Showing posts with label king of the nerds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label king of the nerds. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x08 "The Nerdtastic Finale"

I think one of the things viewers of this show enjoy is when they can sort of play along with the nerds on TV, testing their own nerd knowledge. At least, that's something I personally enjoy quite a bit. Tonight's finale was no exception, with multiple games to satisfy everyone's cranium.

But, before all of that, it was time for the ousted nerds to come back and swear their fealty to who they wanted to see take home the prize, as well as be able to help in one of the final competitions. Kaitlin was able to snag Colby and Ori, Lily got Amanda and Todd, while Jonathan got Heather, Jacob, Thomas, and Raychelle, leaving Ben with... well. No one. Basically, everyone said they thought Ben was well-rounded enough on his own and wouldn't need any outside help. But would that prove true?

The first competition to cut the numbers in half was sort of a quiz bowl type thing. They would be presented with a random trivia question, whoever buzzed in first would answer. If they got it right, they got a point, if they got it wrong, another player would then be able to buzz in to answer. The two players to get to five points first would move on. They were also allowed to use each of their helpers on one question. Jonathan and Kaitlin shot forward to early leads, but then Ben started to pick up steam, and Lily got a few right as well. But, it was Ben, without any help, who got to five points first. Who joined him in the final competition? Jonathan, beating out Kaitlin when she got a little too buzz-happy.

After spending a night together getting wasted and making out with each other (or at least some of each other), it was time for the final battle of wits to decide who is the new King of the nerds - this time an actual king. This final competition was the best out of seven, whoever could win four of the games first would be crowned. Each of the games were a bit different, some of them more head-to-head, others more of an individual puzzle.

Jonathan started off strong with two wins in a row, one playing speed chess, and another playing the Tekken video game. But then Ben started to make a comeback, besting Jonathan in a crossword puzzle and a logic puzzle where you're given clues to figure out what goes where, basically. Very similar to these puzzles I used to do for extra credit in math class. Yeah, I did extra credit in math, shut up. He also beat him in this math equation thing that you would've thought Jonathan would've had in the bag. Next up was a game of Connect Four, which Jonathan had to win in order to stay in the competition...and... he did! Which left the final game to decide their fate. And it was some kind of logic grid thing called a griddler. All in all, it was pretty close, with Jonathan messing up on his first try, but in the end he managed to pull it together and take home the win!

So, congratulations to Jonathan, who I sort of predicted back in episode two had the potential to go all the way. Do I like when I'm right? Um, doesn't everyone? Ha ha ha.


Also, random side note that I didn't want to divulge until the show was over - my boyfriend has actually played the Game of Thrones card game with Ben a few times, so he knew who he was from the start. Actually pretty funny as he also knew Ivan from season one from college. What a small world, huh?

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Friday, March 6, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x07 "Invasion of the Nerd Snatchers"

We're getting down to the wire here now, aren't we? Only one episode left of this season of King of the Nerds, when a new king or queen will reign. But who will live to battle it out for the crown? Well let's just see!

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x07 'Invasion of the Nerd Snatchers' by freshfromthe.comThis week's Nerd War was pretty open-ended. Although Bobby and Curtis were dressed in space suits for the announcement of the competition, the competition itself didn't really have much to do with space. It was more just a bunch of general knowledge. Which, let's be honest, Colby totally would've won if he hadn't been so rudely dispatched last week by Amanda. Anyway, the contest basically went like so - a category was named, and each player then had to name something that would fit that category, going from person to person until someone came up with the wrong answer or no answer at all. Each player got two misses before they were out. Got it? Sounds much more complicated than it really was.

Some of the categories, you may be wondering? The top 100 grossing superhero films, spells from Harry Potter, original Pokemon characters, top 100 scifi/fantasy films according to Rotten Tomatoes, houses in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, characters in Mario Kart 8, plays of William Shakespeare, and a few more I probably am not remembering right now. Slowly the competition whittled down until just two contestants remained - Ben and Raychelle. In the end, Ben pulled out the win when it came down to the GOT houses, though clearly Raychelle has never seen it because she couldn't even name one!

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x07 'Invasion of the Nerd Snatchers' by freshfromthe.com
But then there was a twist afoot. Because Amanda and Lily were the first two to be eliminated, they were put into a sudden death match with one final category. Whoever lost was leaving Nerdvana! Twisty! I don't remember them doing this in past seasons. Anyhow, the two ladies then had to face off by naming elements from the periodic table. Amanda was done in when she named Sulfate, which is not an element. So it's goodbye to Amanda, so fresh off her win against Colby.

