The eight remaining contestants were a bit befuddled at first, not knowing whether they should trade in their righteous guitar licks and smooth vocal flow for head locks and steel chair shots. WWE Superstar and corporate Suit Triple H did little to straight out the confusion, insisting that the would-be Fan Idols were waging war in the latest incarnation of War Games: The Match Beyond.
Much to the Hosts discomfort, the Game egged on the warring contestants:
"Pile drive-uh him on the belt! That's it, right onto the gold-uh!" he barked at Sloth Spartan, who held Knalsic Loves to Boogie upside down, dropping him like a sack of potatoes on a FAN Idol belt that had an etching of the Shockmaster's Mask emblazoned upon it.
"Drop the leg-uh... no, from the top of the cage-uh. Yeah! Into that very ring!" the Cerebral Assassin bellowed at fw91, as he leapt into the air, dropping a leg on Elias Cage, Master of Escape, who was held down by Stinger4Christ, who busted out the scorpion deathlock on his ursine foe.
KingOrangeTyger shook his head at the carnage displayed in front of him. After about a good half an hour of pure wrasslin' violence, the judges returned with their verdicts, each representing a famous wrestling faction of days gone past in the Squared Circle: "The Enforcer" Peg Anderson, a real Horseman indeed, with his leather jacket, PW trunks, a Horse's Head on his shirt front, four fingers in the air; Brad Ambrose of the Shield, his riot gear sporting a ninja motif, a mask over his face, boxing gloves upon his hands, a Hound of Musical Justice; J-X, the Degenerate crotch chopping, neon-spray painting judge, no one can tell him what to wear, what to do, or how to judge; the New World Orange, taking over FAN Idol with his controversial judgments and acid tongue promos, the Orange and Black (no Taz sadly) running wild for Life, an Orange Too Sweet as the Survey would say; and Barret's Peak, always looking at the Biggah Pictah, a black W in a yellow background on her t-shirt, she is certainly one with the rest of the Fan Idol judges, and her gloves hide the sacred scars that tell who she is...
KingOrangeTyger: Contestants, my Clique of judges have returned with their decision for Round 23. One Team has won, one team has lost, and two contestants will face off in our Ninth Elimination Sing-off, as they should. This Season of Fan Idol has continued to increase in difficulty and Round 24 will be an ordeal that will reveal who truly has the ingenuity to continue farther along. But, first things first. We will go through course by course and I will announce the winning team...
Team Roxie Daggers consisted of FAN Idol Contestants Roxie Daggers, Elias Cage: Master of Escape, Knalsic loves to Boogie, and Spiderfab4. Team the Anonymous GM consisted of FAN Idol Contestants The Anonymous GM, fw91, Sloth Spartan, and Stinger4Christ. Two very talented teams that squared off in the toughest Round to date, the results being very close indeed.
First, let's start with Appetizers.
Appetizers saw Team Captains Roxie Daggers and the Anonymous GM going at it face to face!!! The team captains had to pick one song that was the first track of an album and one song that was three minutes or less in duration. Roxie Daggers chose a sampler of classic rock, whetting our palates with Prince's Let's Go Crazy and Next to You by the Police, while the Anonymous GM tantalized our taste buds with two contemporary openers, bringing to the meal Passion Pit's Take a Walk and Bottom of the River by Delta Rae.
A close battle, the score 115 to 103, the winner is...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
The Anonymous GM!!! great jobs by both of you and a wonderful way to start this Round. Congrats Anonymous GM, as you scored the single highest score for this Round. Not to be outdone, Roxie, you scored the second highest!
Let's move on to the Main Course, shall we?
The Main Course saw Knalsic Loves to Boogie squaring off against fw91. Two rock-oriented contestants, the Main Course representatives had to choose a song that was an album's title track and a song that was a single from band or solo artist. Knalsic Loves to Boogie grilled up the pop classic rock stylings of the Turtles' Battle of the Bands and the glam rock high style of Gudbuy T'Jane by Slade while fw91 sliced off a piece of hard rock with Meat Loaf's The Monster is Loose and poured us a bit of college alt-rock with the Great Beyond by R.E.M.
With a razor-thin margin of victory, 68-66, the Main Course goes to...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Knalsic Loves to Boogie!!! Congratulations on winning a very tough Round. Very close battle guys; fw91, it could've gone either way. Lots of rock goodness in this match-up!
So far, it's 1-1. Let's go back a bit and get our Soup and Salad from our Waiter (I guess I'll be the Waiter)
Soup and Salad was between two FAN Idol veterans, Elias Cage: Master of Escape (Cageking) and last Season's runner-up, the dangerous Stinger4Christ. Lobster Bisque and Marinated cucumbers, Menudo and Caesar Salad, the two veterans had to choose one rock song and one pop song. Elias Cage: Master of Escape stirred up the Round with two Ghetto Blasting Party songs, Party Hard by the Moshpitting inspirational speaker Andrew WK and the "I'm not Hannah Montana anymore" pop princess Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA. Not to be outdone, Stinger4Christ dressed this Round up with a fine musical salad, with the MILF-tastic Maggie May by Rod Stewart and ZZ Top's bordello ballad La Grange.
