Evil Grimace

The 2025 list is the first since 2014 that does not have a Nobel laureate on it. They had either Jimmy Carter or Henry Kissinger, sometimes both, for any given year from 2015 to 2024. Given their longevity and waiting a nearly decade for two hits, maybe laureates just aren't the best picks.

I am your host, @Evil Grimace. As per protocol, I will not enter a team. I'm looking forward to running the 2025 game and welcome entries of the creator, former game runners, and past champs and players. I am using @paddyfool's rules verbatim as I've used them before, they work well and I know the system. Please submit a list of names from this year's deathlist to predict who on the list is actually going to die this year. Points will be allocated as follows: +1 per death correctly predicted -1 per death incorrectly predicted +4 if the number of deaths you predict matches the actual number of deaths, i.e. the number of names in your list matches the actual number of deaths +2 if you only miss the correct total number of deaths by 1 -2 if you miss the total number of deaths by more than 5 +1 bonus for a "unique" correct prediction (predicted by no other punter here) +1 bonus if you pick the bookie's favourite (single most popular guess in this contest) and they are a hit. -1 penalty if you pick the bookie's favourite and they are a miss. A further +1 bonus for every 3rd correctly predicted death (+1 on 3rd, 6th, 9th etc) You may if you wish select one entry as a joker. We are changing the rules for the Joker this year: you get an additional +2 if correct, and an additional -2 if incorrect; no more multiplication. In the event of a tie on points, the dead-lock (see what I did there) will be broken by the following: 1) Whichever team had the most hits 2) If unbroken by 1, whichever team was closest in their guess of predicted deaths for the year 3) If unbroken by 1 and 2, whichever team was submitted first. Entries in by January 10th on/before 23:59, please, either by pm or by posting here. Any deaths before then will still score for any lists entered at least 24 hours before the death and will still count towards the total deaths for the year. New for 2025 - 'Der Kaiser' Rule The early deaths of Johns, Draper and Beckenbauer in 2024 made the scorekeeping a nightmare. So now I give you 'Der Kaiser' Rule which states: 'The contest shall close on January 10 23:59 or at the time of the reported death of a pick on the forum, whichever comes first' Regarding entries, if you give them to me in the order they are given on the main page, eg 1. Dick van Dyke (Joker), 4. Alan Greenspan, etc. it greatly helps with selection entry. And please mark your joker clearly too! Good luck.

Update 18 January Second hit: Linda Nolan Teams with hit: 9 Teams with joker: 0 Punters: Summer in Transylvania, theoldlady, Funeralopolis, ladyfiona, DoorSlammer, Clorox Bleachman, The Old Crem, Redrumours, Wormfarmer Second (consecutive) hit: Summer in Transylvania, theoldlady, Funeralopolis, ladyfiona, DoorSlammer, Clorox Bleachman, The Old Crem, Redrumours Nolan was picked by a little over a third (9/26) of punters. As Le Pen was so widely picked, it is not a surprise that 8 of 9 who got the hit now have their second consecutive hit, one hit shy of the 3 hit bonus. Updated Score Nolan Bendee87 -13 Book -15 BuffaloPhil -16 chilean way -16 Clorox Bleachman -16 1 arghton -17 Bibliogryphon -17 ladyfiona -17 1 gcreptile -18 Great Uncle Bulgaria -18 The Old Crem -18 1 Fox B -19 The Daredevil -19 Funeralopolis -19 1 Redrumours -19 1 livingbygrace -20 theoldlady -20 1 DoorSlammer -20 1 LizLemon -21 Summer in Transylvania -21 1 trome -22 Grimgrass -22 Sleepiestpeep -23 diego -23 Wormfarmer -24 1 Steve -31

Update 18 January First hit: Jean-Marie Le Pen Teams with hit: 25 Teams with joker: 0 Punters: Everyone except Wormfarmer Well, this is the big one. 25/26 punters picked him, he was the bookie's favourite, so those 25 get 2 points for the hit and bookie bonus. And it changes nothing on the rankings! It does give nearly everyone a good start to the third hit bonus. It does feel like the DL CL answer to Hank Scorpio's question, "By the way, what's your least favourite country, Italy or France?". Updated Score Le Pen Bookie's Fav Bendee87 -13 1 1 Book -15 1 1 BuffaloPhil -16 1 1 chilean way -16 1 1 arghton -17 1 1 Clorox Bleachman -17 1 1 Bibliogryphon -17 1 1 gcreptile -18 1 1 ladyfiona -18 1 1 Great Uncle Bulgaria -18 1 1 Fox B -19 1 1 The Daredevil -19 1 1 The Old Crem -19 1 1 Funeralopolis -20 1 1 livingbygrace -20 1 1 Redrumours -20 1 1 theoldlady -21 1 1 LizLemon -21 1 1 DoorSlammer -21 1 1 Summer in Transylvania -22 1 1 trome -22 1 1 Grimgrass -22 1 1 Sleepiestpeep -23 1 1 diego -23 1 1 Wormfarmer -25 Steve -31 1 1

