The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !! - Page 3

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

Yes, but I thought the same thing regarding Melinda Doolittle on a previous season and look what happened to her. Take nothing for granted, John (especially since not everything may be as it seems on American Idol.)

But it still makes for some entertaining TV that people talk about and a pretty interesting Top Ten Challenge.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

04/15/09: Back to the drawing board. No changes this week and next week we will have two people finishing in 6.5th place (unless there is a clear 7th place and a clear 6th place finish -- which I doubt.).

Stay of execution and stay tuned.....

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

Let's see if the Judges' Save survives for next year's AI9 first. I think it's probably going to be dropped since it hasn't really added anything to the show.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

No real surprises tonight although one of the two contestants voted off was a high pick on many member lists.

SuzanneB continues to lead with an impressive score of 15.0. She's also the only entrant with all five "finalists" still alive on her list.

Larry*P is currently in fifth place but since positions 2, 3 and 4 are held by members ineligible for prizes, he's in virtual second place with 19.5 points. And it's closer than one might think because SuzanneB has to lose at least 6 points with Allison and Matt while Larry*P has to lose only at least 1 point with Matt.

It all comes down to the actual placement of the final five as the contest winds down. A few other members have an outside chance as well if the votes fall into place perfectly. The winner is still up in the air at this point so stay tuned....

Check it all out in the first message in this thread.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

No big surprises (unless Adam being in the "bottom 3" qualifies in a five person race) here but an interesting contest down to the finish. SuzanneB continues to lead with a score of 18.0 but Larry*P is a very close second at 20.5 (NYSandy at 19.0 is ineligible for the prize package). And it's actually closer than that because Larry*P will pick up a 2 points advantage over SuzanneB because of where they both picked Allison to finish.

As with each season, it's all going to come down to the final positions of your remaining selections. If you still have open spaces below position #4 you must add to your point total. I'll leave it to each of you to figure out your "best" total to see if you can catch SuzanneB and Larry*P. Remember to consider those on the list who are ineligible for prizes (indicated in Brown). With three weeks to go it's too early to declare a winner....

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

Aaron,

Are we sure that Adam was in the bottom two? I know that he was announced as being in the "bottom 3" but when they sent Kris back to the "winners'" side did Ryan actually state that Matt and Adam were the "bottom two?" I can't check this because I've erased the event from my DVR.

If not, then the producers were taking advantage of the fact that Adam was in the bottom three for dramatic effect. American Idol is filled with misdirection such as this to imply that things are not what they are. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Adam was third this past week. Allison is going to inherit all the votes of those who want a female to win, and Danny probably has his church group (or whatever) contingent actively promoting him. While it certainly looks like Adam is poised to become the next AI, I'm not surprised at all with his position this week. In fact I have him as third on my list.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

A friend has told me that he doesn't remember any mention of a "bottom two" regarding Adam and Matt during the results show. To me it's typical American Idol creative programming to keep the drama going. Adam as the 3rd highest vote getter this week doesn't shock me at all.

On another matter, we have finally settled on the DVD PRIZE PACKAGE for the eventual eligible winner as follows:

First up is the Ron Howard Spotlight Collection on DVD. This 8 disc set features four of his films (Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man) as well as a ton of extras. Here's a description of the set from Amazon.com:

In addition we are going to include two Blu-ray titles: Tommy Boy and Old School. Once again I think that Adam G. (moderator) has come up with an eclectic selection of titles for our winner.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

NYSandy takes over the lead at 20.0 points but it's only temporary since she has Kris hanging out there at the #9 position and must add at least 6 points to her total, among other things. Besides, she is ineligible for the DVD prize package so the real race is between SuzanneB at 21.0 points and Larry*P at 21.5 points. It all hinges on next week's action and, apparently, where Kris finishes. Unless I've miscalculated, all other eligible entrants can't catch Suzanne and Larry.

Stay tuned....

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

NYSandy (my significant other) is not eligible for prizes. Besides, her pick of Kris for ninth eliminates her because she has at least 6 "uncounted" points to add to her total.

Therefore it appears to be between SuzanneB and Larry*P at this point.

Good luck to all concerned.

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

The race comes down to the wire! NYSandy continues to lead with 21.0 points but that's misleading because her score will go up dramatically wherever Kris finishes so she's out of contention. The real race is between SuzanneB at 22.0 points and Larry*P at 22.5 points.

