Well whaddya know, I'm well and truly on the spot now! Heh... 
Many thanks Robert and Adam for still sorting out a prize, I was expecting to organise a challenge just for the fun of it.
For ease of reference, I've cut/paste the rules (as necessarily amended due to our late start this year), see below:-
The "Rules":
When the number of contestants is whittled down to 10 entries will officially open. At that time you will be asked to submit a list of the order in which these top ten entrants will finish. Entries will close when the "Final 10" start to perform (at 8pm EDT on Wednesday March 30, 2011). Only ONE entry per member.
- List your top ten in numerical order (1-10). Please use the names as listed on the roster below (when posted).
- 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.
- Members of the HTF staff and their significant others are eligible to participate, but only for glory and not for the prize package. All other members of the HTF community in good standing may enter and compete for the prize.
Entries close at 8:00p.m. EDT on Wednesday March 30, 2011. No exceptions please.
Here are a couple of words of explanation regarding this particular contest and the rationale behind the setup.
- American Idol, as many of these reality shows, is known for its unpredictability so it is quite possible that an ousted "survivor" might return. This is quite possible, with the Judge's Save rule being in force, and having been used previously. One season, 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
).
There are probably other things that we 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. Contestant
02. Contestant
03. Contestant
04. Contestant
05. Contestant
06. Contestant
07. Contestant
08. Contestant
09. Contestant
10. Contestant
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Some specific caveats this year because I'm organising and not RAF as in years past:-
1. As is obvious from my "location", I don't live in the US; my timezone is 13 hrs ahead of EST, and AI is broadcast "the next day" at prime time here, in effect during the morning after each show has already been aired in the US. So as not to spoil my enjoyment of the show (such as it is), I trust you will not begrudge allowing me to view the shows spoiler-free in my timezone, but this means I cannot compile results until the next day after I have viewed the results show Friday night my time. Fridays being what they are, occasionally I may have a late evening out with the missus in which case I might not compile results until Saturday morning my time (Friday evening EST).
2. I am clueless with Excel. I will try and modify Robert's older spreadsheets to see if I can get them to work, but if I can't, I'll simply compile results manually and post them. It shouldn't take that much effort if we have about 20 participants, if last year's number is any guide.
3. I am not a moderator so I can't 'acknowledge' receipt of your predictions by editing your post to mark them as having been submitted (since I can't edit other members' posts). What I'll do instead is keep a list of participants in the next post, which I will edit as we go along once entries have been recorded by me, by noting that the participant's entry has already been entered.
I think that covers it, but if there's anything I'm sure we can reach a consensus as to how to deal with unforeseen issues. And if we can't, HTF moderators have the final say.
Added as at March 26, 2011 00:48 GMT+8 (a.k.a. EDT+12):-
At present we have a still Final 11 (because of the judge's save), who will all perform on March 30 and which will be reduced to 9 next week with 2 eliminations on the results show of March 31. Unless there is a strong consensus otherwise, Robert's Choice #3 below in post #16 (which matches my earlier "prediction" in post #11) applies, i.e. select your Top 10 before March 30 8pm EDT, which leaves one unpicked contestant, and when two are eliminated on March 31 (as announced by Seacrest), both will be scored at 10.5, unless it is crystal clear one was bottom (scored as 11) and the other was second-bottom (scored as 10). Entries with either 10 or 11 picks will be considered valid (I can fill in #11 by elimination) and recorded as such, but it is expected that #11 will simply be ignored if Robert's and my preference prevail.
Edited by Yee-Ming - 3/25/11 at 9:48am