Which left Ben with a decision to make - deciding who he wants to send into the Nerd Off. The rest of the group would decide who was going in against him or her. None of them are very sure who Ben would pick, but pretty immediately decide that they will pick Lily, as they all believe they will be able to beat her most easily. Although there was some dissension among the ranks, as Kaitlin and Raychelle sort of wanted to put in Jonathan instead. But, Lily ended up being their choice after all. Who did Ben pick? Raychelle, who nearly beat him in the Nerd War, and has previously been flying under the radar.

The Nerd Off was a game of another sort - in short, Stratego. Now, they all looked at these practice fake Stratego boards and were like oh it's Stratego whereas I was like... huh what? Guess I've never played Stratego! Lily practiced with Ben while Raychelle practiced with Jonathan. But Lily had a bit of an advantage as she had played the game a lot, while Raychelle was a newbie like me.

When it came time for the Nerd Off, though, things seemed to be going Raychelle's way. There was this whole thing about the Astro Nerd being the most powerful of the players, and Lily revealed hers too early, leaving Raychelle an open invitation to take her down. Alas, Raychelle either got cocky or too flustered, and messed up her move, and basically shot herself in the foot, leading the way for Lily to have a comeback and take her down. They tried to make it seem like Raychelle may have been able to make one last ditch effort and pull a crazy win, but I think that was just some editing magic. So, it's goodbye to Raychelle.
Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x07 'Invasion of the Nerd Snatchers' by freshfromthe.com
Or, sort of goodbye, as all of the nerds are brought back to Nerdvana to help our their compatriots. Next week, they will each choose who they would like to support in the final battle for the crown.

But who do YOU think should win? And who do you expect to win? It's kind of hard to say, and seems like it may depend a lot on the nature of the upcoming competition(s), as each person is stronger in certain areas. Most of the people left have not been in Nerd Offs, or I guess only half the people left now - Ben and Jonathan have not been in Nerd Offs, while both Kaitlin and Lily have. Hmm. Guess we'll just have to see who wins next week!

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Friday, February 27, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x06 "Murder at Nerdvana"

Tonight's episode gave me a little trip down memory lane. So much so that I thought to myself, dang, I would've been good at that Nerd War. Why was it so memory inducing, you may wonder? Well, let me get there, sheesh, calm down.

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x06 'Murder at Nerdvana' by freshfromthe.com
After last week, Colby was feeling a bit down, and honestly you really blame him when everyone seems to be focused on getting him out? Though everyone is still friendly and really do genuinely seem to want to be friends, it is a bit tough when you know that if you lose the Nerd War, the other team will nominate you to go into the Nerd Off. Jonathan states that he will volunteer to go up against him if their team loses at the top of the hour as well, because he feels bad for sending in Heather. Does this hold true? Well, first they would have to lose for that to matter, duh!

So let's get to the Nerd War. House Hooloovoo and Team Smash had to go head to head in a forensic battle. No, not the speech kind, but the forensic science variety. Basically, they would have to study a fake crime scene to determine who committed the murder of Pom Pom Kitty. Am I supposed to know who and/or what Pom Pom Kitty is referring to?? Yikes.

As I mentioned this challenge brought me back to my high school days. Like some of the contestants on the show, one of my classes had a similar challenge to this, where we had to look at hair follicles and fingerprints to try to determine who was the culprit in a "crime." Though I think we also had shoe size or something, rather than blood splatter, which sounded much more complicated. So, yes, the two teams had to figure out who was the culprit of the murder by studying fingerprints, blood splatter, hair follicles, and DNA samples.

And to be quite honest, House Hooloovoo pretty much creamed Team Smash. It's not as fun when the competitions aren't very close, so that was a bit of a bummer, but it was a bit of Smash's own fault for not reading the instructions correctly in the first place, just sayin'. And yes, for those who were wondering, I may or may not have been the first one to solve my own forensic crime test back in high school. Nerd alert!

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x06 'Murder at Nerdvana' by freshfromthe.comNow some politics came into play. While Jonathan had previously stated that he would definitely volunteer himself to go into the Nerd Off, Lily had a sneaking suspicion that the Nerd Off would have to do with horror films, since that was part of the theme of the Nerd War. That put a wrench in Jonathan's plan, because he doesn't know hardly anything about horror films, while Amanda knows a lot. But would that really be the theme of the Nerd Off?

Only time would tell. Hooloovoo voted Colby in as predicted, and in the end Smash voted in Amanda, hoping for the horror challenge. Curtis tried to fake them out by saying it was going to be a math challenge, but it was, indeed, a horror challenge after all. To be more specific, the challenge was all about horror movie quotes. There were three different difficulty levels - easy, medium and hard. Depending on which difficulty you answered, then you could go smash in the brains of one, two or three zombies, respectively. Those would then give you points. So, one part skill, one part luck.

