The 2008 American Idol (#7) HTF Top Ten Challenge: *** John Swarce wins! *** (1 Viewer)

List of Entrants and Their FINAL Scores
[WINNER in RED]

44.0 Bryan X
42.0 Yee-Ming
38.5 NY Sandy*
38.0 Chris Morris
27.5 AnthonyC
35.0 Patrick Sun*
33.5 RAF*
34.5 Scott-S
42.5 Hanson Yoo
40.0 phil-w*
46.0 Elizabeth S
38.5 Pitchman
31.5 Arman
32.5 Phil Taylor
22.0 John Swarce (official winner)
30.5 Jed M
43.0 Lucia Duran
29.5 Aaron Silverman
43.0 TonyD
42.0 Parker Clack*

* Ineligible for the DVD prize package (HTF moderators, significant others and phil-w decided to decline since he won the Survivor:China Top 10 Challenge)


LINK TO CURRENT EXCEL SPREADSHEET HERE
(Shows tabulation of scoring - requires MS Office or spreadsheet displayer to view)

The Fate of The Final 16 (in alphabetical order)
Amanda 11.0
Asia'h 14.5
Brooke 5.0
Carly 6.0
Chikezie 10.0
Danny 14.5
David A. 2.0
David C. *** WINNER ***
David H. 12.0
Jason 4.0
Kady 14.5
Kristy 7.0
Luke 14.5
Michael 8.0
Ramiele 9.0
Syesha 3.0

*Notes: Positions 16, 15, 14 and 13 all left together. 14.5 points (average of the 4) was used for scoring purposes.







Welcome back to our HTF Top Ten Challenge Series! American Idol starts today (1/15/08) and we are going to run another contest (with a prize to be determined!). This edition will follow the format of the Survivor: China Challenge. You can review the particulars of that challenge here.

Here are the plans: The "Field of 16" was identified on Thursday, February 28, 2008. Entries are now open and close on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 8pm EST sharp. Please start posting your unique entries.


As a courtesy to us (and so that we can start to see what type of response there is to this contest) we ask you to submit a PLACEHOLDER in this thread so we can take a rough count. There is no obligation to enter even if you submit a placeholder and submitting one doesn't mean you have first pick, etc. All the normal rules will apply.

FYI: Here are the general rules, modified from those we used for our recently concluded Survivor: China contest.
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The "Rules":

When the number of contestants is whittled down to 16 entries will officially open. At that time you will be asked to submit a list of your top ten entrants (out of a pool of 16 possibilities.) Entries will close when the "Final 16" start to perform (at 8pm EST on Tuesday March 4, 2008).

• Only ONE entry per member.
• List your top ten in numerical order (1-10). Please use the names as listed on the roster above.
• 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 Tuesday March 4, 2008. No exceptions please.

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

• Since there will be 16 entrants still eligible on American Idol when entries open and close, 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.)
• American Idol, as many of these reality shows, is known for its unpredictability so it is quite possible that an ousted "survivor" might return. Last 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 ).
• 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 contestants 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 we are down to the "final fourteen". In other words, you get to see who the contestants are and have to select ten out of 16 remaining. This also lets us see if there are some special situations that we must take into account before making our final choices.

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. Contestant
02. Contestant
03. Contestant
04. Contestant
05. Contestant
06. Contestant
07. Contestant
08. Contestant
09. Contestant
10. Contestant

And please use the names as written from the list of "Final 16" as listed below. This will help me when I set up the spreadsheet to monitor the scoring.

Final 16 (in alphabetical order)
Amanda
Asia'h
Brooke
Carly
Chikezie
Danny
David A.
David C.
David H.
Jason
Kady
Kristy
Luke
Michael
Ramiele
Syesha

Remember that you are free to start submitting your unique list anytime you want. However, realize that once submitted, it's final (unless someone else submitted the same list chronologically before you.) And it just makes sense to wait until after we reach the "Final Sixteen" show since you will know who the "final 16" are. If you jump the gun and submit a list with someone who's voted off earlier then you are stuck with that choice. It is to your advantage to wait until the final 16 are chosen.

Finally, in order to get some idea of how many people are interested in participating in this contest I am asking you to insert a "place holder" in this thread for now as a courtesy. This is for tabulation purposes only and doesn't mean that you get to choose first. It's still "first list submitted" in the case of duplicate lists.

Thank you, and let the games begin!

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That's it for now.
If interested, please add your "Placeholder" to indicate participation and check back from time to time for additional details!

Placeholder...

Thanks for organising again, Robert!

