Awards Presentation

Sure, Lee Dewyze got a million dollar recording deal.  But our champion received an incredible award as well.  Check it out!

P.S.  Amber and Brian, our last two champions, I WILL be getting you your prizes from the last two years as well.

It's All Over

Another great finale, another great champion.  I am speaking, of course, of the Puppetmaster Craig J, whose shrewd calculating and uncanny predictions helped him take home the title of AIFL Champion.  Congratulations to Craig and all those who finished strong.  We are all winners!

I hope you had fun doing our competition this year.  As long as AI is back next season, we will be as well.  Start planning your strategies now, because January will be here before you know it!

Thanks for playing . . .

Brett

Who Will Win?

Sorry everyone, even though Simon was more complimentary toward Crystal after "round one," he did not declare an official winner.  Since no one guessed that he wouldn't declare a winner, nobody gets bonus points.

Doesn't matter, though.  We are now down to the most important question of the season:  WHO WILL BE THE NEXT AMERICAN IDOL?

Pick your winner, and you will get 250 points for the correct answer.

Thanks for sticking with me, and best of luck!
 

Finale Week Bonus

Sorry guys.  So caught up in the Lost finale that I forgot about our AIFL Bonus competition. 

The final bonus question is:

Simon almost always declares a winner for each "round" of the finale.  So, will he predict a winner for "round one" of the finale episode, and if so, who?  The choices for your answer are:  No winner, Lee or Crystal.

150 points for a correct guess!!

Week 13 Results

No surprise that Casey got the boot tonight.  Now it's down to 2 contestants, and 1 week.  And all we have left in our competition in one last bonus contest and then you will have to pick who is going to be the next Idol!  I'm not sure who I'm going to pick.  I just know I've got to finish in the top 5!

Stick with it for one more week and see if you can rise a couple of spots.  See you on Sunday night!

Who's in the final?

A little bit of Casey's hometown visit was featured in tonight's episode, so the five that guessed Casey received 100 points each.  However, since the entire visit wasn't featured, I will give 100 more points for whoever is featured first tomorrow night!

Now, who's going home?  I think I know.  Do you?  200 points for a correct guess.  See you tomorrow . . .

Week 13 Bonus Competition

It's hometown visit week!  Get ready to break out those keys to the city!  Can't wait.  The bonus question is simple:  

Which contestant's hometown visit will be featured first?

You've got a one in three chance.  Good luck!

Adios, Grande Miguel

We're down to the top 3.  Crystal, Lee, and Casey.  Puppetmaster Craig continues his perfection, while our original champion Brian moves into 2nd place.  Well played, gentlemen.  

5th through 10th are all really close, and we're getting a lot of movement every week.  We're coming down to the wire now, so buckle your seatbelts and let's see who ends up where!  Good luck, and we'll see you on Sunday night . . .

The B Word

According to my calculations (let me know if you heard something different), Lee sang "Baby" in his session with Jamie "Over the Top" Foxx, and Randy said the word "become" in his critique of Lee.  So if you guessed Lee or Randy, you got 100 points!

Nobody got it perfect, but plenty got 100 points.  Good job.  

I think they will just do a bottom two, and to me it's pretty obvious who that bottom two will be.  So we're going to do big points, 200 to be exact, if you guess correctly who's going home.  

All I need is one name.  Who's going home?  Let 'er rip!

Week 12 Bonus Competition: Let it "B"

We are down to the final four!  I think I know who the final two will be, but surprises may be in store.  First let's get to our bonus competition.  This week's question is brought to you by the letter b.   And it is worth a possible 200 points!  

So, you need to guess, randomly, which judge will be the first to say a word that starts with the letter b, and which contestant will be the first to say a word that starts with the letter b?

You get 100 points if you guess the judge correctly, and 100 points for guessing the correct contestant.  You've got a 1 in 4 shot at each one.  Good luck! 

The Puppetmaster

Craig is completely calling the shots.  He is telling America how to vote.  He is the puppetmaster.  His top 4 is America's top 4.  Good luck catching him.  

We had some big movement in our top 10.  Those who are rising are getting big points from their top 8.  Is is too late to make a switch? Do the math and you can find out.  

See you on Sunday!

So close

Amber and Dave, you almost got it!  They were both just one singer off from choosing the correct order of singers tonight.  Unfortunately, nobody got the bonus tonight.  Now, it's up to you to bring home your top 8 points (not too late to make changes!) and to predict the bottom three and who's going home.  Let me know who's going!