Baseline points Here are the baseline points for all runners. The following penalties are in place: incorrectly predicted (-1 for each 'hit') + (-2 out by 5 on total hits; applies to all runners at this point) + (-2 for having joker incorrect; applies to all runners at this point) = current score. For example @Bendee87 is at -15. Calculated = -1 * 11 hits + (-2) + (-2) = -11-2-2 = -15 Here's the starting ranks. Bendee87 -15 Book -17 BuffaloPhil -18 chilean way -18 arghton -19 Clorox Bleachman -19 Bibliogryphon -19 gcreptile -20 ladyfiona -20 Great Uncle Bulgaria -20 Fox B -21 The Daredevil -21 The Old Crem -21 Funeralopolis -22 livingbygrace -22 Redrumours -22 theoldlady -23 LizLemon -23 DoorSlammer -23 Summer in Transylvania -24 trome -24 Grimgrass -24 Sleepiestpeep -25 diego -25 Wormfarmer -25 Steve -33

Statistics section updated with the full details and to the second hit (Nolan). Three updates to follow: 1) baseline points 2) Le Pen - the bookies favourite and a choice of 25 of 26 players, yet not jokered, so don't expect much change in the rankings 3) Nolan - a pick of 9 of 26 players, not jokered, should make some waves

Counting my chickens before they hatch, so here goes... I've got four hits so far: Rinder (8), Yarrow (9, D40 confirmed), Black Bart (10, D40 confirmed), now Nolan (11, D40 retained?) for a total of 38. Total is 35 if Nolan lost D40 status. Surely that is enough for Team of the Month? I'm certain many of these are jokers for others, and with two of the others could edge me out. @Death Impends did Nolan retain D40 status? (Edit - in 2024 she was on 138 teams, so I am certain she did for 2025).

Thankfully @Bibliogryphon and @The Old Crem those joker confirmations are in under the Linda Nolan wire. The 'worthless gremlin' @drol was only picked by a third of teams, but no jokers. The second update will change things up.

@The Old Crem and @Bibliogryphon - I need jokers from you both. Please reply to this message with your selection, keeping in mind that Le Pen is not a possible choice. For everyone else, team entry is ongoing, but as a sneak peak, virtually all teams have Le Pen so the first update will be uneventful. We have at least one Designated Survivor in Angie Dickinson so far.

Yes, @Joey Russ is correct. Le Pen's death triggered 'Der Kaiser' rule, so I cannot accept your late entries @Etushispushingupdaisies and @Hell.

@gcreptile and @Bendee87 - noted and accepted.

@Bendee87 As your entry was in before closure, I'll allow it (I likely would have asked while entering teams). Please post it in reply to this message or yours. And as you've said, Le Pen is not possible.

The list of team entries, in the order they have been recieved, either posted in this forum thread or by PM. All participants have had entries acknowledge by a 'Like' to their post or written message via PM. Nice total of 26, with 17 having entered within the first 24 hours! The List Summer in Transylvania arghton Fox B theoldlady trome The Daredevil LizLemon gcreptile Funeralopolis BuffaloPhil ladyfiona Sleepiestpeep Great Uncle Bulgaria Grimgrass diego Bendee87 DoorSlammer Clorox Bleachman chilean way livingbygrace Book The Old Crem Bibliogryphon Redrumours Wormfarmer Steve

CLOSED FOR ENTRIES! The death of Jean -Marie Le Pen just announced ~10 minutes ago on the forum has triggered 'Der Kaiser' rule which states: 'The contest shall close on January 10 23:59 or at the time of the reported death of a pick on the forum, whichever comes first' Tabulation of team entries was scheduled for after the 10th, I'll see what's possible.

