2010 June | Finance Diva

Last week the Beyond Blogging Project launched their product by holding a contest every evening for 5 evenings. The online game show was modeled after the wildly popular Hollywood Squares. Luckily, I was a contestant on the evening of Wednesday, June 24, 2010. I was able to get three in a row in addition I won the bonus round (using my patented tic-tac-toe strategy, which wins 8 out of 10 games). The prizes I received are phenomenal; a copy of the Beyond Blogging book, and additional books through Amazon which will come as a $30.00 gift credit.

Monday night (June 28, 2010) was the Grand Finale. There were 5 4 of us competing American Idol style. The host(s) asked a question and each contestant took a turn answering. I felt like I was in the Mrs. America contest, unfortunately I couldn’t work “World Peace” into any of my answers.

There were three questions total; I was lucky enough to receive the most votes during each of the first two questions (votes I received were above 75% both times). A highlight of the evening was knowing my answers resonated with with audience members through their votes. Even the celebrity guest agreed with me on the second question (keep reading for a list of the questions). This is extra special as I am a newbie blogger.

As we entered the third and final round, there were only two contestants left. Both from the United States and located on different coasts. The last question was a doosy and during the voting process the audience members were unsure if the numbers had changed (each contestant was known as a number). The two last contestants were contestant 2 and 3, but when contestant 1 was voted off the island show, some of the audience were unsure of the numbering system – which contestant was which number.

In the third question round Contestant number 1 (who had been eliminated in round two) received about 12% of the votes. Contestant number2 received 47% and contestant number 3 (moi) received 40% of the votes. Even I, wasn’t sure of the numbering system and I inadvertently voted for contestant 2; who later told me he had voted for contestant 1. DUOH!

Here is a list of the finale contestants, the links above will take you to each contestants website and their twitter handles. Watch for these people to be the next big names in the blogosphere.

Contestant 1: Elisha. No twitter handle.
Contestant 2: Roy naim @RoyNaim on Twitter
Contestant 3: MYSELF @nickelnm on Twitter
Contestant 4: Chris Hinton @CDhinton on Twitter

Due to the extreme closeness of the final round and the confusion regarding which contestant was which number; I approached the organizers in the Q&A session during the after party/green room about awarding both of the final finalists with members into the Beyond Blogging Project. They said they would speak about it behind closed doors.

Overall, I enjoyed the two evenings I spent interacting with Jordan Cooper, Nathan Hangan, and Mike-Cliffe Jones during both the preliminary and finale rounds of Bloggywood Squares. I attended 3 out of the 6 nights of the after party/green room festivities. Tell me, how would you have answered the questions presented to the contestants during the finale? I would love to read your answers and your comments. We can all learn together.