Though both Colby and Amanda got their first medium questions right, Colby got his second one wrong, while Amanda still got hers right. Colby had a comeback in the final round when he got a hard one right and got some big points, but alas, Amanda also chose hard and got it right, and just barely managed to sneak in the win.

Which means it's time to say farewell to Colby. I felt kind of bad for him, because they kept voting him in to everything, which isn't so great for one's self esteem. But, as Raychelle said, he has already won Jeopardy, so is it entirely fair for him to be in the competition? I also find it a bit funny that there are only two guys left and four girls still there. Will we have another female champion? The teams are officially disbanded, so now it's every person for themselves!

Also, what the heck? No preview for next week?! The horror!

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Friday, February 20, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x05 "Nuclear Nerd Games"

Tonight's episode was a lot of fun, no? Honestly, I love me some games, so an episode dedicated to party games and puzzles is right up my alley. That's right, tonight was all about games. When the two teams were told about the Nerd War, there wasn't a lot of studying or preparing they could do. How do you study for party games when you don't know what they're going to be, exactly?

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x05 'Nuclear Nerd Games' by freshfromthe.comAnyhow, when it was time for the Nerd War, the two teams were given help by each having a celebrity guest join their teams - for Hooloovoo it was Penn Jillette, and for Smash it was Rachelle Lefevre. I suppose Rachelle gets to be considered a nerd because she's on a Stephen King show and was in Twilight? Doesn't really matter, though, because she actually fits right in.

The War consisted of three rounds. In the first round, each team would give one word clues to their captain, who would then have to guess who they were talking about based on said clues. So, like, saying Star Wars and whatnot is a clue for George Lucas, etc. Hooloovoo chose Ben to guess while Smash chose Colby, and the two teams tied that round. Round two was all about pictionary. Each member of the team would get three minutes to try to get their team to guess whatever nerd related thing they were drawing, ranging from Back to the Future to an invisible jet. Hooloovoo got one more right than Smash in this round, giving them a slight advantage. Finally, in the third round, they had to basically do charades, acting out various nerd things a la Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and The Matrix. Though things were very close once again, Hooloovoo managed to pull out the win.

Which, of course, meant Team Smash had to head into the Nerd Off. And this is where things get interesting. The Secret Six alliance is still in effect, so they want Colby to be the one who goes home. But, they know he's going to be hard to beat, so they decide that they, in Team Smash, will vote Colby into the Nerd Off and leave the decision of who else to send in up to the rest of their team members in Hooloovoo. But, both Heather and Amanda tell the other members that they think Jonathan is the only one who has a chance against Colby.

Well, this gets back to Jonathan via Raychelle, and he decides it's time to take action against the Secret Six in order to save his own skin. He finds Kaitlin and tells her all about the secret alliance and suggests they team up to send either Amanda or Heather in instead of him, creating a new sort of alliance with the two of them plus Raychelle. Now, whether this was actually going to go anywhere was left a mystery until the votes for the Nerd Off.

Team Smash voted in Colby per their earlier agreement. But who does Hooloovoo vote in? Jonathan? No! It's Heather. So Jonathan's plan worked, leaving him to fight another day. That meant Colby and Heather would face off against each other in some kind of puzzle game. Kaitlin pretended to be secretly sabotaging Colby, but in fact she was helping him study how sudoku works because she really wants him to stay.

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x05 'Nuclear Nerd Games' by freshfromthe.com
The Nerd Off itself turned out to be more of a word problem than anything involving sudoku. They had to dig through some barrels of sludge to find letters that they would then unscramble to fit into a saying on the board, with certain special letters in there then answering another puzzle at the bottom. Quite frankly, Colby killed it. They tried to up the drama by making it seem closer, and he did mess up there at the end by misspelling the final puzzle, but Heather wasn't even very close in solving the original jumbled word problem. So it's farewell to Heather.

When Colby was on Jeopardy, I thought he was kind of cocky. I actually took to calling him Eyebrows as he was always doing these crazy things with his eyebrows whenever he was on the show. Seeing him on here, however, has made me like him quite a lot, though. He's pretty funny, and obviously very smart, and though he's confident, I wouldn't say he's necessarily cocky. He's there to compete and he's going to be hard to beat in these challenges that play into his strengths. Now, if it were a pictionary drawing Nerd Off, he might be in trouble.

I think my top three in the competition now are probably Jonathan, Colby and Kaitlin. I kind of like Amanda too, though I'm not sure what her strengths are quite yet? We've already seen that Colby and Kaitlin are hard to beat in the Nerd Offs, and soon enough the team dynamic will be kaput so it will be every person for him or herself.  What about you? Who do you want to win?