Week 11 Bonus Competition

Week 11 is here.  What will we predict this time?

This is going to be a challenging one, but with a big reward:  If you can predict the singing order of the contestants perfectly, you will get 250 bonus points.  If you don't, you get nothing.  You've got to get really lucky on this one.  So what's your order?

I Have Arrived!

Oh yes.  Only one person got it perfect, guessing the entire bottom three AND that Siobhan was finally going home.  THAT PERSON WAS ME.  Yippee!  I even cracked the top ten for the first time.  Yess!

Oh, and in less important news, Craig took over the top spot thanks to the strength of his top 8.  Craig, you are the man!

See you on Sunday.  It's really close with everyone in the top 12.  Keep going for it!

Signs

The very first signs of the night were for Siobhan, Crystal, and Lee, right at the beginning of the episode. 

Congrats to Christine and Rachel, who guessed Lee, and Clint and Annette, who guessed Bowersox!  100 points each.  And Christine, way to fight your way to the top 10!

OK, so who's going home?  Give me a homer and a bottom three.  Same points as usual.  Also, this would be a great time to let me know of any changes to your top 8.  Good luck, it's getting intense!

Week 10 Bonus Competition

For this week's bonus we focus on a long-standing AI tradition:  Hand-made signs in the studio.  People make these signs and bring them in, and sometimes they're funny and witty, and usually they are not. 

My question is:  Who will be the person mentioned in the first hand-made sign prominently shown on Tuesday night's episode?  Could be a contestant, judge, or little Seacrest himself. 

A couple of important clarifications.  The sign that counts for the bonus is the first one PROMINENTLY displayed, as in the main focus on a camera shot.  If you glance at one in passing, it doesn't count.  Also, if the first sign is not directed toward a specific person, then we wait until the next one to award points.  Any questions?  Good.

Good luck, and don't guess what I guess, unless you want to be wrong!  100 points for a correct guess.

Craig Gives Back

Look out.  Here comes Craig.  His Top 8 dominance, combined with his correct guess that Tim was going home, catapulted him from 6th place to a close 2nd behind Kasia.  Nice job Craig!

Shout out to Annette who guessed correctly about Tim and 8 songs being sung live during the show.  If you guessed 7 or 9 performances, you got 50 points for your guess.  

It's down to 6 contestants.  How's your top 8 looking?  Let me know if you want to make a change.  See you on sunday night!

Ellen Wasn't Funny

OK, so we had to choose a night where Ellen wasn't saying much.  According to our count, she only got three laughs from the audience.  The closest guess was from Amy S, who guessed 5.  100 points for Amy!  Brian and Amber both got 50 points for guessing 6.  Nice job, luckies.

Now, tomorrow night is Idol Gives Back.  Our DVR cut off the last minute or two of the show, so I'm not sure what Seacrest said at the end.  Did he say if someone was getting kicked off tomorrow?  I'm guessing he didn't say anything about it because they usually like to keep it a semi-surprise.

So, my question for you is:  Will someone get kicked off tomorrow night, and if so, who?  If you guess correctly that no one will leave, you get 100 points.  If you guess that someone will go home and you get that right, I'll give you 200 points!

Another question just for fun:  How many songs will be performed live tomorrow night in the 2-hour show?  Medleys count as one song, by the way.  Lip synching by the final 7 does count as one (did you know they always lip synch their cheesy group performances?). 

So, in conclusion, tell me who, if anyone, is going home, and tell me how many songs will be performed live.  Good luck!

BTW, I will still be giving top 8 points tomorrow, so tell me of any switches or trades before showtime.

Week 9 Bonus Competition

Only 7 contestants left.  How is this going to end?  I don't think AI has been this unpredictable in years.  We also have about 12 players in our league who could still win this contest, with some good strategy and a bit of luck.  Keep going, there are still a TON of points out there to be won!

This week's bonus competition revolves around the funniest judge, Ellen.  She always has a few good quips that make me chuckle.  In my opinion, she should focus on funny and leave the music critiquing to experts like Kara.  Anyway, here's the question: How many times will Ellen make the audience laugh in Tuesday night's show?  Every individual funny comment counts, even if it's more than one chuckler during the same critique. 