In no way did I expect Rinder to be a Unique, although he was in 2024 (!!). Just the picture with no commentary isn't a good sign. His early November YouTube videos he has difficulty speaking. The last update there is 28 November and he does look puffy in the Christmas update photo.

Written here so that I can complain later about my poor decisions. Drops from 2024 Jeanette Lee (52) - despite terminal ovarian cancer, due to taking Lynparza suggest she has a hereditary/mutation variant that can be managed; late December pictures show she's looking good; one to keep watching... Yoko Ono (91) - only room for one 90-something with D40 points to justify their inclusion (it was Chomsky) Michael Bibi (33?) - had show dates in 2024 and more lined up for 2025, in remission Nigel Starmer-Smith (80) - despite D40 points, hit 80, so -1 pt; again limiting 80-something picks (retained Tilson-Thomas) and I'm leary of dementia picks Gavin Robertson (58) - has a postive outlook and looks great; yearly habit of end December interviews - and he looked great as of 28th Rebecca Schull (95) - my failed attempt at a Unique last year; no new acting credits since 2022, so an easy drop No room and my likely regrets Jose Mujica (89) - I wanted to find room, but as he's likely to hit 90 and drop in pts, I couldn't have another 90-something; my most likely error Frank Caprio (88) - hard not to include a pan can pick, but age and he seems to be doing well Julian Glover (89) - again likely to reach 90; his hit-and-miss attendence at events/comic cons makes me wonder, plus slowing down on acting credits (many in 2023), one I figured could make the main DL Judith Viorst (93) - writer, widow since 2022; I have a cryptic note from Sept '24 that seems important but can't make sense of it now! Well into 90s anyway.

My 2025 teams and subs with commentary. I had 8 hits in 2024 (Irwin, Keith, Burrow, Fields, Cowell, Doherty, Newhart, Carter) and decided a refresh was needed, so only retained 6 from 2024 and dropped 6. Evil Grimace 1 Theo Burrell (joker) - no surprises here; I missed the announcments in 2023 and get to add her for this year 2 Esther Ranzen - carried over from 2024 3 Linda Nolan - carried over from 2024 4 Steve McMichael - carried over from 2024, how he still alive? 5 Noam Chomsky - carried over from 2024, how he still alive? 6 Ian Smith (actor) - age and recent news made me almost not add, but the potential of D40 was too much of a draw 7 Sophie Kinsella - age and diagnosis since 2022 8 Georg Koch - I have the QO concerns that everyone else does, but pan can is a big lock 9 Asma al-Assad - I'll post more in her thread, but this pick is a combination of age and the complications she likely has or will have soon 10 Allan Finnegan - was given 12 months in Feb 2024, but no updates 11 Peter Yarrow - thanks to blog updates the outlook is dire 12 Judy Loe - a bit of a punt, but the frequent updates from Kate helped 13 Michael Tilson Thomas - carried over from 2024, how he still alive? 14 Black Bart (wrestler) - stopping chemo is all I needed to hear 15 Patrick Murray - less updates than I'd like, but it will be two years for the recurrance in spring 2025, plus D40 points 16 James Whale - carried over from 2024, how he still alive? So he can keep complaining? Almost dropped, but the late Dec ICU visit convinced me 17 Nigel McCrery - not sure what terminal illness it is, but I'll gamble 18 Graham Caveney - age (60, dob is 1964 based on first biography) and his prolonged illness 19 Johnnie Walker Tommy Walsh - Homes under the Hammer builder, lung cancer, a bit of a lacklustre sub 20 Mike Rinder - has exhausted 2 drugs, 2 drug cocktails, 2 immunotherapies and had full head radiation by mid-November, then a late November update and no updates since; only a matter of time SUB Tommy Walsh - called up with the death of Johnnie Walker SUB Frankie Valli - 90 - my perennial sub who just manages never to get called up SUB Pope Francis - 88 - couldn't bear to add another 80-something, but know he'll be D40 Nobel Notables Three hits (Higgs, Munro, Carter) in 2024. Constant concern about QO for laureates. 1 Lech Walesa (joker) - poor health, did not attend the Queen's funeral 2 Mairead Maguire 3 14th Dalai Lama 4 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel - 90, had a strike almost three years ago (Jan 2022) 5 Aung San Suu Kyi 6 Mohamed ElBaradei 7 Maria Ressa 8 Wole Soyinka - the death rumors do annoy me, but he's still a valid pick 9 J.M. Coetzee - probably the worst pick, he's known lead a physically active lifestyle 10 Mario Vargas Llosa 11 Bob Dylan 12 Peter Handke 13 Roger Penrose 14 John E Walker 15 Sir James Fraser Stoddart found out he died 5 hours after I'd submitted, pleased to see he did get a QO (!!) 16 James Watson - honestly thought he'd have debuted on the main DL this year 17 Tu Youyou 18 William C Campbell 19 Amartya Sen - a forum niche pick 20 Angus Deaton SUB Geoffrey Hinton - called up to replace Stoddart I was lucky as I was struggling to find three subs, but I've learned my lesson, with three laurates (Karplus, Carter, Stoddart) dying on three consecutive days.

