I've recounted the nomination votes, in an attempt to establish what outcome we would've had without the head to head group knockout stages. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not a fan of head to head knock outs, despite best efforts to seed ties in a fair manner, it almost always kicks out babes prematurely, who've gained more votes than others at the nomination stage, giving babes with less votes the chance to progress further into the comp, & with a potential chance to win.
What actually happened this time was that the 3 babes with the most votes at the nomination stage, were the same 3 babes that were eventually inducted.
On average, roughly 40 members voted at each stage, the majority of which voted in every round. You can assume that as your nominated babes progress through to the next stage, you will continue to vote for them, if 2 of your picks come head to head then you may have a tricky choice to make.
The nomination round had the most members voting, the final had the least. Is this an indication that some members didn't bother to vote in the final, due to their picks being eliminated ?
What do I mean by an unfair draw ? In the round of 4, Leigh Darby wasn't among the 12 babes, despite being equal 4th in terms of votes after the nomination stage. Sophie Lares also failed to make the round of 4, after being ranked equal 10th after the nomination stage. Holly James got through to the round of 4, with 15 babes receiving more votes after the nomination stage.
Putting more meat on the bone, as to why Leigh Darby ranked =4th, didn't progress beyond the Round of 8, & Holly James ranked =16th made in to the round of 4. Holly only gained 3 nomination votes to Leigh 6, however all 3 of Holly's nominators, voted in the round of 8, Leigh had 2 nominators who failed to register a vote for her in the round of 8. Holly beat Leigh by just 2 votes. The 2 voters that failed to re-vote for Leigh prevented what could've been a tie. In this event under the rules, Holly would've still progressed by virtue of receiving the first vote in the round.
Maybe a more suitable tie-breaker would be a countback of votes, from the nomination stage, which would've put Leigh through.
This years voting has allayed my fears somewhat over the many wonderful veteran babes, yet to be inducted, being constantly overlooked in favour of babes that have qualified more recently for nomination, & therefore at the forefront of many peoples minds, more importantly more potential new members to nominate them.
I still think this situation needs to be monitored, to protect the integrity of the HOF, & ensure that the past stars take there deserved place, sooner, rather than later.
The other, elephant in the room, is the domination of the Nightshow babes. We now have 10 nominees. Did Paige Tyler, or Fernanda Ferrari get in my virtue of their Dayshow performances ?
Without intervention, will we ever see a Daybabe in the HOF ?
My conclusion is that the knockout stage serves little if any purpose, other than to drag it out, over complicate & create controversy.
The members had already found the top 3 babes at the nomination stage, & they were all comfortably ahead of the babes tied for 4th place.
Sometimes simple is best.
Thanks to Charle for all your work, even if some of it could've been avoided imho. Hindsight, & all that.
& thanks to Lovebabes56 for your efforts.
The HOF is a tough gig.
Hope this post will be helpful.