And The Winner Is…
Man, I was really worried that we would have something crazy like a 6 way tie for 1st place. That would have been worse for me than an Evan win. But I have to hand it to @seangunn. He said I didn’t need to worry, and he was right. The math all worked out.
So take a look. We have three places and an honorable mention. I’ll start with the honorable mention and then work up from there:
@raelee proved, by winning the first ever SYTYCD-FDL Most Number of Bonuses, that she knows this show pretty well. And had the competition been scored week to week instead of on a pre-season draft… she’d probably be getting a free lunch out of me at some point. Instead she is being honored with the Bonus Syringe Graphic. How do you feel, Rae? A little dizzy?
@BabsiS is our 3rd place Bronze Medalist. Impressive, being that she lives in Germany where the show wasn’t even aired. She relied solely on YouTube clips, other FDLers, and still she had one of the highest bonus counts and strongest cards throughout. Nicht schlecht.
@Vanalam is our 2nd place Silver Medalist. Vanessa, I have to say, I really didn’t see you coming. But looking back at it now, it’s clear you had this nice, gradual climb. And then in the final stretch you kind of pas de bourrĂ©ed yourself into a full on sprint. Kudos.
And our grand prize winner, majorly deserved for her killer card and smart, EARLY bonus picks each week (most of them tweeted to me before I’d watched the episode), is…….. @sorano916!!!! Yes!!!
@sorano is the winner of the coveted “Next time you find yourself in LA, let me know, cause you and I are grabbing lunch, my treat” Award as well as the PWNAGE Award. Basically the PWNAGE Award goes like this: @sorano916 is gonna get me a few photos. I’m gonna replace the photos at the top of the site with new ones of her. I’m gonna switch all my social networking links here to hers, and I’m going to give her administrative access to write some posts if she’d like.
I know, weird awards, huh? But that’s what I offered, and I’m sticking to it. Starting next week, my blog will have this look for a month. I’ll still be blogging the same old Cabrera rambles (I have a few coming soon)… but I guess it’ll be like I’m wearing @sorano916’s clothes.
Anyway, great fun, all! It was a blast. I hope to do another one of these. The good thing is, now I have the system and the Scoreboard, so setting up an FDL again shouldn’t be too tough. As we get closer to Season 6, I’ll gauge everyone’s interest.
Now here’s the Scoreboard

BabsiS on 07 Aug 2009 at 2:05 am #
@sorano916 CONGRATS!!! Well done!
And to all the others: it was great playing with you guys – so much fun!
Catherine on 07 Aug 2009 at 4:28 am #
Congrats to the winners! I just watched a few videos on Youtube but was sometimes really impressed by the performances.
@John: What are you going to do now? SYTYCD is over and Lost won’t come back til January…
Rae on 07 Aug 2009 at 5:10 am #
And a little woozy on top of that…
Thanks to you for all the hard work! This was fun and kept my interest in this season going even when it was waning a bit.
Though, I will say that it’s less about knowing this show as it is watching lots of reality shows and absorbing an eye for clues at how things will play out. Maybe if they didn’t, as Nigel admitted, choose the person getting eliminated before the solos I wouldn’t have done as well with the bonuses.
Congrats to @sorano916!!!!
And @Vanalam and @BabsiS (and @LN84, for that matter) amaze me! Correctly picking three of the final four from the very get-go. Impressive.
LBopoly on 07 Aug 2009 at 7:22 am #
Looks like the whole thing was a lot of fun! Maybe next time I’ll participate? I’ve never watched the show so I thought I probably wouldn’t win, but winning or not I’m sure it was still a lot of fun to be apart of. I also have soccer at the worse times…so, until next time!
And congratulaions to the winners! Next-time-your-in-LA, haha, I love that. I’ve never been to LA, so who knows how that would have turned out. I’m also really excited to see how the site turns out with all the redecorating (and more) that will happen, should be fun!
sorano916 on 07 Aug 2009 at 8:20 am #
Heh… this is kind-of hilarious that I won. I guess the 15 years of dance paid off…?
Anyways, I had lots of fun and considering that this was the first time I saw the show in its entirety, I really enjoyed it. Can’t wait for Season 6.
jennhoney on 07 Aug 2009 at 8:58 am #
Ugh, I can’t get my tweets to post. Posting my tweet here is a bit lazy but I already typed it and you all deserve the Congratulations for AWESOME FDL play!
Congrats @raelee @BabsiS @Vanalam I’d like to say all #SYTYCD-FDL ers are winners but, Nigel said that would be ‘a bit corny’ and detract from @sorano916 ’s BIG WIN!
Vanalam on 07 Aug 2009 at 9:15 am #
First of all, congrats to Jeanine! I’m so glad she won the show. I never would have predicted it, but I’m glad that it worked out that way.
YAY! Second place! John, I really didn’t see that happening either. After being really surprised by some of the eliminations in the first few weeks, I thought I was out of the running. Perfectly happy to be a sort of dark horse/underdog.
Congratulations, @sorano916! I’m looking forward to seeing your changes to the site and reading any blog posts you have for us.
What I am TRULY impressed by with your predictions is that you appear to have placed the people by the original couples (either because you didn’t know they could be split up or thought it would be easier to predict that way), and I’m surprised that setting it up that way worked out so well. Hat off to you for that!
Wow, @BabsiS! To be playing from another country and only watching the show on YouTube clips, etc., and still do so well (especially with your bonus picks), is truly amazing!
Good job, @raelee, to get so many of the bonus picks! Way to have your fingers on the pulse of both the judges and the US public!
Thanks again, John, for putting this all together. It’s been so much fun! I’m looking forward to the next one, and am going to have to see if I can get a few more people involved.
MzHokie on 07 Aug 2009 at 9:53 am #
I am ready for the FALL so I can compete.
I missed out on the preseason draft so I’ll be ready in a few weeks.
Caryl on 07 Aug 2009 at 9:59 am #
Congratulations, @sorano!
I messed up and didn’t get a couple weeks of bonus picks in – which probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. But, it was fun!
Thank you JP and Sean… and everyone!
Kimberley on 07 Aug 2009 at 5:22 pm #
*hee* I totally accidentally found out who won; but I did watch the performance show last night before I went to bed, and by the tone of Adam Shankman’s gushing comments (LOVE him!) I really really wanted Jeanine to win; though of course Brandon was such a tough competitor considering he was never held back by Philip like Jeanine was.
Well done to all the FDL-ers!! Can’t believe the winners and high point scorers were in as tough a situation as I was (being in Australia and not seeing it live, and therefore couldn’t necessarily vote for the bonus points on time) That’s a massive effort and just shows how good an eye you all have. I still contend that Kupono should have lasted longer than Evan, but I guess it is popularity and not *just* technique.
chadrullman on 09 Aug 2009 at 10:07 pm #
Congrats to the winners! This was a lot of fun, I hope we get to do it again for the next season!
So… anyone from this gang watch America’s Best Dance Crew on MTV? I caught the season’s opener tonight, and there is some crazy talent on that show, as well. It is good. Last season, Hok from SYTYCD season3 lead a crew to take the win.
Anyway, there are a couple great crews this season, tweet at me if you’re watchin’! I already have my two favorite crews picked!