Simply put, if Adam wins then SuzanneB will win the pool with 23.0 points to Larry*P's 24.5 and if Kris wins then Larry*P will win the pool with 23.5 points to SuzanneB's 25.0 points. In any event, Phil Taylor will finish in third place.

Ironically, Danny's exit tonight actually prolonged our pool. Had Kris exited tonight then SuzanneB would have secured the victory and if Adam had left in third place then Larry*P would have wrapped things up. As it now stands we have to wait until next week's finals to see who takes home the DVD prize package.

Good luck to all!

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

Great line, Phil!

re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

While I would think that Suzanne has to be the favorite after last night's performances I have to say that I'm rooting for Kris to pull the upset (nothing against Suzanne of course.) We all thought that David Archuletta was going to romp over David Cook last year and look what happened there, so it's still up in the air.

Good luck to both of you.

And, in anticipation of the winner and sending out the DVD prize package, would both you and Suzanne (if she's reading this) please send me an e-mail with your mailing address so that I can get the ball rolling as soon as the winner is announced? The best e-mail to reach me at is

rfowkes@rfowkes.com

Thank you both.

Re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

It's official! Larry*P overtook SuzanneB in the final strides of the contest to win the DVD Prize Package. I've already received his mailing information and have made arrangements for Moderator Adam G. to send out the discs at his earliest convenience. Full details and final stats are in the first message in this thread.

This was another exciting contest and shows how competitive our contest format is. As a case in point, Larry was able to win it all even though his top choice, Alexis, didn't even make it into the top ten! After Week #2 of the competition he must have thought that he was dead in the water. All the old sayings apply here. "It ain't over 'til it's over" and "It's not how you drive but how you arrive" immediately come to mind (among others).

Congratulations to all who participated in this year's contest. We will be back again next January for American Idol #9. In the meanwhile we are looking into the possibility of offering a similar format contest for the Upcoming Big Brother 11 as soon as I can iron out all the details. It supposedly starts in July, 2009 and will offer a similar format to the American Idol HTF Top Ten Challenges. As mentioned earlier in these threads, shows like American Idol and Big Brother occur in "real time" whereas shows like The Amazing Race and Survivor are filmed well in advance of their air dates (except for the Survivor Final Show). Because of this and the fact that insider information is often leaked they are not good candidates for our Top Ten Challenges.

See you either next year for American Idol #08 or for Big Brother #11 in July (with entries probably opening in late June, 2009). Watch the forum for any pertinent announcements in this regard.

Take care.

Re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

Neither did I in Position #5 Patrick. The lack of Kris in our top tens actually worked in our favor since there was no point penalty when he won. And that's one of the things that makes this format so interesting as a contest concept. Of course we took a scoring hit for naming someone in place of Kris who never made the top ten. It's not just about picking the top ten, but the positions of your picks. Larry's win was even more impressive because his top pick, Alexis, was voted out in 11th place!

And congratulations for winning the top "non-prize" for the ineligible contestants squeaking by me by a single point!

Re: The 2009 American Idol (#8) HTF TOP 10 CHALLENGE: Congratulations winner Larry*P !!

I really thought that you were a shoo-in to win as the contest progressed, Suzanne. Your picks were spot on and it really looked like you had backed the probable winner Adam. Larry's performance was significant because after his top choice Alexis was voted off in position number 11 I'm sure he, as most people, didn't think that he stood any chance at all to win the prize. But that's what I love about the format of our modest little contest. You are never really out of it if you falter in the early rounds. The only real way to assure a win would be to pick the top ten in the correct sequence and that's a LOT harder to do than some people might think at first glance. And that, to me, makes for a most interesting contest and why I love the format. It's always things with a simple concept but also lots of possibilities that make for great entertainment be it contests, puzzles, games or movies. Easy to learn and hard to master.

Thanks for your participation. We'll be back next season and I'm currently looking into Big Brother #11 as a possible summer "event" here at the HTF. I just have to check the schedule (it starts in early July) and the format of the show this year (number of house guests and other particulars) before committing to an HTF contest. We've done it in the past and I think that there's a good chance that we can do this again. As mentioned elsewhere, we need to concentrate on events that are based on "real time" shows and not on TV "reality" shows that are concluded several months before they air - for obvious reasons.

Take care!