@gcreptile - Richard Garriott (Ultima) is a nice reminder of him having himself in his games; age 63, but likes his space travel. @arghton - I have to add from 'Metroid' (Nintendo) the character designers of Samus Aran, Hiroji Kiyotake (64) and Yoshio Sakamoto (65); both are involved in many NES console games.

Buddy MacKay, Lt Governor (1991-1998) and briefly Governor of Florida (1998-1999) for three weeks, dead at 91. A Democrat, he lost to Jeb Bush in 1998, but served as Governor for 23 days due to the sudden death of Governor Lawton Chiles. Some confusion on the date of his death, but seems to have settled on 31 December 2024.

I am your host, @Evil Grimace. As per protocol, I will not enter a team. I'm looking forward to running the 2024 game and welcome entries of the creator, former game runners, and past champs and players. I am using @paddyfool's rules verbatim as I've used them before, they work well and I know the system. Please submit a list of names from this year's deathlist to predict who on the list is actually going to die this year. Points will be allocated as follows: +1 per death correctly predicted -1 per death incorrectly predicted +4 if the number of deaths you predict matches the actual number of deaths, i.e. the number of names in your list matches the actual number of deaths +2 if you only miss the correct total number of deaths by 1 -2 if you miss the total number of deaths by more than 5 +1 bonus for a "unique" correct prediction (predicted by no other punter here) +1 bonus if you pick the bookie's favourite (single most popular guess in this contest) and they are a hit. -1 penalty if you pick the bookie's favourite and they are a miss. A further +1 bonus for every 3rd correctly predicted death (+1 on 3rd, 6th, 9th etc) You may if you wish select one entry as a joker. We are changing the rules for the Joker this year: you get an additional +2 if correct, and an additional -2 if incorrect; no more multiplication. In the event of a tie on points, the dead-lock (see what I did there) will be broken by the following: 1) Whichever team had the most hits 2) If unbroken by 1, whichever team was closest in their guess of predicted deaths for the year 3) If unbroken by 1 and 2, whichever team was submitted first. Entries in by January 10th on/before 23:59, please, either by pm or by posting here. Any deaths before then will still score for any lists entered at least 24 hours before the death and will still count towards the total deaths for the year. Regarding entries, if you give them to me in the order they are given on the main page, eg 1. Dick van Dyke (Joker), 4. Alan Greenspan, etc. it greatly helps with selection entry. And please mark your joker clearly too! Good luck.

