Blogebrity

Up Your Budget scandal: Boston winner Joel Rivard didn’t do the legwork

A scandal in Budget Rent A Car’s blog-run Up Your Budget Treasure Hunt. There’s some background behind Boston winner Joel Rivard’s story. Sez Joel:

Wednesday: My wife came home from work that night and told me about the hunt so I watched the Wednesday video clues. The very last clue was the lobster overlooking the Aquarium so I thought it might be at the Aquarium somewhere.

Not so fast. Just Jared tells of a scandal. Sez JJ reader Helen:

So I saw the Up Your Budget treasure hunt on your site. I work downtown so I started playing right away. A coworker and I agreed to partner up. So I was diligently figuring out clues. Wednesday I went to the Aquarium to look around there cause I had a feeling they were headed that way with all the fish, kingfish hall, legals, salty dog etc, chowder, sea stuff going in the clues. I tell my coworker we should send her husband [Joel Rivard] out to look, ’cause he’s a deadbeat and doesn’t work. She says ok we can cut him in. I say no why should we split it three ways if you’re married? That would give unfair % to her. So I say forget it, leave him out of it.

That night she told him about the hunt and the next morning at 8:30 (JJ note :: This correlates with the story that winner Joel told in his “winning story” to Up Your Budget) he went to the long wharf and found the sticker. She offered me $1,000 for “telling her about the website.” We went from splitting it to me getting $1,000 after I do all the legwork to get us in the right place. I’m not taking it away from him from finding it, he did good work getting down on the ground and all, but without my help and detective work — I anticipated a day ahead that they were going to the aquarium — he probably wouldn’t have been there first.

Aw shyte. Let’s say we go down to this guy’s place, bust him up. I call $500 or Joel’s index finger — whichever’s easier to pull off.

UPDATE: Joel wrote in to clear his name, telling us that the claims against him are unfounded — originating from a disgruntled contestant/loser in the Budget contest who called him a “deadbeat” b/c at the time he had mornings off (he’s teaches guitar at night) and more importantly/likely because she lost the contest and was none too happy about it.  Let this serve as yet another example of the age-old axiom: you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet.

On a sidenote, he’s also competing as an amateur in MMA — so we’d definitely suggest you not take Nick’s advice (which was a joke to begin with) seriously. Unless you’re prepared for some serious comeuppance.

This entry was posted by Nick Douglas on Saturday, October 29th, 2005 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Featured, Feuds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...