Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition

This article is about the original US series. For the upcoming UK adaptation, see Junior Vote for the Girls.

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition
Also known as	Patrice Rafferty's Young Talents (1990)
Genre	Reality
Created by	Ava Zinn Patrice Rafferty
Presented by	Robyn Hurd (1990-91) Julia Passalt (2015-16) Kymberly Alvaraz (2016–17)
Judges	see article
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Broadcast
Original channel	Original series: WFAZ (NBC) Revival series: NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations
Picture format	4:3 (1990-91) 16:9 (2016–)
Original airing	Original series: December 28, 1990 (1990-12-28) – March 30, 1991 (1991-03-30) Revival series: May 30, 2016 (2016-05-30)– present
Chronology
Related shows	Vote for the Girls USA

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition is an American internet franchise in which eight- to fourteen-year-olds are supported contestants. It is a spin-off from the main American Vote for the Girls franchise.

Background

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition (as Patrice Rafferty's Young Talents) first ran from December 28, 1990 to March 30, 1991, hosted by Robyn Hurd, who was anchor/reporter at then-Fort Wayne NBC affiliate WFAZ (now ABC owned-and-operated WMRI). After a 25 year hiatus, NoSirGifts brought a children's version of Vote for the Girls in 2016 in a different format from Rafferty's version, hosted by former Denver and Minneapolis anchorwoman Julia Passalt, who also was a moderator on Vote for the Girls USA and currently hosts Vote for the Girls UK.

Format

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition is part of the Vote for the Girls franchise and features four stages of competition. Children between the ages of 8 and 14 become a supported contestants on children's versions of The Voice and So You Think You Can Dance. Like the original adult American adult the format features four stages of competition.

Auditions

The first phase is the auditions, in which the moderator panel–all noteworthy entertainment news presenters or correspondents with some background of the music industry, watch and listen to the contestants in seats. If a female moderator likes what they see and hear from the female contestant, they press a button as quickly as possible to to signify that they are interested in supporting that contestant. If more than one moderator presses their button, the VFTG moderator who pressed her button first or the contestant's origin determines the moderator's supported contestant. The auditions end when each moderator has a set number of female contestants known as Vote for the Girls picks to promote votes for the particular contestant.

Like the adult version, there are flex picks where a VFTG Moderator can take a male soloist or a predominately male group from the opposing male moderator or villain by pressing a golden button. Each moderator has a set number of flex picks (usually between one and four).

As with the main version, the moderator panel are split into two teams between moderators against two other teams in a battle of the sexes manner (Most often this is based on gender and gender identity, with women on the pink team, trans women on the purple, trans men on the red and men on the blue). The women, or the VFTG Moderators, on the pink and purple teams compete to get a Vote for the Girls Victory by getting more votes from the public for the female contestants (including flex picks) and eliminating all the male contestants before the females to get an all-female final and/or in some versions eliminate the Vote for the Worst picks (flex-picks not chosen by the female moderators) against the men, or the villains of the VFTG Moderator panel, on the red and blue teams get votes for the male contestants and eliminate the female contestants.

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition follows the same format as the adult version with several notable differences:

• Flex picks cannot be used.
• Due to the VFTG villains' rights to America's Got Talent and the moderators' rights to Dancing with the Stars, the bottom two moderators on the pink and purple teams (based on the moderators' performance on the adult version) will compete against the villains on The Voice Kids and So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. An example will be in the first season as Teams Kathi & Karly and Team Rachael Passalt on the purple team and Team Holly & Perri and Team Thia on the pink team based due to finishing fourth and fifth place in their respective divisions.

Live Shows

In this final performance phase of the competition, the VFTG Picks compete against each other during a live broadcast. Fans of Vote for the Girls are expected The television audience vote to save as many female contestants as possible, regardless of the television audience's decision on who they want to save and who will not move on.

