Vote for the Girls (American season 5)
| Vote for the Girls (U.S.) | |
|---|---|
| Season 5 | |
| Broadcast from | October 1, 2013 – April 18, 2014 |
| Moderators | Holly Everman Ariel Swaringen Michelle Steele Kathi Jameson Kellie Rock |
| Host(s) | Ava Zinn |
| Record | 4-0 (initially 2-2) |
| Winning Moderator(s): | |
| Ava Zinn (The Voice 5 & 6 and American Idol 13) Holly Everman (The X Factor) Ariel Swaringen Kathi Jameson | |
| VFTG Victory(ies) | |
| Tessanne Chin (The Voice 5) Alex & Sierra (The X Factor) | |
| VFTG Moderator Save(s) | |
| Christina Grimmie (The Voice 6) Jena Asciutto (American Idol 13) | |
| Chronology | |
| ◀ 2014 ► | |
The fifth season of Vote for the Girls, also known as Vote for the Girls 2014 premiered on October 1, 2013, and called on April 18, 2014. Ava Zinn and Holly Everman returned for their fifth season as did Michelle Steele for what would be her second and final season. Three new moderators, Ariel Swaringen, Kellie Rock, and Kathi Jameson, signed on to replace Hillary Matthewson who left after one season.
The season was the first (and thus far only) season to have six moderators. It was also the first season to have a Fall and Spring Cycles with the Fall cycle starting with the third and final season of the U.S. X Factor and the Spring cycle starting with the thirteenth season of American Idol. It was also the first season in the site's history where the fall cycle went undefeated with the victories of Alex & Sierra and Tessanne Chin, therefore making it the first to have a "perfect calendar year" (2013). It was also the first season in the site's history that a season was called before the competition ended, as well as the spring cycle with an imperfect (or winless) season that was later reversed during the following season. It is also the first season in which a male-female duo was chosen as a Vote for the Girls pick (Alex & Sierra) and later won.
On April 18, 2014 following the American Idol 13 Top 7 results, Ava Zinn called off the competition due to the level of conflict with the American public deciding not to support VFTG picks of Christina Grimmie, Tess Boyer, Bria Kelly, Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin on The Voice as well as MK Nobilette, Majesty Rose, Malaya Watson, Jessica Meuse, and Jena Irene (Asciutto) on American Idol[1], and keeping said female contestants out of the bottom group, with viewers managed to upset the site.
This was the only season to feature Swaringen as moderator, who on March 22, 2014 died of natural causes. Steele resigned on March 6, 2014 and later died on May 10, 2014 in a car accident.
Contents
Changes from previous seasons[edit]
Season 5 Hosts and Moderator Panel
After a sharp spike in ratings during the fourth season, Ava Zinn announced that the show would undergo "some creative tweaking" for the following season. After one seasons filling the remainder of her widow's contract, Hillary Matthewson announced her exit from the site on January 15, 2013 at the conclusion of the season. On June 4, Ariel Swaringen was announced as a moderator for the fifth season while Swaringen's mother, Patrice Rafferty, was at the Indiana State Fair with returning moderators Ava Zinn, Holly Everman, Michelle Steele, and new hires Kathi Jameson and Kellie Rock were confirmed to be serving on the panel.
This was the final season of the five-year deal signed by Zinn in 2010, before it was announced by Zinn on November 15, 2013 that the site has been renewed for three more years, keeping the site's YouTube channel online until 2017.
Notable events[edit]
- Alex Kinsey becomes first male supported by VFTG
Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton of Alex & Sierra, a pop duo competing on the third and final season of The X Factor was chosen as a supported contestant. [2] Kinsey became the first male contestant to be supported in the web site's history and the first time in site history that a male-female music duo had been picked[3], and the duo won that season and therefore made Holly Everman the winning moderator.
The duo, Everman and the web site were publicly congratulated upon Alex & Sierra's win by a Miami host who called the selection "an important step forward today in our Nation’s journey."[4]
- Male Moderator crew added
On December 3, 2013, a new male moderator crew on Vote for the Girls was added as new element offering a buyout to the female moderator(s) to quit the respective competition before the program's results are revealed. The male moderator - later identified as Leonard Lai--, whose appearance and voice were not shown, will phone down to Zinn's phone on the podium. The Male Moderator and Zinn will converse (the Male Moderator's voice is never heard) and Zinn will then inform the moderators of the Male Moderatror's "offer", the amount of which depends on the number of female contestants remaining in the competition, in exchange for not to continue with the competition. The Male Moderator offers have since been posted on the site's Male Moderator Twitter page and also revealed at the end of the competition with the site's Vote for the Worst picks.
