Exclusive: Zach Anner Responds to the Oprah-Rigging Rumors

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Did Oprah try to rig her talk show contest? The Internet seems to think so. Zach Anner does not.

Anner, the self-described wheelchair bound lady magnet, first caught the Internet’s attention with his audition tape for Oprah’s “Your OWN Show” contest. Anner’s idea for a “travel show for people who never thought they could travel” went viral almost instantly. For a while he was the clear front-runner in both votes and attention and was being endorsed by the likes of bloggers and John Mayer.

He’d grown so popular in fact that when another contestant, Dr. Phyllis, a woman proposing a story about teaching, suddenly surpassed him in votes, suspicions grew and rumors started swirling on the Internet that Oprah was behind it.

NewsFeed chatted with the affable Anner about what he made of the rumors (“She’s probably too busy, like, helping children and building schools”), why he wanted to enter the contest in the first place (“I started out 93% for the chicks”), and what he’s going to do if he doesn’t win.

Spoiler alert—Anner is as likeable in person (well, ok, over Skype) as he is in his videos. And he’s currently back in the lead. We will post the complete video this afternoon.