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Friday, February 13, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x04 "Do They Choose Wisely... Or Poorly?"

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x04 "Do They Choose Wisely... Or Poorly?" by freshfromthe.comEach episode of King of the Nerds is a little bit bittersweet, I have to say. It's a competition show, yes, but also one of the only such shows where the contestants become actual friends. Or, at least, that's how it seems. Is it the magic of television? Hopefully not. Anyhow, it gets harder as it goes on because you get to know everyone a bit better. Like this week's ousted contestant, I was a little put off at first, but now not so much.

Anyway, let's get to the down and dirty into recap zone. This week's episode featured one of the more entertaining and fun challenges for the two groups - the Nerd anthem. Or song? Well you know what I mean. The two groups had to come up with their version of a Nerd Anthem, and would be judged on lyrics, choreography and overall performance. Team Smash went for a more rapping route, while House Hooloovoo went for a more pop diddy route.

To be honest, I enjoyed both of their songs quite a bit. The rapping had a lot of fun references while the pop diddy was very catchy. The guest judges this time around were all from the music industry - Travie McCoy, Lisa Loeb, and Moby. I'm not entirely sure how Travie McCoy fits in the nerd aesthetic, but okay? I suppose saying that at all is like a faux pas now? Ay. Anyway, Moby was definitely the most harsh on the two teams, though perhaps moreso to Team Smash, basically questioning whether Ori could actually speak Klingon and such. I mean, were they supposed to be 100% truthful in the lyrics? It's a song meant to encompass nerd culture, so...

But, in the end, Hooloovoo took home the crown thanks to their song being infinitely more catchy. Like, you could walk out of there humming it already. Which, of course, left Smash to head into the Nerd Off, to even things out between the two teams. Now, as you may recall, the secret six are comprised of Ben, Lily and Raychelle from Hooloovoo, and Heather, Amanda and Jonathan from Smash. So, for things to go according to plan for them, it would need to be Colby versus Ori in the Nerd Off. Did it go their way?

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x04 "Do They Choose Wisely... Or Poorly?" by freshfromthe.comWell, Kaitlin had other ideas. She's smelling something rotten in the state of Denmark, filled with a sneaking suspicion that Lily, Amanda and Ben are in a secret alliance. She goes to Jonathan to form her own alliance comprised of them plus Ori and Colby. Of course, Jonathan is already in the secret six, so now he's a bit of a double agent. But is now the right time to double cross his original alliance?

Nope. Hooloovoo votes in Colby while Smash votes in Ori. And what do they have to battle over in the Nerd Off? Arranging a bunch of legacy nerds in the order of their birth date. Well, I think we all know how this one ends. Colby is a reigning Jeopardy champion, after all. They do try to make it a bit of a contest by also featuring a physical Indiana Jones component, complete with sticking your hand in a cauldron of snakes, but in the end, Colby came out on top. Honestly, it would've been really surprising if he hadn't won that.

Which meant poor Ori had to go home, none the wiser that it was really only because of a secret alliance. If it hadn't been for that alliance, I feel like a lot more fingers would've been pointed at Heather for speaking back to Moby. So, it's time to say goodbye to awkward and endearing Ori.

How much longer can the secret six last? Jonathan seems ready to jump ship at any moment, as well he should as he and Raychelle would probably be the first two voted out by the rest of them. Also, Kaitlin is no dummy. She really should team up with Colby in some way if possible, because they both are pretty smart and good at the Nerd Offs. I think those three are my favorites right now, but who are yours?

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Friday, February 6, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x03 "The Gods Are Angry"

What's the reward for stirring up drama in Nerdvana? Getting voted into the Nerd Off, duh. But before the Nerd Off, of course, there is the Nerd War. And what was the Nerd War all about this week? Well, loosely based on mythology, I guess, but that was more the Nerd Off portion than the war when you get down to it.

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x03 "The Gods are Angry" by freshfromthe.comBasically, the two teams had to build boats out of cardboard and get them across a pool of water. They only had two hours to construct these boats, and could only use cardboard, wood glue, and duct tape, pretty much. And this is where all of the drama began, really. House Hooloovoo basically told Todd straight up that if they didn't win this challenge, he would probably be next up in the Nerd Off. This admission sowed the seeds of rage inside poor Todd, who immediately started thinking that Lily was really the one who should go next, as she was spending more time flirting with Ben than actually helping with the boats. But, hey, it didn't matter at this point quite yet if they could at least win.

Team SMASH, meanwhile, were themselves getting annoyed with Ori, who, regrettably, was having a tough time figuring out how to make oars for their boats. Nonetheless, their team was a bit more civil to each other apart from that, and for Ori's part, he didn't seem all that fazed by some of the more heated things said to him in the moment.

