How to score the contestants fairly is a problem. I choose to rank them based on how many other contestants they beat out of each weekly episode of the regular season going into Fashion Week. If there are 10 contestants in a week, the winner is better than 9 of them, the runner up in the top-3 is ahead of 8 of them and behind 1 , the lower one in the top-3 is ahead of 7 others. All the people who are not winners or losers are tied, equal, not ahead or behind each other, but they are below the top-3 and above the bottom-3, so they each get a rank of 3 (they are ahead of the 3 in the bottom-3). The bottom-3 has one person who is in but not in the bottom-2, so they have 2 others that they beat this week. The bottom-2 person who is in, not eliminated, has only one person below themselves. The eliminated person is zero, they have nobody lower than themselves in this week competition. So, one point for each person below a rank, but no points for people equal or above the rank. Sometimes there is more than one winner, Viktor & Joshua McKinley tied for the HK for New Balance competition, and sometimes team members all tied for higher, or lower, ranks giving the members of ties equal status, not higher or lower than other members of the tie, but higher or lower than other designers that week.
Early seasons had less designers. The competition was weaker, with fewer competitors, fewer distractions, less chaos and less commotion to damage the creative process. The winner of Season 1, episode 1 got 11 points for beating all the others in the competition, but in season 9, episode 1, the winner got 15 points because they had to beat 4 extra competitors. Season 9 was longer and harder and more grinding. The winners in Season 9 going into Fashion Week had only 5 weeks to make their best clothing, while Season 1 designers had five months allowance to do the same thing.
You can look at the two side by side tables below, Season 1 on the left, Season 9 on the right. At the bottom of each list is the scores of the top designers going into Fashion Week. Anya beat all the other desgners in her season, but she beat by a great margin Jay, winner of Season 1. Anya beat 68 designers in season 9 to get the right to go to Fashion Week. Jay beat only 37 other designers to get his place at Fashion Week. Christian Siriano only beat 51 designers during season 4 to get his spot at Fashion Week, and twice he was on the bottom-2 a whisker away from going home. You can go to the blog entry with the nine season scorecards kept by the impartial WIKIPEDIA to count for yourself the contestants beat each week of each season by the best of the best. http://anya-fan.blogspot.com/2011/11/compare-scorecards-for-all-nine-seasons.html
Season 1 Episode 1 Austin = 11 Nora = 10 Vanessa = 9 Jay = 3 Kara Saun = 3 Robert = 3 Kevin = 3 Alexandra = 3 Mario = 3 Wendy = 2 Starr = 1 Daniel = 0 Season 1, Episode 2 Kara Saun = 10 Robert = 9 Jay = 3 Austin = 3 Kevin = 3 Alexandra = 3 Vanessa = 3 Nora = 2 Starr = 2 Wendy = 1 Mario = 0 Season 1, Episode 3 Wendy = 9 Jay = 8 Alexandra = 7 Kara Saun = 4 Kevin = 4 Nora = 4 Vanessa = 4 Austin = 2 Robert = 1 Starr = 0 Season 1, Episode 4 Kevin = 8 Alexandra = 7 Jay = 4 Kara Saun = 4 Robert = 4 Wendy = 2 Austin = 2 Nora = 1 Vanessa = 0 Season 1, Episode 5 Kara Saun = 7 Jay = 6 Wendy = 2 Robert = 2 Kevin = 2 Alexandra = 2 Austin = 1 Nora = 0 Season 1, Episode 6 Austin = 6 Jay = 5 Robert = 4 Kara Saun = 3 Wendy = 2 Kevin = 1 Alexandra = 0 Season 1, Episode 7 Kara Saun = 5 Jay = 4 Robert = 3 Austin = 2 Wendy = 1 Kevin = 0 Season 1, Episode 8 Kara Saun = 4 Jay = 3 Austin = 2 Wendy = 1 Robert= 0 Season 1, Episode 9 Wendy = 3 Jay = 1 Kara Saun = 1 Austin = 0 Season 1, Finalist Season Scores Jay = 37 points Kara Saun = 41 points Wendy = 23 points | Season 9, Episode 1 Bert = 15 Anya = 14 Anthony Ryan = 13 Josh M = 3 Viktor = 3 Kimberly = 3 Laura = 3 Oliver = 3 Bryce = 3 Becky = 3 Danielle = 3 Cecelia = 3 Fallene = 3 Julie = 2 Josh C = 1 Rafael = 0 Season 9, Episode 2 Oliver = 14 Anthony Ryan = 13 Josh M = 12 Anya = 3 Viktor = 3 Kimberly = 3 Laura = 3 Bert = 3 Becky = 3 Danielle = 3 Cecelia = 3 Julie = 3 Bryce = 2 Fallene = 1 Josh C = 0 Season 9, Episode 3 Laura = 13 Anthony Ryan = 12 Kimberly =8 Becky =8 Danielle =8 Cecelia =8 Anya = 6 Oliver =6 Julie = 2 Josh M = 2 Bert = 2 Bryce = 2 Viktor = 1 Fallene = 0 Season 9, Episode 4 Kimberly = 12 Viktor = 11 Anya = 10 Josh M = 3 Laura = 3 Bert = 3 Anthony Ryan = 3 Oliver = 3 Bryce = 3 Becky = 3 Danielle = 2 Cecelia = 1 Julie = 0 Season 9, Episode 5 Josh M = 10 Viktor = 10 Bryce = 9 Anya = 3 Kimberly = 3 Laura = 3 Bert = 3 Becky = 3 Josh C = 3 Oliver = 2 Anthony Ryan = 1 Danielle = 0 Season 9, Episode 6 Anthony Ryan = 10 Joshua M = 9 Laura = 8 Anya = 3 Viktor = 3 Kimberly = 3 Bryce = 3 Becky = 3 Bert = 2 Oliver = 1 Josh C = 0 Season 9, Episode 7 Anya = 9 Oliver = 8 Viktor = 5 Anthony Ryan = 5 Bryce = 5 Kimberly = 2 Laura = 2 Bert = 2 Josh M = 1 Becky = 0 Season 9, Episode 8 Josh M = 8 Viktor = 7 Anya = 6 Kimberly = 3 Laura = 3 Oliver = 3 Bert = 2 Anthony Ryan = 1 Bryce = 0 Season 9, Episode 9 Viktor = 7 Josh M = 6 Bert = 5 Laura = 3 Anthony Ryan = 3 Anya = 2 Kimberly = 1 Oliver = 0 Season 9, Episode 10 Anya = 6 Bert = 5 Viktor = 4 Kimberly = 3 Laura = 2 Josh M = 1 Anthony Ryan = 0 Season 9, Episode 11 Anya = 5 Josh M = 4 Kimberly = 3 Viktor = 2 Laura = 1 Bert = 0 Season 9, Episode 12 Anya = 2 Josh M = 2 Viktor = 2 Kimberly = 1 Laura = 0 Season 9, Finalist Season Scores Anya = 69 Josh M = 61 Viktor = 58 Kimberly = 45 Anthony Ryan = 61 |