Opponents tweeted a negative reaction to the decision to allow Alex & Sierra as a supported contestant, which caused the web site to add a male moderator to by December 2013.[5]
- Vote for the Worst (Ava Zinn version)
A year after Dave Della Terza announced that he would close the Vote for the Worst site, Ava Zinn announced in May 2013 on AvaZinn.com she was acquiring VFTW. But in February 2014, when the site's domain name was nearing expiration, the previous webmaster renewed the site for another year. This was the first season without Vote for the Worst.
Since the Ava Zinn version of Vote for the Worst began at the start of the 13th season of American Idol, Vote for the Worst picks are only male contestants, which are never revealed until the end of the competition. This differs from the Della Terza version, which encouraged fans of Della Terza version site to vote for the worst, most entertaining, most hated or quirkiest contestants from 2004 to 2013.
- Vote for the Girls Brawl
An April 2014 episode of the thirteenth season of American Idol on the Vote for the Girls set was disrupted with three minutes to go as a major altercation broke out between moderators and fans. This resulted in record-breaking suspensions, most notable of which was Holly Everman who received the longest suspension in the web site's history (two weeks after her first DUI arrest plus the fall cycle of the following season after her second DUI arrest). Aeverine Zinn Holdings also overhauled its venues-wide security policy.
- Ava Zinn auctions off virginity
During the sixth season of The Voice, Ava Zinn criticized Indianapolis NBC affiliate WTHR, which the station was supporting eventual Vote for the Worst pick Josh Kaufman, an Indianapolis resident, and begs those to support the website's pick of Christina Grimmie instead. During the competition Zinn and WTHR anchorman Scott Swan then get into a heated Twitter-war and intercepts Kaufman's tweets and attempts to change their minds in supporting Vote for the Girls pick Christina Grimmie to the web site's fourth consecutive Voice victory to no avail.
During The Voice and 'American Idol competition, Zinn learns from a news report from WTHR,[6] that Kaufman was a white guy with guitar from Indiana competing on The Voice and all the male contestants on Idol were also white guys with guitars. Seeing this as a threat to Vote for the Girls, Zinn discusses this issue with the moderators and tries, to convince undecided voters to stop voting for the male contestants, as site chose M.K. Nobilette as well as Jessica Meuse and Jena Asciutto[1] to the web site's second consecutive Idol' victory, but also to no avail.
The male contestants on both competitions were mostly "white guys with guitars." The competitions became increasingly heated and the American public reacts defensively, refusing to accept the truth about WGWG's, and blaming others for no reason. Zinn concludes, "I think the competition's too far gone". After the eliminations of MK Nobilette, Majesty York, Malaya Watson, and a day after Jessica Meuse landed in the bottom two the week following Watson's elimination, on April 18, 2014, Ava Zinn announced via a YouTube video that she would sell her virginity to the highest bidder as a Vote for the Girls punishment for failure. In the same video, Zinn laments the competition that lopsided with WGWG's are not normal for this kind of competition and announces that she would be auctioning off her virginity, and it is implied that she called off the competition for that reason.
In a concluding monologue, Zinn states that this is the first time she has ever watched a competition she could not pick a winner out of the remaining female contestants. Before calling off the competition she cites the fact that the American Idol season 13 competition has been lopsided with white guys with guitars (which are never supported on any competitions that Vote for the Girls follows), states that the American public and Zinn's home state of Indiana have upset the web site and are incapable of accepting the truth about white guys with guitars, and saw one of the most extreme punishments for failing to obtain a perfect season that eventually saw the moderators forced to participate in three make-up competitions at the start of the following season.
Rule changes[edit]
Male Moderator offer[edit]
One change to the site is the introduction of the first new element of Vote for the Girls the Male Moderator offer, which was introduced on December 3, 2013, offering a buyout to the moderator(s) to quit the respective competition before the program's results are revealed. A male moderator, whose appearance and voice are not shown, will phone down to Zinn's phone on the podium. The Male Moderator and Zinn will converse (the Male Moderator's voice is never heard) and Zinn will then inform the moderators of the Male Moderatror's "offer", the amount of which depends on the number of female contestants remaining in the competition, in exchange for not to continue with the competition.
Depending on the number of female contestants in the competition, the amount associated with each contestant by process of elimination. Throughout the competition, after a contestant's elimination, the male moderator offers the moderator(s) an amount of money and/or prizes to quit the competition, the offer based roughly on the amounts and female contestants remaining in play and the demeanor of the moderator panel, the male moderator tries to 'buy' the VFTG pick(s) for a lower price than the amount of the eventual winner of the competition. Cash (or the moderator's salary) is offered prior to the Semi-finals of the respective competitions to be split evenly among the moderators that accepted the offer. In the Semi Finals and Finale, each individual moderator could choose to take a buyout consisting of cash and various prizes (a trip, Mini Cooper, or home makeover in the semi-finale) and a bigger prize (usually a luxury trip or a car in the finale) cash.