At the Nerd War, the two teams had to designate one person to stay on shore, while the four other teammates paddled their two boats across a pool, picking up mathematics clues along the way, to then solve a puzzle on the other side, before then having to get their boats back across the pool. If their boats would sink, they would have to swim and drag it along with them. The two teams went a bit back and forth here, with Smash doing well at getting their boats in, but Hooloovoo doing well at getting to the end of the pool. In the end, however, it all came down to geometry problems, and Team SMASH was able to pull out the win thanks to a combination of Jonathan's mathematician brain and Colby's high school teacher Jeopardy brain.

Which left House Hooloovoo heading into the Nerd Off. Todd's team all decided that he would be the one they were voting in, and he got super pissed after he found out, saying that he believed Lily was really the weakest link. However, he wasn't calm and collected about it, instead opting for Hulk Rage and doing a lot of shouting, which only ostracized him more from the group, really.

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x03 "The Gods Are Angry" by freshfromthe.comSide note: he basically accused Lily of crying to get her way. I know some people probably see it that way, but I'm on Lily's side here. When someone is in your face like that, the gut response in some people is tears, whether you want them to come or not. Quite frankly, we would rather them not. And yes, I speak from experience.

Anyway! When it came time for the votes, it was no surprise to anyone that Todd was heading into the Nerd Off. The person the other team decided to send in against him was Kaitlin, as everyone views her as a very tough and smart competitor. The Nerd Off was all about Greek mythology, where whoever was able to match four mythical people with the object that pertained to each of their stories first being the winner. And honestly, it was almost sad to watch, as Todd just got straight trounced in this one. Usually there is a little bit of back and forth about who might win, but it became clear pretty quickly that it would take a lot here for that to be the case. So, Kaitlin takes down another competitor for the second week in a row.

Honestly, if Hooloovoo keeps losing, Smash will probably keep putting Kaitlin in to the battles, especially since she is not in the secret six alliance. But can she be stopped? Though we know if the teams get too one-sided the show will shake things up. Do you have any favorites to win so far?

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Friday, January 30, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x02 "And Now for Something Different"

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x02 'And Now for Something Different'Out of the few reality shows I actually watch, this one almost always makes me sad when the contestants are eliminated. I suppose King of the Nerds is kind of special that way, as everyone seems to be genuinely decent people rather than just there for the fame. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself! Let's talk about the challenge this week first, right?

As has become a tradition, the show always features an episode where the groups must compete in a cosplay competition. Tonight was the nerds' chance to get their goofy on as they came up with stories to act out on stage. They needed to pay attention to not only making costumes, but also being creative and having a moral to their story. The blue team, House Hooloovoo (I think that's how it's spelled!), had the advantage of Lily, who is a competitive cosplayer, and was put in charge of the costumes. The green team, Team SMASH, was a little less confident, and decided to focus more on the story and moral, knowing their costumes could never match up to the other team.

With guest judges Yaya Han, Billy Boyd, and Tara Strong presiding over the proceedings, the two teams both presented their, what, cosplays? I would rather call them skits, to be honest. Anyhow, as expected, Hooloovoo did well in the costume department, and their story was pretty decent too. Smash's costumes weren't as great, and some of their acting was a bit stilted, but they had quite a bit of humor and focused more on the moral. In the end, Team Smash came out victorious thanks to those qualities.

Which left Hooloovoo to head into the Nerd Off. Deciding to be up front about their decision, everyone has apparently picked Thomas to send into the Nerd Off, though it's not entirely clear why. Meanwhile, the other team has to choose who they want him to face off against. Or is it really the other team deciding? Because there are other games afoot here, namely, the girls who already started to form an alliance last week have now also roped in Jonathan and Ben to join their ranks, thus giving them three people on each team to take out the others one at a time. They decide they want to get Kaitlin out as they view her as a pretty big threat.

Recap/review of King of the Nerds 3x02 'And Now for Something Different'Now this is kind of interesting. I'm pretty sure no one has formed this large of an alliance before on the show. In the past, we've seen mostly duos band together to reach the end, but now there's a team of six. This could either work really well, or blow up in their faces pretty quickly. Nonetheless, it's time for Thomas and Kaitlin to find out what challenge awaits them in the Nerd Off, and it's... riddles. Oh boy.

