HitFix Launches Fantasy Reality TV League for American Idol Season 10

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Entertainment news and events site HitFix.com unveiled a new game today for fans of "American Idol" inspired by Fantasy Sports.  HitFix's Fantasy Reality TV League for "American Idol" will allows fans of the country's most popular television program to compete against each other in predicting this year's "Idol" champion.

Although American Idol has been underway for several weeks, HitFix's Fantasy League (http://www.hitfix.com/AmericanIdol) has been designed to start when the show announces the top 24 contestants on Thursday, Feb. 24. At that time, players will be able to create their own private leagues or join site wide-open leagues. The player with the highest score across all leagues will be crowned the 2011 HitFix Fantasy American Idol Champion.

In an added bonus for "Idol" fans, former Idol veterans Phil Stacey and Melinda Doolittle, who finished 6th and 3rd respectively in season six, have signed on to also test their skills in predicting who the nation will crown the next "American Idol."

HitFix made it a priority to ensure Fantasy Idol has a broad appeal. HitFix CEO Jennifer Sargent explained, "We wanted to create a game that would be fun and engaging for casual fans of the show as well as diehard 'Idol' lovers. After examining dozens of formats and scoring models we've come up with a game that's easy to play and understand, but has enough depth to be interesting."

The game play itself is fairly straightforward. Players will "drag and drop" pictures of the Idol contestants to rank them from best to worst. When a contestant is eliminated, players will score points based on where that contestant fell in their rankings. As the show eliminates different contestants, fantasy players will be able to revise their rankings every week.

HitFix Editor-in-Chief Gregory Ellwood commented, "Fantasy Football or Basketball is great if you love sports, but what if reality TV is your passion? We wanted to give people who might not be into sports a chance to compete against each other in an arena that's familiar to them."

Along with Stacey and Doolittle, HitFix Executive Editor and veteran "Idol" blogger Dan Fienberg, Yahoo Music Managing editor Lyndsey Parker and reality TV blogger Rickey Yaneza will also participate in the league. The American Idol contestant rankings of all five featured players will be made public so all Fantasy Idol players can benefit from the knowledge of the experts.

HitFix's Fantasy Reality TV League for "American Idol" will end in mid-May when the nation crowns the show's 10th winner.

For more info visit HitFix.com/AmericanIdol

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SOURCE HitFix