Circa Survivor was down to only 4 entries alive in the $6.133 million prize pool by the time the regular selection release time came on late Saturday afternoon for NFL Week 16.
A contestant going by the alias Maddog-2 survived with the Vikings’ 27-24 win vs. the Giants while those using the Lions (5), Titans (3) and Browns (1) were eliminated in the early Saturday games. The 3 other remaining entries picked the Steelers, who were hosting the Raiders on Saturday night. If the Steelers lose (or tie since a team must win), Maddog-2 would win the entire $6.133 million pot! If the Steelers prevail, the 4 contestants would then have to turn around and make another pick on the “Christmas Week” (aka Week 16b) games of Sunday and Monday. If the latter happens, we will add to this story after the 9 a.m. PT Sunday submission deadline with the teams selected by the Final Four. You can also follow all the action on Twitter @VSiNLive, @CircaSports and my personal account @ViewFromVegas. There were 14 live entries heading into Week 16a (which included Thursday Night Football and the Saturday games) and those picks were due at 10 p.m. PT Friday and were announced on Matt Youmans’ “Saturday Bet Prep” show by Circa owner Derek Stevens and Circa VP Mike Palm. It wasn’t learned until that time that the field was already down to 13 with one entrant, THE ENEMY WITHIN – the only Survivor with 2 live entries at that time – losing one of those on the Jets on Thursday Night Football. THE ENEMY WITHIN-2 entry is joined by BROWNA-1 and JED-4 in needing the Steelers on Saturday night. There were also 2 entries – Bull Hill and HOWARD HAMLIN – that were alive for the aggregate $1 million bonus that was offer by Stevens for any Survivor(s) who were able to go 20-0 on the season (18 NFL weeks, plus the extra “Thanksgiving Week” and “Christmas Week”) and not use the two Super Bowl teams from last season: Rams and Bengals. However, both used the Lions on Saturday, so Stevens doesn’t have to pay out the bonus this year.Circa Sports Million update
Because of the holiday schedule, the vast majority of players submitted their picks early (only 5 games remained in NFL Week 16 after the regular 4 p.m. PT submission deadline).
And the results were also poor in this contest as the Top 5 Most-Selected Teams went 1-3 in the Saturday day games with the No. 5 play, the Steelers -2.5, pending in the Saturday nighter. The No. 1 choice was the Eagles +5.5, which lost 40-34 at the Cowboys; No. 2 was the Bengals -3, which covered in a 22-18 win at the Patriots; No. 3 was the Lions -2.5, which lost 37-23 at the Panthers; and No. 4 was the Browns -2.5, which lost 17-10 vs. the Saints. The Top 5 has dropped to 39-36-4 (52%) on the season while the No. 1 pick dipped to 11-5 (68.8%). We’ll also update this after the Steelers-Raiders game.