# The American Idol Results Prediction Contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326 "2006-03-14T16:01:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/1 "2006-03-14T16:01:31Z")
Let’s have a contest! The AIRPC challenges you, the American Idol fan, to correctly guess the full order of the 12 remaining finalists, from the #12 finisher (e.g. tonight’s loser) to the fifth American Idol champion. So to enter, simply put in your entire list, numbering them from #1 (the champion) through #12 (Dead meat on March 15) as I will now demonstrate: 1. Lisa Tucker 2. Chris Daughtry 3. Katharine McPhee 4. Mandisa 5. Taylor Hicks 6. Paris Bennett 7. The Pickler 8. Ace Young 9. Elliott Yamin 10. Bucky Covington 11. Kevin Covais 12. Melissa McGhee So I have picked Lisa Tucker to beat Chris Daughtry in the final, with Melissa McGhee going out. SCORING: For every Idol you correctly pick on exactly the correct week of elimination, you score 3 points. For every Idol you pick on an adjacent week of elimination, score 1 point. (E.g. I will get 3 points if Elliott goes out on Week 9, 1 point if he’s out Week 10 or 8.) However, the scoring is different from the #1 and #2 spots: - If you correctly guess the champion, score 8 points. If your championship guess is the runner up, score 5 points; third place, one point. - Your choice for runner up scores 5 points if you hit it. You get 3 points if your runner up wins the whole enchilada, 2 points if they finish third. Plus more bonus points: If you hit a turkey - e.g. hit 3 perfect predictions in a row, so for instance if Pickler, Bennett and Hicks went 7-6-5 as I have predicted - you score 1 bonus point. If you hit a fourth straight pick, 2 more bonus points (so 3 bonus points overall.) Five in a row? Three more bonus points! Plus… if you correctly guess the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place competitors, that’s 5 bonus points. Entries may be entered into this forum up to the beginning of the Wednesday, March 15 results show. You may edit or re-enter your picks up to that point but not one minute later. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/2 "2006-03-14T16:53:59Z")
It’s like the death pool, except no one dies. I’ll bite! 1. Chris Daughtry 2. Katharine McPhee 3. Mandisa 4. Taylor Hicks 5. Lisa Tucker 6. Paris Bennett 7. Elliott Yamin 8. Ace Young 9. Kellie Pickler 10. Bucky Covington 11. Kevin Covais 12. Melissa McGhee ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/3 "2006-03-14T20:02:03Z")
I’m really hoping you have a software program to keep track of the scores… 😉 1. Chris Daughtry 2. Katharine McPhee 3. Elliott Yamin 4. Mandisa 5. Taylor Hicks 6. Ace Young 7. Kellie Pickler 8. Lisa Tucker 9. Paris Bennett 10. Bucky Covington 11. Melissa McGhee 12. Kevin Covais ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/4 "2006-03-14T20:35:08Z")
Cool! I’ll play! 1. Chris Daughtry 2. Katharine McPhee 3. Kellie Pickler 4. Taylor Hicks 5. Bucky Covington 6. Mandisa 7. Melissa McGhee 8. Lisa Tucker 9. Ace Young 10. Elliott Yamin 11. Paris Bennett 12. Kevin Covais :: crosses fingers:: ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/5 "2006-03-14T21:04:53Z")
I’m in 1. Mandisa 2. Chris Daughtry 3. Taylor Hicks 4. Katharine McPhee 5. Elliott Yamin 6. Lisa Tucker 7. Paris Bennett 8. Bucky Covington 9. Kellie Pickler 10. Melissa McGhee 11. Ace Young 12. Kevin Covais ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/6 "2006-03-14T21:23:43Z")
Oooh, me too: 1. Chris Daughtry 2. Mandisa 3. Katharine McPhee 4. Kellie Pickler 5. Taylot Hicks 6. Elliott Yamin 7. Lisa Tucker 8. Ace Young 9. Paris Bennett 10. Bucky Covington 11. Kevin Covais 12. Melissa McGhee ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/7 "2006-03-14T21:25:46Z")
1. Chris Daughtry 2. Mandisa 3. Katharine McPhee 4. Taylor Hicks 5. Paris Bennett 6. Kellie Pickler 7. Lisa Tucker 8. Ace Young 9. Melissa McGhee 10. Bucky Covington 11. Elliott Yamin 12. Kevin Covais ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/8 "2006-03-14T21:29:34Z")
Ok, let’s give this a shot… 1. Chris Daughtry 2. Lisa Tucker 3. Mandisa 4. Katharine McPhee 5. Taylor Hicks 6. Paris Bennett 7. Ace Young 8. Elliott Yamin 9. Kelly Pickler 10. Bucky Covington 11. Melissa McGhee 12. Kevin Covais This definitely gets tricky the further along you go, since that’s when the dinks over at [votefortheworst.com](http://votefortheworst.com) have more and more influence. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/9 "2006-03-14T21:31:01Z")