Honestly, riddles are tough. Some people just really get them, but personally I only get them sometimes. If I had been able to think a bit longer on some of them, maybe I would've been able to get them, but on the show they went by so quickly. ANYway, enough about me, who cares. Thomas and Kaitlin actually battle neck and neck on this one, right up until the last question, which was something like - When thin, I'm fast. When fat, I'm slow. I serve by being devoured. Wind is my enemy, your breath my foe. Something close to that, anyhow. The answer? Candle, which Thomas did not guess, and Kaitlin did, which means... goodbye to Thomas.

I felt kind of bad for him; he seemed like a very nice, shy, person, and a genuine nerd. Some of the people on the show, I'm not quite so sure they are what you would classify as a typical "nerd" which I guess is also prejudice or something by saying they can't be a nerd because they're not nerdy enough, blah blah. Anyway, bye Thomas, sad to see you go, enjoyed your Gollum voice.

Do you have any favorites yet? For some reason I like that Jonathan guy - he seems well-rounded and like he could go pretty far. I'm not sure on the ladies yet, but maybe uh... uh... uh oh. I forgot her name. The one with the wing-y glasses who's married. Amanda! Let me know in the comments who you are rooting for!

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Friday, January 23, 2015

King of the Nerds 3x01 "Judgment Day"

You guys, I almost completely missed that the premiere was happening tonight. Luckily, I happened to have TBS on in the background two days ago and saw a commercial for the new season, so I was able to record it in time. What, you say, didn't you have it set up to record from last season? I would have, sure, but the DVR was replaced and blah blah blah. Anyway! Enough about me. On to the show!

King of the Nerds Season 3 premiere recapIt's always tough to comment on who may do well on the show this early in the game. But I was surprised to notice that former Jeopardy champion Colby was a contestant. I was like, hey, that's Eyebrows from Jeopardy! Yes, I gave him a nickname during his tenure on Jeopardy for always having an eyebrow-raising expression going on. He could come off as kind of know-it-all-y on there, but from the brief time we've seen him on KOTN so far, he doesn't seem that way at all.

Anyhow, here's what went down. After everyone convened at Nerdvana for the first time, the players were split up into two teams, as is the norm. But this time around, they did not pick their own teams. It's not entirely clear how the teams were chosen, but I suspect they tried to make them evenly matched in all areas. Thus, the blue and green teams were born. Their first challenge? To create a Rube Goldberg type device that would reveal their chosen team names.

After spending a little bit of time getting to know one another, they got down to business. In the end, the blue team prevailed in the challenge. Their device was just a bit more creative and whimsical, and I have to agree with the decision. That meant the green team was going to the Nerd Off. Like in past seasons, the team itself would choose one member to go in, while the other team would choose their opponent. So who was chosen?

King of the Nerds Season 3 Cast Member JacobThe green team chose Ori, who seemed surprised, but he was the only one as everyone else on both teams seemed to know that was happening. The real surprise came with who the blue team voted in - Jacob. Everyone thought Jacob was safe, that the other team was going to pick either Colby, due to his Jeopardy fame, or one of the girls, because of her cosplay knowledge. But that was all part of the blue team's plan - frazzle them.

And, sadly, it worked. The Nerd Off challenge was all about anime, kotaku and, uh, some other third word that I don't remember, which was bad for Jacob because Ori is a big anime nerd, or otaku? Honestly, it seemed like Ori was going to shoot himself in the foot because he wasn't really studying, while Jacob was getting some serious study tips and help from his other teammates. Alas, Jacob did not prevail, which is a shame because he seemed pretty nice. Which leaves Ori to cause more distress among his team members - just what the blue team was hoping for. So I guess they could call that a success.

It's hard to say at this point who has a chance at winning the whole shebang. The girls (minus Kaitlin, it seemed) did talk briefly about trying to set up an all-girls alliance that goes beyond the teams, but it wasn't clear if everyone was really into it. Kaitlin seems like she is probably going into a Nerd Off soon just because she is a bit off-putting and intense. I think Jonathan maybe has a chance, and seemed like one of the nicer people there too. Otherwise, it's too hard to tell yet!

That's all for this week! Do you have any early predictions or hopes?

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Friday, March 14, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x08 "One Nerd to Rule Them All"

Well, this short and sweet season has come to a quick end. Eight episodes really isn't very many at all! It feels like we only just got started. But here we are at the end, when the King of the Nerds takes his or her crown, and wins $100,000. You know, some pocket change. Not useful at all.

The contestant pool was down to just four, and things got serious right off the bat. In the final Nerd War of the season, only two nerds would make it to the final round of battle, with two others getting eliminated in the dastardly quiz bowl. Jack rather handily took first place, which sent him straight through to the finals. The other three were all tied up, and whoever took the final point would join him. It was Xander's choice of question for the last one, and I think he kind of made a bit of a bonehead move if he wanted to make it to the finals and chose the hardest question in the math and logic section. Did he forget Kayla is a rocket scientist? Perhaps he should've picked the hardest question in video games if he wanted to win. But I think he was just trying to be fair, which is noble and actually I respect that as you know certain others would not want to be quite so fair. In the end, Kayla got that last question right, sending both her and Jack into the finals.