Good luck, and don't guess whatever I guess.  My guesses are cursed!

Huge Week

Jaron, how do you do it?  He is the only one who guessed that Katie and Andrew were the two homers.  As a result, he moved from 9th to 3rd!  That was big.  

Meanwhile, Dave keeps gaining on Kasia, and 3rd through 9th are only separated by about 100 points.  It's getting intense now.  A lot of us lost our number 1 with Andrew, so is it worth it to make a trade?  That's up to you to decide.  Just let me know.

See you on Sunday night!

Bonus Results and Predictions

Congrats to Annette and Clint/Lexi, who guessed that a whopping 5 contestants would play their instruments tonight.  They got 100 points, while those who guessed 4 received 50 points.

Now down to the nitty gritty:  Don't worry about no bottom three tonight.  Just tell me which two contestants are going home tomorrow night.  100 points for each correct guess, plus a bonus 100 if you guess perfectly.  Good luck!

Week 8 Bonus Competition

This week's bonus competition is simple:  Of the nine contestants remaining, how many will play an instrument while they sing?  100 points for closest guess, 50 for second.  Good luck!

Okay . . .

Well, we didn't do very well at guessing our bottom three, did we?  Unless our name is BRIAN, who guessed them all!  Unbelievable.  

Nice to see good 'ol David Archuleta on the show tonight.  Here's a clip of one of his performances from last season.

See you on Sunday night!

Look Out, Here Comes Brian

Our bonus competition SHOULD HAVE BEEN: "Yes or no, will there be bagpipes and didgeridoos played on stage tonight?"  I would have guessed yes.  

Congrats to Brian, who correctly and amazingly guessed that Siobhan would sing "Across the Universe."  Brian was our first AIFL champion, and came from behind to do it two years ago.  Look out for this guy.

OK, who's going home?  Make your bottom three and going home picks here.  It's getting really hard to predict.  Same point structure as usual.  Good Luck!

Week 7 Bonus Competition

This week our little singers are tackling the Lennon McCartney songbook this week.  I have an interesting challenge for you, which includes a dual prediction. First:  Name a song written by John Lennon and/or Paul McCartney that you think will be sung on Tuesday night.  Then predict who will sing that song!

If your chosen song is sung, you get 100 points.  If your chosen performer sings that song, you get another 100!  Good luck!

New Results

No big changes in our standings this week.  Nobody guessed the bottom three and going home perfectly.  Shout out to Jaron, who was the only one to guess that Didi was our homer tonight.  He had the best week of any of our players, so look out for the guy lurking in the #8 spot.  

Check back on Sunday for another exciting bonus!  And to pass the time while you wait, please check out a grrrrrreat edition from an international version of Idol.  My language teacher hearts burns as I watch this video.

Who's Going Home?

We had to wait until the very end to find out that Crystal sang before Aaron tonight.  Good job everyone that guessed Crystal!  And Emily, welcome to the top 10!

Now, time to guess who's going home tomorrow night. Same as last week, guess the bottom three, and who's going home.  50 points again for each bottom three you guess correctly, and 100 for guessing who's going.  50 bonus points if you guess everything perfect, like Kasia always does.

Ready?  Go!

New Bonus Competition

Here we go again!  The bonus competition for this week is simple.  The order of singers changes every week, so it's always a guess as to who will sing before whom.  So, my question for you this week is: 

Who will sing earlier in Tuesday night's episode--Aaron Kelly or Crystal Bowersox?  You've got a fifty-fifty chance on this one.  100 points for a correct pick, nothin' if you get it wrong, like I probably will. 

Good luck!  And let me know if you'd like to make a change in your top 8.

Kasia is Unstoppable

Okay, so Kasia is the only player to get the going home predictions perfect.  How does she do it?  She is a bona fide pop culture expert.  Props to her!

Wanna make a switch or trade?  Let me know and I'll make it happen.

Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you on Sunday night for our next bonus competition.

Bonus Results and Prediction

Miley Cyrus?   Seriously?

Congrats to Craig, Rachel, Jaron, and Clint/Lexi who all guessed that 6 contestants would use the microphone stand.  Each player received 100 bonus points for their lucky guess.  If you guessed 5 or 7, you got 50 points.  If you guessed 4 like me, you're an idiot. 

So, is it obvious who's going home tomorrow night?  It may be, but then again maybe not. 