Statistics Number of entries: 26 Average number of picks: ~18 Range of picks: 11 to 29 Number of players with joker: 26 Joker Distribution: Esther Rantzen 2 Nigel Starmer-Smith 1 Joanne Woodward 1 Ian Smith 3 Noam Chomsky 9 Yoko Ono 1 Prunella Scales 1 Pete Murray 1 Stanley Baxter 1 Sonny Rollins 1 Alan Greenspan 1 Cleo Laine 1 Eva Marie Saint 1 Harvey Weinstein 1 Dick van Dyke 1 26 Top 5 picks: Jean-Marie Le Pen (25, 0J), Esther Rantzen (23, 2J), joint Nigel Starmer-Smith and Joanne Woodward (22, 1J), Noam Chomsky (21, 9J) Bookies favourite: Jean-Marie Le Pen with 25 picks, while being jokered zero times Unique picks: Clint Eastwood (Clorox Bleachman), Len Deighton (Steve), Robert Wagner (chilean way), Bernie Ecclestone (ladyfiona), Clive Davis (gcreptile), Giorgio Armani (chilean way) Not Selected: Angie Dickinson, Kim Novak Designated survivor(s): TBD Full list of picks and joker distributions with the ranking as they appear on the DL. A shorter Joker only picks table can be found above. Pink = unique picks, Green = (potential) designated survivor(s) # picks # jokers Dick van Dyke 8 1 Eva Marie Saint 11 1 Pete Murray 19 1 Dennis Skinner 12 0 Ian Smith 21 3 Esther Rantzen 23 2 Nigel Starmer-Smith 22 1 Alan Greenspan 12 1 Linda Nolan 9 0 Mel Brooks 4 0 Cleo Laine 12 1 Stanley Baxter 16 1 Noam Chomsky 21 9 Sandy Gall 8 0 Jean-Marie Le Pen 25 0 Clint Eastwood 1 0 Sonny Rollins 13 1 Tippi Hedren 12 0 John Williams 6 0 Yoko Ono 21 1 Len Deighton 1 0 Geoffrey Boycott 7 0 Julie Goodyear 9 0 Imelda Marcos 8 0 Patricia Routledge 2 0 Prunella Scales 20 1 David Attenborough 9 0 Gene Hackman 7 0 Joanne Woodward 22 1 Robert Wagner 1 0 Desmond Morris 3 0 Hans Blix 4 0 Bernie Ecclestone 1 0 Jim Lovell 2 0 Douglas Hurd 13 0 Angie Dickinson 0 0 Clive Davis 1 0 Harvey Weinstein 9 1 Hal Linden 2 0 Buzz Aldrin 16 0 Petula Clark 2 0 Robert Duvall 2 0 Rupert Murdoch 3 0 Rex Williams 4 0 Giorgio Armani 1 0 Brian Wilson 4 0 Kim Novak 0 0 Frankie Valli 11 0 Asma al-Assad 11 0 Stuart Hall 8 0 459 26 Pick list formatted of ranking by number of picks with jokers. Will also be updated for hits too. Hit Number # picks # jokers 1 Jean-Marie Le Pen 25 0 Esther Rantzen 23 2 Nigel Starmer-Smith 22 1 Joanne Woodward 22 1 Ian Smith 21 3 Noam Chomsky 21 9 Yoko Ono 21 1 Prunella Scales 20 1 Pete Murray 19 1 Stanley Baxter 16 1 Buzz Aldrin 16 0 Sonny Rollins 13 1 Douglas Hurd 13 0 Dennis Skinner 12 0 Alan Greenspan 12 1 Cleo Laine 12 1 Tippi Hedren 12 0 Eva Marie Saint 11 1 Frankie Valli 11 0 Asma al-Assad 11 0 2 Linda Nolan 9 0 Julie Goodyear 9 0 David Attenborough 9 0 Harvey Weinstein 9 1 Dick van Dyke 8 1 Sandy Gall 8 0 Imelda Marcos 8 0 Stuart Hall 8 0 Geoffrey Boycott 7 0 Gene Hackman 7 0 John Williams 6 0 Mel Brooks 4 0 Hans Blix 4 0 Rex Williams 4 0 Brian Wilson 4 0 Desmond Morris 3 0 Rupert Murdoch 3 0 Patricia Routledge 2 0 Jim Lovell 2 0 Hal Linden 2 0 Petula Clark 2 0 Robert Duvall 2 0 Clint Eastwood 1 0 Len Deighton 1 0 Robert Wagner 1 0 Bernie Ecclestone 1 0 Clive Davis 1 0 Giorgio Armani 1 0 Angie Dickinson 0 0 Kim Novak 0 0 Totals 459 26

Space for updates and commentary. 7th January - the death of Le Pen triggered 'Der Kaiser' rule! 17th January - Stats section fully updated to second hit (Nolan).

Just in case you missed it.... New for 2025 - 'Der Kaiser' Rule The early deaths of Johns, Draper and Beckenbauer in 2024 made the scorekeeping a nightmare. So now I give you 'Der Kaiser' Rule which states: 'The contest shall close on January 10 23:59 or at the time of the reported death of a pick on the forum, whichever comes first' Get your picks in early!!

The CorrectList will be up again for 2025. The chaos of 2024 should be in the past, so updates for the 2024 and the new rule in place for 2025 will be posted as soon as possible.

New for 2025 - 'Der Kaiser' Rule The early deaths of Johns, Draper and Beckenbauer made the scorekeeping a nightmare. So now I give you 'Der Kaiser' Rule which states: 'The contest shall close on January 10 23:59 or at the time of the reported death of a pick on the forum, whichever comes first'