Unlike last year, though, and thank goodness for it, the final battle between the two nerds would not be something of a popularity contest where the other nerds would all come back and vote for who they think should win. Rather, it would be one final nerd off battle - the Nerdliminator. To help them in this final battle, all of the other nerds did come back, though, and each of them got to choose which person they wanted to help. It was fairly even in that respect, with Kelsey, Josh, Mary Kate and Zack working with Jack, and Brian, Xander, Chris, Nicole, and Katie joining Kayla. But first, they got to all drink some booze and generally have a good time together the night before the final competition, which was fun to see.

The Nerdliminator itself had eight different puzzles for Kayla and Jack to solve. They could call on three of their fellow nerds to help them throughout the twenty-minute timed challenge, but they could only help them on one puzzle per person. Let's see if I remember all of the different puzzles they could complete - sudoku, word find, a math problem, pac man, word cypher, some funky rope thing, a periodic table puzzle slider, and something with color blocks that you had to fit together in a certain pattern. Whoever completed the most puzzles in the time limit would be victorious. It was sort of hilarious to see Zack's many faces as he got annoyed that Jack wasn't calling on him for help, too, though eventually he did. In the end, it was rather close, but Jack kind of shot himself in the foot when he worked on the sudoku for too long without solving it.

Because, yes, the one nerd to rule them all is... Kayla!



In my opinion, the right two people were in the final competition in terms of who was left, and I was content with whichever of them won. Kayla certainly has more pop culture knowledge than Jack, which makes her more of a well-rounded winner. It's also kind of cool that a girl has won both seasons so far. It's also kind of funny because I said way back in my review of the premiere episode that I thought Kayla was a dark horse. Psychic, obvs!

And as one final sidenote, I loved that the bit where Kelsey was going to join Jack's side and he said something in Chinese and the editor put in the subtitles: "Something in Chinese. I don't know, I'm just the editor." That gave me a good laugh.

But what do YOU think? Are you happy with Kayla winning? Were you as relieved as I was that it didn't end up being a vote situation? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

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Friday, March 7, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x07 "Angry Nerds"

All hail Jack the Giant Slayer! At least, that's what all of the other nerds left in Nerdvana were saying after this week's penultimate episode. That's right, Jack was the one who was finally able to take down the seemingly unstoppable Nerd Off Champion - Zack. He surprisingly took it rather well. Or, as I hypothesized, he took it well because it was Jack who beat him, and he was his last sort of ally. But, let's talk about what led up to that pivotal moment...

Do those lights bug your eyes? Real questions.
Things turned into an individual game for the first time this week with the teams officially dissolved. It was every man, and one woman, for themselves. And the first Nerd War under this new system would be video game related. Very loosely video game related, much to Zack and Xander's disappointment. It was more like go-kart related. It was a game of Angry Nerds, which was a real life light cycle racing game. Kayla was overjoyed because she is a car person, and it turns out, she had reason to feel confident.

The race was a little bit funny to watch. She pretty much smoked all of them, even though she did not start out in first place. Zack had a disadvantage of having never driven before, and Brian had a disadvantage of just being really bad at glow in the dark go karting. Jack and Xander went back and forth for second place, but it ended up being Xander who took second place to Kayla's first. There was much hoopla made about these random bonus stars giving you extra points if you ran over them while driving, but in the end they didn't change any order in those who finished, so it was a bit of a moot point. Or as Joey Tribiani would say, a moo point.

Zack certainly put up a fight.
With Kayla winning, she got the distinct advantage of not being on the chopping block, but also of being able to solely pick one of the people going into the Nerd Off. There was much political intrigue leading up to her decision, with everyone lobbying in different ways, Xander perhaps most terribly as he almost shot himself in the foot. Kayla ended up sending Jack into the Nerd Off as part of a grander scheme, which turned out to work exactly as she hoped. The others all voted individually for who should be the other entrant, and it ended up being two votes each for Brian and Zack, which gave Kayla the further advantage of being the tie-breaker. She, of course, picked Zack to face off against him, so it was the two -acks in a final Midas Touch Attack Nerd Off.

The Nerd Off was basically about building a structure that would withstand balls being airgunned at it. Each of them had balls placed strategically in the structure that the other was trying to shoot down. Which is why I suppose this was called Angry Nerds, as that is very Angry Birds-like. Whoever knocked down three balls first would be the winner. It was actually quite close. Both of them knocked down two balls each, and it was down to whoever would get the last one. Jack proved victorious because his structure was sturdier than Zack's. Thus, the most successful Nerd Off victor since Genevieve was sent packing.