Like the adult version in all competitions, fans of the site are expected to vote only for female contestants (including male-female duos, predominately and all girl groups, and on occasion a supported male contestant) en masse with the Vote for the Girls moderators and to expectations to vote off the male contestants and advance in the competition, and will boycott male contestants. The host's goal is to get an all-female final in every competition, but exceptional performances by the male contestants or VFTG villain's pick(s) will cause the host to end the competition early.

Zinn demands that all non-supported contestants at the earliest possible without regard to criticism and/or public backlash (meaning that fans of the site must vote for all female contestants each week), introducing the possibility of an all-female finale or all-female final two (and guaranteeing a victory).

If the last female contestant is eliminated by the public's vote and not advance in the competition, the female moderators are out of the competition with a Vote for the Girls loss and the moderators face punishment for failure. Unlike the adult version, the children of the moderator panel (if she has any children) are seen usually doing very tedious tasks or more humiliating usually cleaning the VFTG set and paying up on friendly wagers, etc.), as well as the VFTG moderators forced to support the female contestants in a make-up competition (usually So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, and/or Got Talent) in addition to the female moderators facing the aforementioned punishment(s).

Otherwise, the site claims a "victory" if all the non-supported contestants are eliminated before the singing competition's finale and/or the female contestant is declared the winner with a winning moderator and the Vote for the Girls moderators get a reward for success, typically rewarded with a recreational activity away from the VFTG set and other potential prizes. If there are no males remaining in the competition and/or one moderator with a has a male flex pick and her VFTG pick or all male contestants are eliminated, the site will declare a "double victory" and the winning moderator is then decided in the competition's final.

In most versions, all moderators' supported contestants compete each week and usually only the public's vote determines which VFTG Picks or Flex Picks advance in the competition. This means that any female contestant can be eliminated and no moderator is guaranteed a spot in the finals.

Production

Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition is be broadcasted by NoSirGifts owned stations and on Kymberly Alvaraz's YouTube channel on the rarity should an uncensored version be available. The program is produced by NoSirGifts. NoSirGifts ordered the show on March 1, 2015

There were concerns that Ava Zinn's style of cursing of the supported contestants on her other shows (most notably the adult Vote for the Girls and Santa Ava) would carry over to Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition. During the eighth season premiere of the adult version, it did not. Karly Jameson said that Zinn had only cursed seven times during the production of the episode and never at anyone younger than 18. In the final editing of the pilot, Zinn cursed three times off stage and once in front of (but not at) the supported contestants.

On June 13, 2016, production of the second season was delayed due to the Assassination of Christina Grimmie three days earlier.

Differences with Vote for the Girls

On the March 24, 2016 episode of Vote for the Girls, Ava Zinn revealed to the moderator panelists that certain elements on Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition will not be allowed: screaming matches among the moderation panel and audience members and as previously mentioned, using profanity. Zinn also noted she will not be chainsmoking nor use profanity.

However, Zinn's catchphrase of "Shush it!" and closing line will be carried over to Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition.

Another difference will be most episodes will either have a TV-G or TV-PG rating on Vote for the Girls: Junior Edition instead of the typical TV-14 rating on Vote for the Girls. Zinn has said in an interview in 2015, "When Vote for the Girls premiered, I only allowed Sammi would be able to view the program while my three other daughters (Ashli, Tiffani, and Tabitha) were not allowed to view the program until June 7, 2012; November 11, 2013; and March 27, 2017–respectively the day they turn 14 years of age. As far as the uncensored (TV-MA) version, Sammi, Ashli, Tiffani, and Tabith are not allowed to view the program until August 15, 2010; June 7, 2015; November 11, 2016; and March 27, 2020–the day they are 17."

Unlike the main version, in which all the main web site's female moderators compete to be the winning moderator, the losing moderators participate in either Child Genius, So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, or The Voice Kids of which like the main version, the losing pink and purple team moderators compete against each other. Some of the losing pink or purple team moderators (based on their performance on the adult version of Vote for the Girls) may not have to participate determined by Zinn or even the winning team, and they are sent to watch the challenge from the balcony along with the winning team members.

See also

• Vote for the Girls