The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2026 Celebrity Death Pool
Back for its 23rd year! We’re keeping the full set of rules for the sake of any newcomers*:
“What’s a celebrity death pool?”, you ask… Simple, just make two lists of celebrities* that you think will kick the bucket, buy the farm, cash in their chips (a.k.a. DIE) in the coming year, 1/1/2026-12/31/2026 11:59pm in the city in which the celebrity passes. Your first list should have 15 celebrities of any age, and your second list should have 5 celebrities under age 50 (as of 1/1/2026)… we’ll call these your “tragedy picks”.
Number the lists from #1-15 and #1-5, with #1 being who you feel is most likely to die, and so on down the line. As the obits roll in, you will score 15 points if your #1 pick dies, decreasing down to 1 point for your #15 pick. The tragedy picks have higher scores… #1 will be worth 20 points, #2 will be worth 16 points, #3 will be worth 12 points, #4 will be worth 8 points, and #5 will be worth 4 points. They don’t have to die in a tragic way, we just refer to them as tragedy picks since, unlike many of your other selections, they aren’t being picked largely for being old and decrepit. Also, there is nothing keeping you from putting people under 50 years old on your main list of 15 if you have lots of younger entries, they just don’t all qualify for the tragedy scoring… One last extra scoring point: if one of your celebrities dies and you are the only person playing to have guessed that celebrity, you will score 1 extra point.
NOTE: Submit “Alternate” picks in addition to your lists of 15 regular and 5 tragedy selections. This is in case one or more of your picks dies between the time you submit, and the start of 2026 or we have to throw out one of your picks for not being a celebrity.**
If that happens, your Alternate Pick will move to the bottom of your list and all others will move up one spot. Same thing goes if a celebrity dies in a previous year, but for some reason the news doesn’t become official until much later… in that case I will retroactively add points for that celebrity in the pool for the year in which they are reported to have died. That celebrity would then be removed from your list, all others would move up one spot, and I’d add your Alternate Pick to the bottom. However, if someone on your list is dead before 2025 or I must reject one of your celebrities, and you don’t have any alternates, you are out of luck.
I’ve tried to close up most loopholes in the rules, so just try and make life easy by picking legitimate celebs. If you have any questions on whether someone is eligible, feel free to ask via PM. Anyone who has been allowed and is still alive is still eligible.
Since there is some degree of judgment as to who is and is not a celebrity (see below), let me know if you are not participating and you want to volunteer to be part of an independent (i.e. not an alternate ID of somebody competing) arbitrator group to make judgment calls on questionable choices.
PM your entries to me by 11:59 PM, Dec 27th, 2025 . This will allow time over the holidays to determine who is famous and who isn’t. I won’t look until I give my picks to another contestant who has finalized his/her picks and I send my picks to that participant.
Another reason for cutting off entries before midnight on New Year’s Eve is that it gives time to compile the frequencies of the names selected so we can submit an AO-composite entry in the http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk The Derby Dead Pool)
What constitutes a celebrity?
Celebrities are musicians, actors, writers, athletes, political and religious figures and such… pretty much any public human figure recognizable by name alone.
The celebrity must have an approved Wikipedia page. (If there isn’t one, make one! Must be approved/posted by Wikipedia by December 25, 2025 so others can see it. I will grandfather in any celebrities who were picked in the past but do not have a Wikipedia page up yet.)
Who is not a celebrity?
Anyone who is known more for being related to another celebrity by birth, marriage, or romance (which is entirely different from marriage) than for any of their own fame/accolades is not a celebrity. An exception is the US President’s spouse, who are celebrities in their own right.
Anyone who is known solely for their health history and/or current condition more than any accomplishments is not a celebrity. Individuals prominently renowned for being amongst the world’s oldest living people, multiple transplant survivors, etc. are not eligible.
*Persons known to be on death row who die be capital punishment do not qualify. Don’t try and take the guesswork out of this! Famous prisoners that die by means other than by capital punishment will count towards the pool.
Should you enter a celebrity with a name shared by other celebrities or quasi famous people, please specify exactly which you are referring to. For example, if you mention on your list that you want Vanessa Williams, I can’t exactly tell if you mean a) Vanessa A. Williams, the actress whose credits include the Showtime TV series “Soul Food” or b) Vanessa L. Williams, the pageant model/singer/actress. Without clarifying which celebrity you are referring to, it will become my discretion.
What are we playing for? Actuarial pride! Your name will be on the list of winners in the initial post every year going forward, and with your list of celebrity picks. If we have a tie, we will have co-winners. No tiebreaker.
I will then handle all of the updates unless anyone else wants to volunteer. Feel free to use this thread as a discussion area, try and break the news on new deaths before I beat you to it, etc. Any help in acknowledging relevant deaths will be a big help in keeping score! You may also PM me if I am lagging behind. I will post the full list of entrants and selections once all entries have been received and verified.
Lastly, past winners and for some years, links to the previous years’ pools:
The Rebel Forum 2004 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Ray Finkle, Runner-up urysohn
The Rebel Forum 2005 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by father of two, Runner-up Butters
The Rebel Forum 2006 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by working girl, Runner-up hotkarl
The Rebel Forum 2007 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Werewolf, Runner-up working girl
The Rebel Forum 2008 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by working girl, Runner-up Werewolf
The Rebel Forum 2009 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by working girl, Runner-up Joker
The Rebel Forum 2010 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by zeuz, Runner-up Wannabe Actuary
The Rebel Forum 2011 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by frummie, Runners-up Patience/Werewolf
The Rebel Forum 2012 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Traina, Runner-up keyser soze
The Rebel Forum 2013 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Werewolf, Runner-up frummie
The Rebel Forum 2014 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Maphisto’s Sidekick, Runner-up frummie
The Rebel Forum 2015 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Patience, Runner-up Werewolf
The Rebel Forum 2016 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Maphisto’s Sidekick, Runner-up Traina
The Rebel Forum 2017 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Wannabe Actuary, Runner-Up Patience
The Rebel Forum 2018 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Werewolf, Runner-Up working girl
The Rebel Forum 2019 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Wannabe Actuary, Runner up hotkarl
The Rebel Forum 2020 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by hotkarl; Runner up Werewolf
The Rebel Forum 2020 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by hotkarl; Runner up Werewolf
The Go Actuary 2021 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @Hotkarl and @Maphistos_Sidekick; Runner up @PatientZombie PatientZombie
The Go Actuary 2022 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @Maphistos_Sidekick , runner up @ArthurItas
The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2023 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @ArthurItas, runner up @hotkarl
The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2024 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @PatientZombie, runner up @hotkarl
The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2025 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @PatientZombie, runner up @Hotkarl
Good luck!
