When the final poll closed today after almost a week of passionate and dedicated voting between Jensen Ackles fans and Alex followers, the win for our Super SEAL was doubly sweet coming on the heels of CBS's early renewal announcement for Hawaii Five-0.
Chuck Barney of the Bay Area News Group called the fan response "crazy" (but in a good way) and expressed in an email exchange shared by Ellen (@ESS270) his amazement at the passion shown by the fans of both actors.
TV Crush Tourney closes as O'Loughlin, Rivera rule
By Chuck Barney
Contra Costa Times
Alex O'Loughlin as our favorite prime-time heartthrob? Book it, Danno.
The buffed-up Australian actor who plays Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett on "Hawaii Five-0," amassed more votes than anyone to earn the male crown in our first-ever TV Crush tournament. Apparently, all those chest-baring beach scenes have paid off.
On the women's side of the bracket, it was Naya Rivera — feisty Santana Lopez of "Glee" — who fended off all challengers to capture the women's title. Rivera, who began life on the show as a minor protagonist, clearly has blossomed into her own.
The tournament began a few weeks ago with 64 of the dreamiest personalities currently residing on the small screen. Then, we asked you to decide with your votes to choose the object of your remote-controlled desires.
And you responded. After several rounds of fierce, no-holds-barred, bracket-busting smackdowns, we were left with a pair of juicy matchups as O'Loughlin faced off against Jensen Ackles, the hunky demon-hunting Dean Winchester on "Supernatural," while Rivera took on Cote de Pablo, aka Ziva David of "NCIS."
Both races were hotly contested as nearly 14,000 online votes were cast in the finals alone. At times, it got a little too hot, with some spirited trash talk breaking out between the passionate fan bases of our four contestants.
But this lusty bit of March Madness was about love, not hate — a celebration of the stars and characters who make us swoon on sight. During her march to the women's title, Rivera managed to defeat Lana Parrilla (Regina Mills, "Once Upon a Time"), Christina Hendricks (Joan Harris, "Mad Men"), Archie Panjabi (Kalinda Sharma, "The Good Wife") and Zooey Deschanel (Jess, "New Girl") before advancing to the finals.
O'Loughlin, meanwhile, breezed through his side of the bracket, never facing a serious challenge until he ran into Ackles. His fans boosted him to lopsided victories over Shane West (Michael, "Nikita"), Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd, "Grey's Anatomy"), Mark Harmon (Jethro Gibbs, "NCIS") and David Boreanaz (Seeley Booth,"Bones").