Voters in this year's very first B&B Online Awards sent a strong message: The year 2000 on The Bold and the Beautiful was definitely the year of the woman.
Marissa Tait (ex-Becky Moore) continued the domination she'd established in the nominations phase. The actress, who departed the show last summer, won an award in nearly every category in which she was nominated. Tait's on-screen cousin, Adrienne Frantz (Amber Moore) was also a big winner.
To show the dominance by female performers and characters, there were no male winners in any category that was open to both male and female nominees. In short: men only won categories that were men-only awards.
There were, however, highlights among the men.
The Outstanding Leading Actor category proved to be a very close race. Winsor Harmon (Thorne Forrester) bested Mick Cain (CJ Garrison) by just two percentage points to capture the award. Cain went winless in four nominations.
Newcomer Sean Kanan (Deacon Sharpe) also faced tough competition in the Outstanding Supporting Actor field. Kanan just edged Justin Torkilsen (Rick Forrester). Kanan finished a distant second in the Outstanding Newcomer category, which was won by Marissa Tait.
Some may question how Tait earned a nomination in the Newcomer category since her role on The Bold and the Beautiful has ended. The only qualification needed for a nomination in this category is that the performer debuted during the twelve-month period that ended on the first day of awards nominations. Since Tait met those requirements, she was eligible to compete in this category even though she left the show.
That leads to the Most Missed Performer category, another area where Tait had a nomination. In this field, Tait was bested by Bobbie Eakes (ex-Macy Alexander). Also running in the field was Andrea Evans (ex-Tawny Moore).
Tait also picked up a win in the Supporting Actress category. Tait pulled in a whopping 62% of the total vote. Sarah Buxton (Morgan DeWitt), Darlene Conley (Sally Spectra) and Ashley Lyn Cafagna (Kimberly Fairchild) finished second, third and fourth respectively. Tait also was named Outstanding Younger Performer, earning more votes than Cain, Torkilsen and Cafagna (Kimberly Fairchild).
Adrienne Frantz gathered only about one-third of the total votes cast in the Outstanding Leading Actress category, but it was enough to cruise to an eight point win over Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan). Hunter Tylo (Taylor Forrester) and Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester) each grabbed a respectable 17% of the vote.
Schae Harrison (Darla Einstein) grabbed a win for Outstanding Recurring Role or Special Guest. She had stiff competition from some industry big wigs, including Joseph Campanella (Jonathan Young) and Phyllis Diller (Gladys Pope).
Kimberly Fairchild just edged out Morgan DeWitt to earn the dubious honor of Least Favorite Character. Showing that B&B fans can tell the difference between a character and his or her portrayer, Ashley Lynn Cafagna (Kimberly) had a total of five nominations in this year's Dankies.
Storylines featuring Kimberly did not fair too well in the voting. "Teenage Seductress," the storyline in which Kimberly seduced a much older Thorne, was named the Least Favorite Storyline of the year. CJ and Becky's short-lived romance earned the title of Favorite Storyline of the year.
In the Outstanding Overall Performer category, each of the nominees in the Outstanding Leading Actor and Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress categories were placed in a single category. Voters were then asked to pick one of those performers that turned in the best overall performance in the past twelve months.
Adrienne Frantz took 23% of the total votes cast. Katherine Kelly Lang grabbed 19%, Susan Flannery earned 13% and Marissa Tait finished second with 11%. The top male vote-getter was Mick Cain, finished sixth with 6% of the total vote.
All of this year's B&B Online Dankies winners will now be entered in a final ballot contest with the winners of the other nine current soaps' winners to determine the best of the best of soap opera 2000.