A Round of polar opposites, the Judges ruled this 96 to 63 in favor of...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Stinger4Christ!!! Fantastic songs for a Round that could drown a contestant with all its available options. Good job! Cageking, I'm sorry, but you put up two incredibly fun songs but it just wasn't to be. Very tough competition for you this Round.
We are at 2-1. The Final Round is Dessert.
Perhaps the most difficult Round and the one most open to interpretation, the Dessert Round asked for Contestants to choose one song that would wow our Judges and one that would "make them feel good". Two tough tasks that were taken up by two tough competitors, Spiderfab4 and Sloth Spartan. Spiderfab4 gave us two scoops of two diverse performances, Danish Pop duo Junior Senior's toe-tapping Move Your Feet and the improbable Susan Boyle's Wings to Fly, while Sloth Spartan baked us a wonderful, chocolately duo of the Ben Folds Five's Do it Anyway Ft. the rock muppetry of Fraggle Rock and Somebody I Used to Know by the Canadian Indy band Walk off the Earth.
Another close Round, the Contestant winning 89 to 80 is...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Spiderfab4!!! Quite a high score Spiderfab4, your two dessert songs struck a chord with the judges.
Very Close Sloth Spartan, keep it up! Two fantastic picks that played well to what this rough Round asked of you.
So, that means that our two teams are tied 2-2! We can't decided this with courses won, so we will have to do it with total points.
Again, the margin of victory was relatively close, far closer than one might think. As per the Round rules, all members of the winning team are safe from the Elimination Sing-Off, as well as the two highest (or, depending on ties, top three or even the sole highest scorer) of the losing team.
The total scores were 357 to 323. The winning team, the members of which are all guaranteed to move on to Round 24, is...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Team the Anonymous GM!!! Incredible job! Such a difficult Round but you all have moved on. The Anonymous GM, fw91, Sloth Spartan, and Stinger4Christ, you can all rest easy for now. The Anonymous GM was the highest scorer for the Round!
**********************************************
Team Roxie Daggers, please step forward. You four did a phenomenal job but two of your members will face off in the Elimination Sing-Off, where we will say goodbye to one contestant. Halfway through the Season, this was the toughest Round yet, and the Season will only get harder and harder. This was a difficult decision but, the two contestants safe from Elimination are...
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}Roxie Daggers, who scored 103 points
and
Spiderfab4, who scored 89 points!!!
Even though you won one of the courses Knalsic Loves to Boogie, you still scored in third place, with 68 points while Elias Cage: Master of Escape scored in fourth with 63 points.
You are two very strong competitors, so we hope to see a phenomenal Sing-Off between you two You've both been there before and survived, so let's have a great Round!!!
Judge's Rankings:
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Roxie’s Team: 323
Anonymous’s Team- 357 points
1. Appetizers- Anonymous GM
Roxie Daggers- Appetizers- 103
Opening Track- Let’s Go Crazy- Prince
J-16, O-15, P-8, SB-9, WP-16= 64
Under 3 Minutes- Next to You- The Police
J-13, O-3, P-5, SB-13, WP-5= 39
Vs.
Anonymous Gm – Appetizers- 115
Opening Track- Take a Walk- Passion Pit
J-14, O-2 P-15, SB-4, WP-13 =48
Under 3 Minutes- Bottom of the River- Delta Rae
J-15, O-7, P-16, SB-14, WP-15= 67
2. Soup and Salad- Anonymous GM
Cageking- Soup and Salad- 63
Pop- Party in The USA- Miley Cyrus
J-1, O-11, P-4, SB-12, WP-1= 29
Rock- Party Hard- Andrew WK
J-3, O-13, P-10, SB-2, WP-6= 34
Vs.
Stinger4Christ- Soup/Salad- 96
Pop Song- Maggie May- Rod Stewart
J-10, O-14, P-3, SB- 7, WP-8= 42
Rock Song- La Grange- ZZ Top
J-7, O-16, P-13, SB-8, WP-10= 54
3. Main Courses- Roxie Daggers
Knalsic Loves to Boogie- 68
Album Title- Battle of the Bands- The Turtles
J-9, O-4, P-7, SB-10, WP-7= 37
Album Single- Gudbuy T’Jane- Slade
J-11, O-10, P-2, SB-5, WP-3= 31
Vs.
fw91- 66
Title Track-The Monster is Loose- Meat Loaf
J-2, O-8, P-9, SB-1, WP-2= 22
Single- The Great Beyond- R.E.M.
J-5, O-5, P-14, SB-6, WP-14= 44
4. Desserts- Roxie Daggers
Spiderfab4 – Dessert- 89
Feel Good- Move Your Feet- Junior Senior
J-12, O-1, P-11, SB-16, WP-12= 52
Wow song- Wings To Fly- Susan Boyle
J-8, O-9, P-1, SB-15, WP-3= 37
Vs.
Sloth Spartan – Dessert- 80
Feel Good- Do it Anyway" Ft. Fraggle Rock- Ben Folds Five
J-6, O-6, P-6, SB-3, WP-11= 32
The Wow- Somebody That I Used to Know- Walk off the Earth
J-4, O-12, P-12, SB-11, WP-9= 48