This time you need to guess who will be in the bottom three, and who will go home.  You get 50 points for each bottom three person you guess correctly, and 100 more points for correctly guessing who is going home.  Plus, if you guess it all perfectly, you get another 50 points!  So, you could get a total of 300 points tomorrow night if you are perfect. 

Perfect like Miley Cyrus.  Whatever.

Week 5 Bonus Competition

Spring Break is over.  Time to get back into Idol!

We've had a few different players make trades and switches.  That's why you see a little shuffling going on in the top 10.  When you check the scoresheet, any singers in bold print have been switched or traded by our players.  You will see the deductions next to the singers' names. Please check for accuracy on my part!  I've been known to make scoring errors in the past. 

Thanks for the great bonus competition suggestions.  This week we will do a competition suggested by Amber. As defending champion, she has earned the right to have her suggestions heeded.  

So the question is:  Out of the 11 remaining contestants, how many will use the microphone stand (as opposed to just the microphone) when they sing on Tuesday night's show?  Interesting, huh?

100 points for whoever gets closest to the actual number of singers, 50 points for second.  Submit your guess whenever you dare! 

New Leader

On the strength of her remaining top 8, Kasia has slipped ahead of Amy into the top spot.  But look out for last year's champion amber, who guessed our homer correctly and is slyly gaining ground.  Clint and Lexi were the other team to guess correctly that Lacey was going home, and they are now in the top ten.

With each passing week, your top 8 points become more and more important.  Are you going to make a switch or a trade?  Two players already have, and their top 8's are looking pretty good. 

Also, I'm looking for new bonus competitions.  Any suggestions? 

19 Seconds . . . and guessing.

It only took 19 seconds for Seacrest to say the magic words.  Congrats to Emily for guessing the closest, with 23 seconds. 75 points for her!  Annette guessed 24 seconds for 50 points.  Jaron's 30 second guess garnered him 25 points.  

Okay, this time we are just going to guess the ONE person who is going home.  They will probably do a bottom three, but we won't worry about that.  Just give me ONE NAME.  125 points if you get it right, nothing if you get it wrong.   Submit your guess before tomorrow night's show!

New Bonus Competition

Every episode of American Idol begins with Ryan Seacrest ogling the contestants, saying a few superlatives, then grinning at the camera and saying, "THIS . . . IS AMERICAN IDOL."  We all know he's going to say it, but can you guess how long it will take him to say it?

You are going to guess the elapsed time (to the second) from the time the episode appears on the screen to the time Seacrest finishes his phrase.

After doing a little research of the last three episodes, I can tell you that the times have been 1 minute 22 seconds, 45 seconds, and 29 seconds.  What will the time be in the next episode?

I will give points to the three closest guessers.  75 points for first place, 50 for second, and 25 for third. Good luck!

Shockers!

Well, we didn't see that coming did we?  Lilly gone?  Katie still here?  Nobody guessed all four homers correctly.  Congratulations to Dave, who was the only one to get three out of the four correct.  We've had some shuffling of our top ten, with more to come as people start making their switches and trades.  

Are you going to make a switch or trade?  Let me know if you decide to make a change.  

And if things aren't going your way right now, don't give up!  There's lots of competition left! 

Easy Bonus

So, the judges were seated in a predictable order, and lots of us got the 50 bonus points.  Now, time to listen to the girls and guys, then predict by show time Thursday who's going home.  Same points for correct predictions, 50 points per correct guess, and 100 bonus points if you get all four correct!

Is it too early to switch someone or replace someone in your top 8?  Only you can decide that!

Bonus Competition: How will they sit?

You may have noticed a little seating order changing among the judges.  During Hollywood week, the arrangement was usually like this: 

Now during these semifinal weeks, sometimes Ellen sits on the left end of the table, and sometimes it's Randy.  Kara and Simon have been getting cozy (maybe a little too cozy?) on the right side of the table.  Since they are not behaving well together, might they switch their order, too?

So this week's bonus question is, What will be the seated order of the judges on Tuesday nights show, from left to right?  

50 points are yours if you get the order right.  Please submit your guess by showtime on Tuesday.

Big Movers

We had three people pick perfectly ALL FOUR contestants going home.  Congrats to Amy, Kasia, and Craig, who peered into their crystal balls and got it right. 

