Cupcake Wars Fan Vote Erupts Into Controversy

Who would have thought the subject of cupcakes would whip people into such a frenzy?

It all started on Friday after TV’s Food Network launched a Facebook contest to send four of its 12 most popular bakers back to Cupcake Wars.

It was an opportunity for fan favorite and Princeton’s own House of Cupcakes on Witherspoon Street to return to the show that launched them to fame after winning the national bake-off featuring the country’s top cupcake bakers. 

By Monday, the Facebook contest was closed by Food Network, with Ron Bzdewka, who co-owns the Princeton Bakery with his wife Ruthie, in second place with 5,895 votes.

Contacted on Tuesday, Ruthie Bzdewka could not confirm if the bakery would return to the show.

“Because of unexpected problems with the contest, Food Network is figuring it out and will let us know,” she said, adding that she could not comment further.

A look at the Facebook voting pages reveals fan accusations of vote-buying, phony Facebook accounts and outright cheating.

Hollis Wilder, owner of Sweet! By Holly in Florida, who earned the most votes (6,231), was one of the targets of online cheating accusations.

“With Holly's paid PR firm garnering votes in a suspect manner, none of the other contestants ever stood a chance. The final results should be thrown out and the contest done in a legitimate and fair manner, not on FB,” wrote fan Sarah Davis.

Ron Bzdewka also came under fire, with fans claiming that some of his votes were coming from fake Facebook accounts, while others the Bzdewkas' vote jump seemed suspicious.

“Hmmmm,” fan Drew Alexander Dillard wrote. “A little unusual that the votes jumped by 4,000 overnight. I do research on how to manipulate social media numbers, and this is a prime example of what looks like you used a site to help generate likes. Several ‘marketing firms’ are in business to help increase social media likes. I'm not accusing you. I'm just stating that it looks a lot like it.”

Ron Bzdewka addressed the controversy head-on.

“If this is the case that anyone would post fake likes on our website we would resign from the contest not have to be disqualified,” Bzdewka posted online. “To be accused of something like this by people who are assuming we did this to ourselves is pretty bad.”

At least one reader expressed frustration by the accusations over, well, a cupcake contest. 

"I am reading all these facebook comments and i am frankly disturbed by what i see," wrote Heather DeBold. "Come on people we are all adults. All these accusations of cheating...come on...grow up. You took something that was supposed to be fun, and STOLE the fun."