
2 Dustin
3 Jameka
4 Eric
5 Amber
6 Zach
7 Jessica
8 Mike
9 Daniele
10 Joe

phil-w
1 Zach
2 Kail
3 Nick
4 Mike
5 Daniele
6 Eric
7 Amber
8 Jameka
9 Joe
10 Jen

Randy B A
1 Nick
2 Eric
3 Carol
4 Mike
5 Zach
6 Amber
7 Daniele
8 Dustin
9 Kail
10 Jessica

Joseph S
1 Jen
2 Kail
3 Daniele
4 Eric
5 Dick
6 Nick
7 Amber
8 Jameka
9 Jessica
10 Zach

Dheiner
1 Nick
2 Mike
3 Eric
4 Daniele
5 Dustin
6 Amber
7 Kail
8 Jessica
9 Joe
10 Jameka

 

[RAF]

As of 07/26/07 (after the eviction show) Joseph_S is the only entrant with a perfect (00) score.

 

[RAF]

With Nick gone (chosen in the top 4 by seven of the contestants and first by four!) the points are going up quickly.) Joseph S continues to lead with NYSandy moving up to 2nd. We are now in the top ten so things will continue to get more interesting.

Stay tuned....

 

[RAF]

And then there were nine house guests. Joseph S continues to lead with NYSandy still in second. This week's evictee was another member favorite with the majority here picking that person to finish either 1st or 2nd.

The plot thickens....

 

[RAF]

Joseph_S and NYSandy continue to run one-two in the Top Ten Challenge. Now that the field is narrowing to only eight house guests the contest gets more interesting. Those members who have already had house guests on their list eliminated will have weeks when they get zero points (a good thing!) when a house guest is eliminated that is not on their list, so this race is far from over....

 

[RAF]

NYSandy takes over first place now that Jen has been eliminated. Joseph S drops into second. More to come...

 

[RAF]

NYSandy continues to lead, but now by only 1 point over Joseph S as we get down to the nitty-gritty. Lots of people got it close (some even on the mark!) with Amber's eviction.

Note: Next week's eviction was announced as being a double eviction. If that is the case and there is no clear distinction between who is #6 and who is #5 (i.e. if they both go together) then I will assign a "score" of 5.5 to each evictee in the quinella. Since I will be at CEDIA and not be able to view the show until I return the following week it might take some time to sort this all out (I'll probably know the results but perhaps not the sequence). In any event all should be updated in this thread by Tuesday, September 11 or so.