Something is rotten in the state of Denmark: the ‘Fan Favourite’ portion of X Games Real Snow has been cancelled, with foul play the apparent cause.
The judge’s decisions had already been announced, with Bode Merrill the deserved winner ahead of Dan Brisse and Dylan Thompson. Bode took to Instagram to express how utterly stoked he was:
Meanwhile, none of the three medallists had made it to the final of the Fan Favourite event. That was being duked out by Frank April and Eiki Helgason, both of whom had made quality parts. Now neither will get the title, and the $10,000 cash prize will be split among the eight contestants.
From the looks of things. we’ll probably never know who was the true viewer’s pick, nor are we likely to get any details on what exactly went on (the organisers have been tight-lipped, only mentioning that the cancellation was “due to vote tampering”). Of course, none of this makes the videos any less ridicu-tastic; watch all the entries here.
So what’s the deal? Is this like when a company buys up votes from overseas, in the same manner that Justin Bieber’s people reportedly beef up his Twitter/Instagram followers? And will we ever again have a major snowboard contest that isn’t mired in controversy?