Each VFTG moderator then answers the question, choosing:
- "Deal", accepting the offer presented and ending the competition, or
- "No Deal", rejecting the offer and continuing the competition.
This process continues, until either all VFTG moderators accepts an offer to 'deal', or all offers have been rejected and the values of all contestants revealed. Should a VFTG moderator end the game by taking a deal, a pseudo-game is continued from that point to see how much the VFTG moderator could have won in the competition. Depending on subsequent eliminations and offers, it is determined whether or not the VFTG moderator made a "good deal", i.e. won more than if the competition were allowed to continue.
Since the range of possible values is known at the start of each game, how much the male moderator offers at any given point changes based on what contestants have been eliminated. To promote suspense and lengthen the episode, the male moderator's offer is usually less than the expected value dictated by probability theory, particularly early in the competition. Generally, the offers early in the competition are very low relative to the values still in play, but near the end of the competition approach (or even exceed) the average of the remaining values.
If one or more moderators chose to take the buyout, the value is deducted from the Moderator's jackpot. If at least one moderator chose to continue with the competition, the competition continued. If one or more female contestants advanced, the cash award is added to the Moderator's jackpot.
Payout[edit]
In the Male Moderator's offer (similar to Deal or No Deal), the values hidden in the 48 contestants typically range from $0.01 to the Moderator's jackpot (an example is a jackpot of $10,000,000):
| $.01 | $10 | $25 | $35 | $50 | $100 | $200 | $250 | $350 | $500 | $750 | $1,000 |
| $2,000 | $2,500 | $3,000 | $3,500 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 | $25,000 | $30,000 | $35,000 |
| $50,000 | $75,000 | $100,000 | $150,000 | $200,000 | $250,000 | $300,000 | $350,000 | $500,000 | $750,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,500,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $2,500,000 | $3,000,000 | $3,500,000 | $4,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $6,000,000 | $7,000,000 | $7,500,000 | $8,000,000 | $9,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
Vote for the Girls Hall of Fame[edit]
A second new element to Vote for the Girls was the Vote for the Girls Hall of Fame introduced at the beginning of the season. The Vote for the Girls Hall of Fame with photos of Zinn and past victories of Melanie Amaro (The X Factor season 1), Cassadee Pope (The Voice season 3), Candice Glover (American Idol season 12), and Danielle Bradbery (The Voice season 4). Tessanne Chin and Alex & Sierra, as well as non-finale participant Angie Miller to be in the Vote for the Girls Hall of Fame alongside the five.
The site's Hall of Fame is featured on the site's Twitter page and on the web site's app.
Moderator Showdown[edit]
A third new element to Vote for the Girls was the Moderator showdown that debuted on February 18, 2014. The top four VFTG Moderators play in the order of the value of her winnings thus far, with the VFTG moderator who has won the most spinning last. In the rare event two, three or all four moderators are tied in winnings, a coin toss, random drawing, or other metrics used by Zinn determines which moderator spins first.
The wheel contains 24 sections showing values from 5–100[7], in increments of five, plus a jackpot wedge. Two Male "Stopper" wedges and one Female "WILD CARD" wedge are present. The VFTG moderators are allowed a maximum of three spins. The first player spins the wheel and may choose to stop with her score or spin again, adding the value of the second and/or third spin to their first. The second, third, and/or fourth individual then spin the wheel and try to match or beat the leader's score; if they fail to do so, they must spin again. If their total score is either less than that of the leader, lands on the male wedge twice, or over $100, the VFTG moderator is eliminated from the showdown. The moderator whose score is nearest to $100 without going over wins a spot in the Moderator Showcase. If the first two (or three) players go over $100, the last player automatically wins a spot on Moderator Showcase, but they are given one spin to see if they can hit $100 and/or the Female Wedge, of which acts as a wild card (and getting the 100 score by default).
Any player whose score equals $100 (from either one spin or a combination of three spins or less and/or stops on the Female space) receives a $100 bonus and a bonus spin. In the bonus spin, the wheel is positioned on $5 and the player takes their spin. If the wheel stops on $5 or $15 (which are adjacent to the $100 space and painted blue), the player receives a bonus of $1,000. If the wheel stops on $100, the individual wins an additional $2,500. If the wheel stops on the Female WILD CARD, the individual wins $5,000. If the wheel stops at the jackpot wedge, the player receives $10,000 and plays for the jackpot in the Bonus Round. If the wheel stops on another space or fails to make two complete revolutions, the player wins no additional money and does not get to spin again.
Two or more players who are tied with the leading score compete in a spin-off. Each player gets one additional spin and the higher scorer gets the Moderator Showcase spot. Multiple spin-offs are played until the tie is broken. Those who hit $100 in their spin-off spin still get $100 and a bonus spin. If two or more players tie with a score of $100, their bonus spins also determine their spin-off score. Only the spin-off score, not any bonus money won, determines which contestant wins the Moderator Showcase spot. A tie in a bonus spin spin-off means the ensuing second spin-off will be spun with no bonuses available.
