Replace SimpleFieldSelect with Variable input on Dual Function

I am trying to replace the SimpleFieldSelect extension with Qlik's Variable input but am not able to get the Dual function to work properly to display those inputs.

Below is the dual function used in the data load editor:

    CalendarSelector:       LOAD           dual("Calendar Selection", SortOrder) as "~Calendar Selection",           SortOrder,           Formula           Inline["Calendar Selection", SortOrder, Formula"May contest",        1,         "num(COUNT({<Filter={'X'}>} DISTINCT Id),'#,##0')""June contest",       2,         "num(COUNT({<Filter={'Y'}>} DISTINCT Id),'#,##0')"           ];

For the SimpleFieldSelect all I had to enter was =[~Calendar Selection]

For the Variable input I needed to create it as a variable so I created one vCalendarSelection =[~Calendar Selection] however when selection that as the variable for the dropdown nothing shows for selections but I would expect the 2 choices of May contest and June contest.