Real Snow Fan Favorite off due to tampering

ASPEN, Colo. -- The Fan Favorite portion of Real Snow, the all-video, all-urban snowboarding contest at X Games Aspen, has been canceled due to vote tampering, ESPN announced Sunday. The judged portion of the 2014 competition was completed Thursday. Bode Merrill won the gold medal, and Dan Brisse and Dylan Thompson won silver and bronze, respectively.

The Real Series began at the X Games in 2010 with Real Street, a video contest that pitted street skateboarders' 60-second video parts against each other for a shot at an X Games gold medal. Real Snow, which features urban snowboarding, was added to the series in 2011. Each contest in the series also has a Fan Favorite component, in which viewers are able to watch each video part on XGames.com and vote for their favorite in a bracketed tournament in the weeks leading up to each X Games event.

The Real Series expanded to six events in 2013, adding Real Snow Backcountry, Real Ski Backcountry, Real Surf and Real Women to the existing Snow and Street lineup. The lineup for 2014 has not been confirmed beyond Real Snow in Aspen and Real Street at X Games Austin.

The $10,000 Fan Favorite prize purse will be divided among the eight 2014 Real Snow competitors.