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Ava Zinn Auditions for American Idol

Even before season 11 of American Idol's premiere, Ava Zinn, the site's creator, auditioned as a contestant on American Idol, and went undercover as a journalist reportedly exposing the previous American Idol season's gender voting bias and eventually would end the trend that Idol pundits call the "white guy with guitar" or "WGWG" factor. During American Idol 11, VFTG picked Hallie Day and Erika Van Pelt in the semi-finals because they also auditioned at the same Pittsburgh audition venues as Zinn.

Zinn's American Idol audition eventually lead to the web site to see a significant ratings boost this season. The web site surged past competing web site Vote for the Worst in several key weeks, with four female contestants and only two male contestants in the American Idol 11 Top 6 for the first time in web site's history. The web site eventually would long leave its ratings-challenged past behind, and is the web site would have more victories in the years to come as well as becoming one of the strongest entertainment web sites in the nation.

YouTube Ratings Windfall

The web site's moderators Ava Zinn and Holly Everman first gained a major windfall during the this season--more particularly American Idol and were consistently two of the web site's strongest moderators due to not only Zinn's audition in Pittsburgh, but also Indianapolis resident Alisha Bernhardt who auditioned in St. Louis.

While the national Nielsen ratings for the Pittsburgh auditions were 10.3 with a 16% share of overall households tuning in and the St. Louis auditions were 10.2 with a 16% share, Zinn registered a 21.7 rating and a 31% share in Fort Wayne while Everman registered a 19.6 rating a 28% share in the Indianapolis market. Zinn and Everman's numbers are roughly 20% higher than the national average. Part of the success is due to Indiana's status as a reality-based show contestant hotbed following Zinn's American Idol auditon in Pittsburgh and Bernhardt's audition in St. Louis, and the the web site's support eventually became among the highest-rated YouTube views in Indiana and Pennsylvania during the competition.

Noteworthy deaths

Robyn Hurd

In April 2012, Robyn Hurd became ill, leaving both Zinn and Everman to co-host the season until her planned return as viewers began noticing that Hurd's voice sounded uncharacteristically gravelly and unhealthy during the episodes. On May 3, 2012, Robyn co-hosted VFTG for the last time; her poor health also prevented her from covering Jessica Sanchez's save from elimination on April 12, 2012.

A month later on May 9, 2012, Hurd announced that she had been in treatment for blood clots and, as before, guest moderators – mostly consisting of news personalities from ATE Media and NoSirGifts-owned stations - WTOR main anchorwoman Alexandra Moffitt and WMRI midday anchorman Pete Ward filled in for her. Hurd died of a stroke on May 24, 2012, at her apartment in Fort Wayne, at age 51.

Between Hurd's death and the start of the web site's fifth season, guest moderators alternated co-hosting the site with Zinn, Everman, and Hurd's widow, Hillary Matthewson. During the summer of 2012, Hillary Matthewson mostly co-hosted the site with guest moderators filling in for both Zinn and Everman. At the time, it was unknown what Aeverine Zinn Holdings planned to do as the television reception issues plagued in May and June 2012, which appeared not to be favorable, and when Ava Zinn added AT&T AT&T U-Verse high speed internet (to effectively replace Bright House Networks as Zinn's television provider) in July 2012.

Hurd's role on the moderator panel passed to her widow, Hillary Matthewson. Hurd's daughter (Maribel) and half-sister (Kellie Rock) are also involved in the site. Kellie Rock would later join the moderator panel in January 2014 for the fifth season before her own death in April 2016. Hurd's daughter would join the moderator panel in January 2017.