# The Celebrity Death Pool 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679 "2011-12-01T06:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/581 "2012-01-07T20:34:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Don Carter, bowler. Dead at 85.](http://news.yahoo.com/bowling-great-don-carter-dies-85-191948199--spt.html) His life was not spared. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/582 "2012-01-07T21:51:58Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I don’t think you have any idea of how long a post that would be!😛 > > There are 653 unique picks. I keep two spreadsheets. One simply has celebrity names, and how many players chose them. The other sheet is a listing of the picks made by each player. It would be too much work to go through that and separate those 653 unique picks. > > If you do want to know whether or not a certain person has been selected, then the thread has a search function. Wow I had no idea it was that many! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/583 "2012-01-07T22:18:52Z")
There are 870 total picks, 653 of which are unique. There are 40 celebrities with at least ten picks. Robin Gibb 72 Etta James 70 Lindsay Lohan 51 Joe Paterno 47 Zsa Zsa Gabor 39 Fidel Castro 38 Dick Cheney 31 Michael Douglas 31 Penny Marshall 29 Billy Graham-e 27 Hugo Chavez 25 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi 24 Margaret Thatcher 24 Raven Alexis 24 Aretha Franklin 24 Muhammad Ali 23 Charlie Sheen 22 Gary Carter 22 Ariel Sharon 21 Prince Philip 19 Dick Clark 18 Jerry Lewis 18 Nancy Reagan 18 Bashar Assad 17 Ethan Zohn 17 Roger Ebert 16 George H. W. Bush 15 Marcia Strassman 14 Terry Pratchett 14 Kirk Douglas 13 Fred Phelps 12 Jimmy Carter 12 Stephen Hawking 12 Courtney Love 11 Jerry Sandusky 11 Nelson Mandela 11 Pope Benedict XVI 11 Robert Mugabe 11 Ruth Bader Ginsberg 11 Pete Doherty 10 With 172 players, at 13 choices each, the above choice are over 40% of all choices. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/584 "2012-01-07T22:39:46Z")
Thanks Baker for gathering this data! ---
**Author:** ![Squonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squonk)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/585 "2012-01-08T03:24:55Z")
Only in a death pool would this count as bad news. [Argentine President Fernandez ‘did not have cancer’](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16456040) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/586 "2012-01-08T03:40:00Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Thanks Baker for gathering this data! You are welcome! Five of my own choices are in that list, but I have a few that are unique, and some way further down on the number of selections. The one I hope to be able to be first to announce as dead is Fred Phelps. I live in Topeka, and the rock Fred lives under is also in Topeka. Heck, the Westboro Baptist Church picketed my own church on Christmas Day! So since Phred is a local I may hear about it before the wire services pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/587 "2012-01-08T17:01:02Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > His life was not spared. :::golf clap::::: ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/588 "2012-01-08T17:37:53Z")
> [@Squonk](#): > > Only in a death pool would this count as bad news. > > [Argentine President Fernandez ‘did not have cancer’](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16456040) **Horse Hockey!!** I [picked her](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14608534&postcount=292) based on the Cancer News. Curses!! I thought it was a unique pick but **Premislaus** also picked her. Damn the luck I still got [Chad Brown](http://espn.go.com/poker/story/_/id/6932814/chad-brown-vanessa-rousso-grow-battle-cancer) though. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/589 "2012-01-08T21:24:59Z")
Tony Blankley, conservative talking head, dead at 63. It appears the dead pool has drawn a blankley on him. [Tony Blankley Dead: Newt Gingrich's Former Press Secretary Dies At 63 | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/tony-blankley-dead-dies-newt-gingrich_n_1192662.html) ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/590 "2012-01-08T21:58:05Z")
[Stephen Hawking](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/01/08/hawking-birthday.html) too ill to attend conference celebrating his 70th birthday. > [@](#): > > Diagnosed at age 21 with the motor neuron disease and confined to a wheelchair, the celebrated scientist has defied medical predictions that he would die at an early age. > [@](#): > > Hawking has lived with the disease longer than anyone. Most sufferers live less than five years after being diagnosed. That’s Zsa Zsa manoeuvre has been going on for decades and many generations. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/591 "2012-01-10T14:34:29Z")