Is there any indication that this year's competition is going to be any different format-wise from past years? I.e. a Final 12, pared down from 24 that make it to full televised performances rather than edited clips?

***Entry Recorded ***

Placeholder

***Entry Recorded ***

Place holder...

Someone please remind me not to pick the hot chick or the guy with the pretty hair this time


Thanks robert

01. Kristie
02. David A.
03. Carly
04. Ramiele
05. Brooke
06. Jason
07. Michael
08. David C.
09. Syesha
10. Danny

***Entry Recorded ***

Placeholder

***Entry Recorded ***

01 Brooke
02 David A.
03 David C.
04 Carly
05 Michael
06 Ramiele
07 Jason
08 Kristie
09 Danny
10 Syesha

***Entry Recorded ***

Good question. I've only seen the usual promos for the show and haven't looked closely at the details. If the producers of AI decide to go away from a format that allows for a definitive "Top Fourteen" at some juncture in the show then we will adjust accordingly. For example, if they decide to go from 24 to 12 contestants in one fell swoop then we'll pick our top ten lists based on a field of 12 instead of 14. In previous HTF Challenges 14 has seemed to be the sweet spot for this type of contest. Enough variety to make it a bit more challenging without providing too many choices which might lead to the majority of entrants having very few contestants left when the Top Ten portion of the show rolled around. As some of you recall, last year for American Idol 6 (The Jordin Sparks Edition) we had entrants pick the order of finish after the top ten had been finalized. This actually meant that the possible scores in our format were limited to the range from 0 points (a perfect score) to 51 points (worst case scenario). 10 out of 14 works well and is a little more challenging without becoming too confusing. But if we have to go with 10 out of 12 or some other variation then we will.

Stay tuned....

Placeholder!


***Entry Recorded ***

1. David A.
2. Brooke
3. David H.
4. Syesha
5. Ramiele
6. Michael
7. Carly
8. Danny
9. David C.
10. Kristy

***Entry Recorded ***

Placeholder!

***Entry Recorded ***

Oh, what the hell...

***Entry Recorded ***

1. David A.
2. Carly
3. David H.
4. Ramiele
5. Brooke
6. Chikezie
7. Asia’h
8. Syesha
9. Michael
10. Danny

***Entry Recorded ***

Once they get to Hollywood eliminations, whittling down from 24 to 12, they eliminate 4 contestants each week, so 14 contestants isn't going to be a feasible break point before putting in gueses for the final 10 and their order of elimination. Might have to close the balloting at the final 16, and have us guess the top 12 and their order of elimination.

Thanks for the information, Patrick. If that's the case then I'd opt to list the final 16 and let people construct their top ten list from that pool of contestants. That would be a little more challenging (after all this is called a "challenge") and would probably space out the scores a bit more. I'd be REALLY impressed if someone hit, say, more than 5 or 6 perfect scores (0's) in their top ten under those conditions.

Yes, we will have some sort of media prize package once more. It all will depend on what becomes available to us as we approach the conclusion of the contest. Thanks for letting us know that you will be passing on your eligibility this time around and are just playing for the honor of top score. You didn't have to do that, but I understand your position. For those who don't realize it or who are new to these challenges - we eliminate moderators, their families and significant others from prize eligibility as a general policy. Actions like phil's are voluntary. (FYI: entrants currently not eligible at this writing include myself, Patrick Sun, phil-w and NYSandy - my significant other.)

Remember, folks - you have to be in it to win it! Entrees will open as soon as we have a Top 16 to choose from (assuming that Patrick's scenario plays out.) Otherwise it will be from the top 14. The best way to check into this is to watch the title of this thread (which is now stuck near the top of this section). I'll change the title to include the phrase ***Entries Now Open*** when this occurs. The entry window will probably be less than a week as AI is on a tight schedule.

Placeholder

***Entry Recorded ***

1. David A.
2. Ramiele
3. Carly
4. Michael
5. Asia'h
6. David H.
7. Syesha
8. Kristie
9. Danny
10. Brooke

***Entry Recorded ***

here is the place of which i am holding

Amanda
Asia'h
Brooke
Carly
Chikezie
Danny
David A.
David C.
David H.
Jason
Kady
Kristy
Luke
Michael
Ramiele
Syesha


1. archuleta
2. carly
3. brooke white
4. kristy lee cooke
5. chikezie
6. david cook
7. david hernandez
8. noriega
9. luke
10.jason


i dont like archie all that much but he seems to be the popular one.

***Entry Recorded ***

I'm in....what the heck!!!