Here's the final tally and actual scores!
OK, here's the results of the experiment.
Brethren who posted gave the following marks:
Box A
777768687777978 -> Average CBJ score = 7.2
8787777776 -> Average non-CBJ score = 7.1
Overall average score = 7.16
Box B
988879889888988 -> Average CBJ score = 8.2
8898688887 -> Average non-CBJ score = 7.8
Overall average score = 8.04
And here are the actual scores the judges awarded. In each case the contest advertised 100% KCBS Certified Judges.
Box A - Winchester, TN 2007
767778 -> Average appearance score = 7.0
Box B - Kennesaw, GA 2007
999999 -> Average appearance score = 9.0
About the boxes:
Box A garnered the lowest appearance score we've ever received. We were unable to find decent curly leaf parsley so we had to go with flat leaf, which as several folks mentioned gave the garnish an unkempt appearance. In addition, we felt the pork was a bit bland, so we mixed in some rub after pulling. This strategy apparently didn't help our taste scores much, but the gritty look it gave the pork certainly hurt us in appearance. This box placed 44th out of 54 teams.
Box B recieved our highest appearance score - a perfect six 9s. We were pretty happy with it at the time, though now under close scrutiny I would have liked to remove those few stringy looking bits in the center. Despite the appearance numbers, we were surprised that this box only placed 19th out of 39 teams, our lowest category of the contest.
What it means:
The Brethren and the table judges were almost perfectly in sync on Box A. While the Brethren agreed that Box B was better than A, they didn't like it as much as the table judges did. Those that identified themselves as CBJs were slightly more generous with scoring than uncertified Brethren.
Beyond that, I don't think you can draw any meaningful conclusions. There were some insightful comments that may be helpful to us in the future and I hope you had some fun with the experiment. Thanks for participating!
-Gowan