Remember, the point values for your remaining top 8 contestants grow with each passing week.  You might want to take a look and perhaps make a switch so that you can gain points from it in the long run.  SWITCH two of your current top 8's positions for 100 points, REPLACE someone in your top 8 for 200 points.

Be sure to check out your top 8 status by clicking "AIFL 2010 Scoresheet" on the right panel. 

Don't give up, it's still early! 

Check back with me on Sunday evening for our next bonus competition . . .

Results and Predictions

Congratulations to Annette and Amber (of course it would be Amber), who correctly guessed that the Dawg would say "for you" or "for me" 7 times.  They both got 75 points.  If you guessed 6 or 8, you get 50 points.  If you guessed 5 or 9, you get 25 points.  

Now, on to the eliminations.  Reply to this post with your choice of 2 guys and 2 girls who are going home.  Please be sure to get it in by Thursday night's show!  

Now, if you're looking to change your top 8, refer to the official scoring rules for a full rundown of how to do it.  In summary, if you want to SWITCH two of your top 8 to different spots, it will cost you 100 points.  If you want to REPLACE someone with another contestant who is currently outside of your top 8, it will cost you 200 points.  You can't spend points you don't have, by the way. 

You can make a change to your top 8 whenever you want.  When you want to make a change, just reply to the most recent post and I will make the change and deduct the points.

This Week's Bonus Competition

Ready to get some more points?  Here's how you can do it.  

We love Randy Jackson.  Love the way he dresses, the way he dances, the way he keeps the weight off, everything about him, especially the way he  talks.  I love it when he says, "Not sure if that was the right song for you for me, for you, dawg.  For me."

So, the bonus competition is, you need to guess how many times will Randy Jackson say the words "for you" or "for me" during Tuesday night's episode?  If he says, "For you, for me" that counts as two.   Leave your guess as a comment to this post.

Whoever guesses the closest to his actual total gets 75 bonus points.  Second place gets 50, and third place gets 25.  Good luck, dawg!

Our First Leaders

Congrats to our two early dominators, Kasia and Amy!  They both guessed correctly that Andrew Garcia was going to sing last, and guessed 2 of the 4 contestants going home.  So they take the early lead in the competition.

However, last year's champion Amber is lurking, waiting for her opportunity to pounce.  If you aren't in our top ten yet, don't worry.  It's very early, and we have lots of competition left.  Just keep checking between Sunday and Wednesday each week for new posts and competitions.  I will always try to post a bonus competition on Sunday evening, so be on the lookout for that.

Also, we will always be picking who is going home the night (and day of) the eliminations, so that will always be a chance for you to score big points.

The key to winning is constant participation and a little luck. 

IMPORTANT:  I have also posted our full scoresheet and scoring procedures on the sidebar.  Please look at the scoring procedures so you can know exactly how your score is configured.  Also, be checking my math and date entry on the scoresheet for accuracy.  I've never made a mistake before, but there's always a first time!!

Who's going home?

You've heard them sing, you've heard the judges, now let's hear from you:  Who's going home?  

2 guys and 2 girls will be saying goodbye Thursday night. Please comment on this post and tell me who you think they will be.  For every correct guess, you get 50 points.  If you correctly guess all four, you get 100 bonus points.

Good luck!

First Bonus Competition

Thanks for joining in!  It's going to be lots of fun.  Now for the first bonus points of the contest!!

Want to get a jump on the competition?  Here's all you have to do. 

The guys are singing tomorrow night, and you need to guess which guy is going to sing FIRST, and which guy is going to sing LAST.  If you guess the FIRST singer correctly, you get 50 bonus points.  If you guess the LAST singer correctly, you get 100 points.  If you guess BOTH correctly, you'll get a lucky 200 points total.  

Good luck!  Enter your guesses as a comment to this post.

Welcome!!

Welcome to AIFL 2010, the best American Idol Fantasy League ever created.  It is time to get started.  The process is very simple:  Out of the top 24 contestants, pick the 8 that you think will go the farthest.  You will get points for each of your choices every time they make it through a week. 

VERY IMPORTANT:  Be sure to RANK your choices 1-8, with #1 being your choice for the next American Idol, on down through number 8.  Your points will be higher for your highest ranked contestants.

Please submit your top eight choices as a comment to the post below.  Your choices are due by Tuesday, February 24.  If you need any further explanation, also ask questions through comments to this post.

This is just the first step.  More to come.  Good luck!