Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I Call Bullshit on AskMen.com’s Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2010 List


About a month ago, AskMen.com revealed their – emphasis on “their” – list of the top 99 most desirable women of 2010. The winner was Emmanuelle Chriqui. Now I’m all for seeing a hot Hebrew honey get her props, but the number one spot? Really? That’s when I got to investigating – because really, despite my troubling penchant for procrasturbation procrastinating, an urgent call to task like this demands my full attention. Paying notice to AskMen’s rating system reveals that the ultimate score that each women can earn is calculated by averaging the readers’ score with – get this(!) – the AskMen.com’s staff score. That doesn’t sound very democratic, now, does it? AskMen.com boasts that over 6 million votes were cast in this “election.” But what significance does that hold if the staff can tip the scales in favor of one woman over another? I crunched the numbers and it ain’t pretty.

AskMen.com’s Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2010 Data @ Google Docs

As you can see from this spreadsheet that I created, Emmanuelle Chriqui earned a 92.9 from the readers. (She was ranked #6 overall, based on readers’ scores alone.) AskMen.com’s staff gave her a 96.9. That’s a four point spread! And those four points are what boosted Chriqui to the number one spot! Now here’s where it gets absolutely sinister: Marisa Miller scored a 95.2 from AskMen.com’s readers. That was the highest score amongst all women, earning her the #1 spot as far as readers’ scores are concerned. But interestingly enough, the AskMen.com staff gave her a lower grade than that: 94.3. That’s a 0.9 spread.

Now let’s do the math: Emmanuelle Chriqui’s averaged score (between AskMen.com’s readers and staff) was 94.9. Marisa Miller’s averaged score was 94.8. Emmanuelle Chriqui “won” by a decimal point! But again let’s remember: Chriqui was assisted by the AskMen.com staff’s generous 4 point (2 points when you consider the averaging math) boost. Miller on the other hand took a hit from the staff’s 94.3 rating. Isn’t it convenient that the AskMen.com staff gave her a 94.3 and not a 94.4 (which would have made it a Miller/Chriqui tie) or 94.5 (which would have secured Miller’s #1 spot)? Of course it’s not. I call shenanigans! Who's with me?

In conclusion, AskMen.com’s staff single-handedly robbed Marisa Miller of her Most Desirable Woman crown! Don’t get me wrong, I have no real interest in the results of these meaningless lists. (I would’ve expected Megan Fox to have won by the way.) But injustice – that’s right, injustice – must end, once and for all!

Here are some more examples of reader/staff score discrepancies:

Lakshmi Menon
Reader Rating: 75.2; Staff Rating: 92.2; Spread: 17(!)
Winner (in my opinion): Neither. An 83.7 average seems fair to me.

Emily Scott
Reader Rating: 91.4; Staff Rating: 76.2; Spread: 15.2
Winner (in my opinion): Readers.

Grace Park
Reader Rating: 78; Staff Rating: 88.9; Spread: 10.9
Winner (in my opinion): Readers.

Halle Berry
Reader Rating: 73.2; Staff Rating: 84; Spread: 10.8
Winner (in my opinion): Staff.

Olivia Wilde
Reader Rating: 87.2; Staff Rating: 78.9; Spread: 8.3
Winner (in my opinion): Readers.

AskMen.com’s Readers’ Top 10 for 2010:
1. Marisa Miller
2. Alessandra Ambrosio
3. Kate Beckinsale
4. Megan Fox
5. Jessica Alba
6. Emmanuelle Chriqui
7. Kristen Stewart
8. Erin Andrews
9. Scarlett Johansson
10. Olivia Munn

AskMen.com’s Staff’s Top 10 for 2010:
1. Emmanuelle Chriqui
2. Marisa Miller
3. Penelope Cruz
4. Beyonce
5. Eva Mendes
6. Cheryl Cole
7. Gisele Bundchen
8. Bar Refaeli
9. Kate Beckinsale
10. Paz Vega

Readers or staff: You decide!