New Jersey Assembly Minority Leader [Alex DeCroce](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/us-statehouse-newjersey-death-idUSTRE80914920120110) collapsed and died at age 75 in the statehouse after a late night legislative session. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/592 "2012-01-10T18:49:03Z")
Interesting to find that Digg offers this today: [http://digg.com/newsbar/Entertainment/top\_10\_celebrities\_who\_might\_die\_in\_2012](http://digg.com/newsbar/Entertainment/top_10_celebrities_who_might_die_in_2012) ETA: It should read as "“Top 10 Celebs that might die in 2012.” ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/593 "2012-01-10T20:35:59Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > Interesting to find that Digg offers this today: > > [Digg Reboot](http://digg.com/newsbar/Entertainment/top_10_celebrities_who_might_die_in_2012) > > ETA: It should read as "“Top 10 Celebs that might die in 2012.” For those who don’t want to click, here are that author’s choices for his DP list: [quote=Jeffery Racheff] [ul][li]Keith Richards [_]Lindsay Lohan [_]Abe Vigoda [_]Robin Gibb [_]Fidel Castro [_]Stephen Hawking [_]Charlie Sheen [_]Randy Quaid [_]Courtney Love [\*]Dick Cheney[/ul][/li][/quote] It’s funny how from the perspective of a group that has this down to a science, this guy’s list looks humorously amateurish. He makes the classic beginner’s mistake of “too famous, not sick enough.” Of course, if he had actually published a list like one of ours, he would have been fielding angry letters from his readers about his appalling lack of tact. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/594 "2012-01-10T20:59:30Z")
President of Guinea-Bissau [Malam Bacai Sanhá](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malam_Bacai_Sanh%C3%A1). Somehow he went under my radar even though he was apparently quite ill in late December, and his army staged a coup just before the new year. Seems like he would have been a solid pick for 36 points. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/595 "2012-01-10T21:21:00Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > President of Guinea-Bissau [Malam Bacai Sanhá](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malam_Bacai_Sanh%C3%A1). > > Somehow he went under my radar even though he was apparently quite ill in late December, and his army staged a coup just before the new year. Seems like he would have been a solid pick for 36 points. Oh, Sugar!!! Oh Fiddlesticks! If I had stuck to my first list he would had been in mine as he was one of my alternates. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/596 "2012-01-10T21:36:30Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Oh, Sugar!!! Oh Fiddlesticks! > > If I had stuck to my first list he would had been in mine as he was one of my alternates. There is no need for that kind of language. We are civilized. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/597 "2012-01-11T00:45:03Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There is no need for that kind of language. We are civilized. Speak for yourself. Fuck me, I wish I had him! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/598 "2012-01-11T01:40:24Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There is no need for that kind of language. We are civilized. As the priest said to the altar boy, “If we were civilized, we wouldn’t be doing this!” ---
**Author:** ![CAMJAY77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@CAMJAY77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAMJAY77)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/599 "2012-01-11T22:19:37Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Raven Alexis 24 > > With 172 players, at 13 choices each, the above choice are over 40% of all choices. At the Xbiz Awards last night Raven Alexis won Best Supporting Acting Performance of the Year: Female, for her performance in Top Guns ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679/600 "2012-01-11T22:28:13Z")
I honestly hope she’s well enough to enjoy this award. BTW, I was speaking about being in charge of this game today, at my job. A coworker asked “don’t you think you’re going to Hell for this? What if it was your relative?” I creeped her out when I said I wouldn’t mind, even if it was ME! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-celebrity-death-pool-2012/604679.md?page=31)