1. Lisa Tucker 2. Mandisa 3. Chris Daughtry 4. Katharine McPhee 5. Elliot Yamin 6. ``` Taylor Hicks ``` 7. Paris Bennett 8. Ace Young 9. Kellie The Pickler 10. Bucky Covington 11. Kevin Covais 12. Melissa McGhee ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/10 "2006-03-14T21:44:41Z")
I’m predict a Kevin Corvais/Mandisa finale, followed by the summer blockbuster, “When Mandisa met Kevin.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/11 "2006-03-14T22:48:25Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > This definitely gets tricky the further along you go, since that’s when the dinks over at [votefortheworst.com](http://votefortheworst.com) have more and more influence. ] If in fact they have any significant influence at all, which I doubt. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/12 "2006-03-14T23:47:35Z")
Eh, I’m going for dark horse upset: 1. Taylor Hicks 2. Mandisa 3. Katharine McPhee 4. Chris Daughtry 5. Lisa Tucker 6. Kellie Pickler 7. Paris Bennett 8. Elliot Yamin 9. Ace Young 10. Bucky Covington 11. Melissa McGhee 12. Kevin Covais ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/13 "2006-03-14T23:53:37Z")
I’ve been mucking with this for too long. I can’t handicap it. I can call the first three or four eliminations, then it gets sticky… and lots can change between now and then. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/14 "2006-03-15T00:35:53Z")
1. Mandisa 2. Chris 3. Kellie 4. Katharine 5. Kevin 6. Taylor 7. Lisa 8. Elliot 9. Ace 10. Paris 11. Bucky 12. Melissa Wow, I hope not, but that’s a guess… ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/15 "2006-03-15T00:38:15Z")
The order I think they’ll leave. 1. The Pickler 2. Ace 3. Mandisa 4. Chris Daughtry 5. Katherine 6. Lisa Tucker 7. Taylor 8. Elliot 9. Paris 10. Bucky 11. Kevin 12. Melissa The order I think they should leave 13. Mandisa 14. Chris 15. Lisa 16. Taylor 17. Elliot 18. Katherine 19. Paris 20. Kellie 21. Bucky 22. Ace 23. Melissa 24. Kevin ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/16 "2006-03-15T00:44:43Z")
Just to clarify-- my first list is how I think they’ll get voted off. That’s the one that counts for this contest. My second list is how I hope they’ll get voted off. Performances count so much at this point. I think Mandisa could power her way through a great song and nail a top two spot but there are far too many people who don’t like soul voices and/or humongous butts and an even larger number of teenage girls with auto-dialers who will keep Ace around for a long, long time. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/17 "2006-03-15T00:45:03Z")
I still have time before the East Coast feed starts… 1. Katharine 2. Mandisa 3. Elliot 4. Chris 5. Lisa 6. Paris 7. Pickler 8. Ace 9. Taylor 10. Bucky 11. Kevin 12. Melissa ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/18 "2006-03-15T00:47:03Z")
1. Mandisa 2. Chris 3. Katherine 4. Lisa 5. Taylor 6. Ace 7. Pickler 8. Paris 9. Covais 10. Elliot 11. Bucky 12. Melissa ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/19 "2006-03-15T00:54:40Z")
1 Taylor Hicks 2 Paris Bennett 3 Katharine McPhee 4 Chris Daughtry 5 Kellie Pickler 6 Mandisa 7 Ace Young 8 Kevin Covais 9 Lisa Tucker 10 Elliott Yamin 11 Melissa McGhee 12 Bucky Covington I tried to work in a couple of shockers along the way. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326/20 "2006-03-15T00:58:48Z")
Folks, remember: the cutoff is 8 EST on WEDNESDAY!!! You can vote even after tonite’s performances! > [@Biggirl](#): > > Just to clarify-- my first list is how I think they’ll get voted off. That’s the one that counts for this contest. My second list is how I hope they’ll get voted off. Your phraseology makes it a bit confusing, but I am assuming you structured your list the way everyone else did and you are calling the whole enchiliada for the Pickler, with Melissa being the Season 5 weasel. Please correct me if by some insane circumstance I am wrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-idol-results-prediction-contest/348326.md?page=2)