Each spin must make two complete revolutions in order to qualify. A player whose spin does not make two complete revolutions is traditionally booed by the audience, and is required to spin again, except during a bonus spin, when the player's turn ends. However, if the bonus spin was also part of a spin-off, the contestant is required to spin again but does not have an opportunity to win any bonus money, similar to a tie-breaking spin after a bonus spin.
Moderator Showcase[edit]
The winner of the Fall Moderator Showdown (after the fall cycle should a female win and a VFTG Victory) won $1,000, and plays seven words of six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, or twelve letters to try to set a time for the winner of the second Moderator Showdown (after the spring cycle) between four other moderators (very similar to Scrabble Sprint). That player would try to beat the time set by the first player, and if she did so, they would win $2,500, and advance to the next round.
Seven words were played and the clock would start counting up when Zinn says "go" and each word started with two letters for the moderator to choose from each time a letter was called up until the last possible letter was put in the word, when only one letter would be displayed. In order to guess the word the player had to hit a plunger to stop the clock. If the contestant either guessed incorrectly or failed to come up with an immediate answer at any time, 10 seconds were added to the time as a penalty. If all the letters but the last one were revealed, a player had 5 seconds to hit the plunger and give a guess; guessing incorrectly or failing to guess resulted in the contestant being forced to play a make-up word.
After the Fall Moderator Showdown winner played their set of words, the Spring Moderator Showdown winner played hers with the clock counting down.
For fairness, both players began playing the same set of words. A wrong answer or no answer now resulted in 10 seconds being deducted from the remaining time instead of being added to it. If the Spring Moderator Showdown winner managed to complete their set of words within the set time, she won $5,000 and would move on to the Jackpot Round. Otherwise, the Fall Moderator Showdown winner won and the Spring Moderator Showdown winner left with whatever she had earned to that point.
The first Moderator Showcase was scheduled to air in May 2014 after Michelle Steele won the first Fall Moderator Showdown to compete with the first Spring Moderator Showdown, but due to Zinn calling off the season and Steele's death, this was delayed until the following season.
Moderator Standings[edit]
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT = Winning Percentage
| Moderator Panel | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PINK | PINK PCT | OVERALL | OVERALL PCT | STK | |
| Kellie Rock | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 1-0-0 | 1.000 | 4-6-2 | .333 | W2 |
| Ariel Swaringen | 3 | 4 | 1 | .375 | 1-0-1 | .500 | 5-4-1 | .500 | L2 |
| Holly Everman | 1 | 9 | 1 | .091 | 0-3-1 | .000 | 10-14-4 | .357 | L2 |
| Moderator Panel | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PURPLE | PURPLE PCT | OVERALL | OVERALL PCT | STK | |
| Kathi Jameson | 2 | 4 | 1 | .286 | 2-0-1 | .667 | 2-4-1 | .286 | L2 |
| Ava Zinn | 2 | 5 | 1 | .250 | 2-1-1 | .500 | 14-13-2 | .483 | L3 |
| Michelle Steele | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0-3 | .000 | 1-11 | .083 | L6 |
| Male Moderator | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | RED | RED PCT | OVERALL | OVERALL PCT | STK | |
| Leonard Lai | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | 0-0-0 | .000 | 4-5 | .444 | W3 |
Contestants[edit]
Epilogue[edit]
![[icon]](/w/index.php?title=File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
 |
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. |
Controversy[edit]
|
|
This section requires expansion. |
|
|
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zinn, Ava; Ava Zinn. American Idol 13 Top 13 Revealed, All Males WGWG's. Vote for the Girls. Aeverine Zinn Holdings. Retrieved on 21 February 2014.
- ↑ Zinn, Ava; Ava Zinn. Vote for the Girls Makes Historic pick. Vote for the Girls. Aeverine Zinn Holdings. Retrieved on 11 October 2013.
- ↑ Swaringen, Ariel; Ava Zinn. The X Factor 3 Final 16 Are Set. Vote for the Girls. Aeverine Zinn Holdings. Retrieved on 11 October 2013.
- ↑ ??
- ↑ Bolling, Heather (October 12, 2013). "'Vote for the Girls' adds a male pick, male moderator after tweets about Alex & Sierra". 7 News (WNDI-FTV, NBC).
- ↑ "Ava's Virginity Auction". Vote for the Girls. AvaZinn.com. July 11, 2014. No. 1, season 6.
- ↑ The sequence of the money values on the wheel is 5, 100, 15, STOPPER, 80, 35, WILD, 60, 20, 40, 75, 55, STOPPER, 95, 50, 85, 30, 65, 10, JACKPOT, 45, 70, 25, 90.
- Notes
- Male VFTG Picks
External links[edit]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
