Did Wikipedia Spoil The Winner of Tonight's America's Best Dance Crew Finale?
uh, oh - this message was left on my blog sometime today. Did Wikipedia spoil the winner of America’s Best Dance Crew, Season Three - which airs tonight?
The post, by someone named Dom, says he (she?) spotted a Wikipedia update which declared that Quest crew won the competition.
The reason this post seems legit to me: the same thing happened last season. I noticed then that results were posted on the ABDC wikipedia page in advance of airing, then erased a few hours later.
And I wrote about it here. ABDC judges dismissed Supreme Soul, after Supreme Soul and Super Crew were voted into the bottom two. The decision was disclosed on Wikipedia before airing.
That said, I don’t think the show is fixed. The show tapes on Tuesday and airs on Thursday. (The finale is live.) But I do think it’s possible that an insider is posting spoilers prematurely.
Which might be an honest mistake on the part of someone at Warner Bros. Studios and/or MTV but still…
Here’s the post by an ABDC fan who says they spotted the finale results on Wikipedia.
Funny i came across this text…
BECAUSE…
afew days after the airing of season 3 episode 7, i looked up the wikipedia page of ABDC season 3. when i looked at the graphic displaying the results of the crews for each episode it \”DECLARED THAT QUEST WERE THE WINNERS AND BEAT FREAKS AS THE RUNNER UP.\” next day i check the same graphic. GUESS what… the graphic was edited, week 8 was left blank!!!
now you have to ask yourself questions… I HOPE THIS SHOW IS NOT RIGGED, I MEAN PEOPLE ARE CALLING IN HAVING TO PAY TO VOTE!!! im a beats freak fan so i do have bias against QUEST, lets just hope it was an honest mistake… though if quest win, i am not going to forget what i saw on wikipedia… i hope the producers are playing fair and not fixing results to their liking.
love from sydney australia.
DOM.
UPDATE: yep, Quest crew won.
Dikki commented:
Quest Crew is the best. The Beat Freaks were good too, but unfortunately I hated how the judges/producers were hyping up the Beat Freaks just to gain more viewers and create a strong rivalry.
John commented:
DOMsydney, which crew was your friend a member of? I love all of the season 2 crews, so I'll be jealous no matter what lol.
DOMsydney commented:
HITOMI’S comment:
“My friend was in ABDC\’s season 2 and told us that the producers called her crew before the next week\’s taping and was told that they would not be around for the next week. Her crew was thus eliminated from the show the following week.”
Congratulations to QUEST!! deserved champions.
but this is exactly the point i wanted people to be aware of… the legitamacy of the vote/decision process. From experience, ive been involved in dance competitions and SYTYCD australia, and there is a clause saying ‘producers and/or exc. producers’ have the right to make any FINAL decisions or “over rulings”. i love dance n i love this show, but i but cant help but question FAIRplay when unmeasured effort is seen as second to ratings and popularity (just like what happend to hitomi’s friend’s dance crew in abdc season 2).
thanks to all who responded, for the record im not here to pick fights, i am just here for ope discussion and discovery.
domz, sydney australia
BloggingBestDanceCrew.com commented:
Anyone can post anything on Wikipedia, and often do. I know that during the final weeks of ABDC Season 3, there was a lot of unsubstantiated and random edits from fans supporting their favorite crews. The moderators do their best do get rid of the unsubstantiated edits, but it takes time. In the meantime, people will see these edits (including the one saying that Quest won) and think that it was from an official (or at least an informed source). I can tell you from my personal dealings with MTV (for my blogsite) that almost nobody there knew the results until the very end.
mary mcnamara commented:
P.S. to Anna - I agree that Quest won fair and square. they were amazing. I loved Beat Freaks as well. It was a great finale. two very deserving crews. In spite of the Wikipedia posting, I was actually (somewhat) surprised that Quest won. I thought Beat Freaks might enjoy an advantage with male viewers.
mary mcnamara commented:
Hi Anna - I agree that anyone can fiddle w/ Wikipedia. However, this is the second time, at least, that a CORRECT result has been posted prematurely. The first time (follow my link) I was aware of the mistake: last season, Wikipedia noted a day or two in advance of airing that Supreme Soul and Super Crew fell into the bottom two and Supreme Soul was eliminated. (Ironically, I sat in on the rehearsal the week B4.) A lucky guess? Maybe. but it's possible that someone w/ inside info is posting results prematurely.
Michelle commented:
anybody with the proper knowledge of html can edit wikipedia. heck. i can even go there right now and declare you the winner of abdc.
it was probably one crazed Quest fan who just wanted to mess with people.
Hitomi commented:
My friend was in ABDC\’s season 2 and told us that the producers called her crew before the next week\’s taping and was told that they would not be around for the next week. Her crew was thus eliminated from the show the following week.
anna commented:
Seriously, Wikipedia is not a good source of information. ANYBODY can mess around with it. I honestly don't even understand what the fuss is all about? Quest won fair and square. Wikipedia is wikipedia, an unreliable source of info.