Now, Zack was painted as sort of a villain throughout the series, and oftentimes he fit the part, but it does seem like he grew over the course of his time there. At least, I hope that to be true. In any case, adios to Zack! Next week is the finale, where the King of the Nerds will be crowned. Though Xander has been a favorite throughout this competition personality-wise, I do think maybe he is in a bit of a Celeste-like position, in that I'm not sure he really deserves to win if it comes down to it. Honestly, I'm almost rooting for Jack at this point. Or maybe Kayla. Poor Brian never gets any votes in my polls, but with Zack gone, we'll see who proves to get the most votes this time around...

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Friday, February 28, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x06 "Nerds to the Rescue"

As they were suspecting, this was the last week the two teams were going to be teams heading into the Nerd War competition. Chris decided he would try to stir the pot with Zack and get him riled up so he wouldn't be able to focus. This ended up sort of backfiring as it made him and Jack more determined to win, but valiant effort?

Indeed, math can be hard without paper.
This week's Nerd War was pretty fun. Last year they did something with driving hovers through a maze-like situation, but this year they changed it up. The team had to get through a field of lasers, then solve a math problem at the end in order to free George Takei from his cage of doom. But there was an added twist to getting through the laser maze. The person going through said maze had to be blind-folded, while the other directed them through. Any time one of them would hit a laser, they would have to stand there for an entire minute before starting again. Once they were through the maze, they would then have to solve a math problem involving Tribble procreation to open Takei's cage.

The -ack team (Zack & Jack) were obviously the two from Midas Touch Attack going in, as they're the only two left, with Zack directing Jack through the laser beams. From the Titans of Rigel, Chris would be directing Brian through, since Brian is the smallest and Chris is kind of their leader. It was pretty hilarious how quickly the -acks managed to get through the maze while the Titans floundered. They didn't even get through the whole thing before Jack was working on solving the math equation, which ended up being part of the Fibonacci Sequence (that's what Jack said it was, anyway). I mean, Jack is a statistician, I hope he can solve a math problem. So, yes the yellow team finally pulled through with a victory. They got to go visit the Legacy Effects Studio as their prize, while Chris got to re-think his push button strategy.

Goodbye Chris!
This meant the Titans were finally going to be sent to a Nerd Off for the first time in an eon. They were pretty sure that the -acks would be sending in Chris since he was annoying them so much, so that left them with the decision about who on their team they should also send in. Some advocated for Kayla since she knows science fiction, but she decided to push for Brian to go in as he knows just as much, apparently. In the end, her gambit worked, and it was the laser maze team going up against each other.

The Nerd Off this time was two-fold. First, they each had to answer science fiction-related questions. Then, if they got the question right, they got to fire a nerf gun at some ships. Some ships were worth more points, etc. So whoever got the most points in the end would be victorious. Brian did better at first, but then Chris started to have a comeback, and I was wondering if we were in for a similar ending to when he went up against Kelsey. But, no, in the end, Brian proved victorious, sending Chris packing.

So, yes, one of the top three vote-getters in my poll of who you all would like to see win was ousted this week. Now that the competition is going to be more individual, I'm wondering how much of a chance Xander has in this thing. He's been kind of riding on his teammates coattails of late, not competing in this week's or last week's Nerd Wars. Even though he is definitely the most likeable, should he really win? Kayla is now the only girl left, so I'm wondering if the producers will try to keep her in despite whatever may go on, if they are that puppet-y. And what happens now that everyone is going up against Zack alone? No one wants him to win, but who can defeat him? Things are winding down in this competition, so we'll find out soon enough! Vote again for who should win now that Chris is out!

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Friday, February 21, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x05 "Trek Wars"

Sigh. No sooner had I decided a certain contestant was one of my favorites, than that contestant was sent packing! Curses! Anyhow, this week's episode featured a theme that we also saw last season - debate! Whereas last season the debate was about superheroes, this season featured one of the greatest nerd debates of all time. If you don't already know what that is, then perhaps you're not a Nerd. That's right, I'm talking about Star Wars versus Star Trek.

It's all fun and games until you start shooting plasma beams.
Midas Touch Attack got to pick which side they wanted to fight for first, and they chose Star Wars. You'd think maybe it might have been better for them to pick Star Trek since they know Kayla is a huge Trek fan, but in the end they picked the one they thought they could fight better for. What they didn't expect was to find that Jack has not seen either of the two franchises, and does not even know what the Millennium Falcon or Enterprise are. Egads! On the other team, Xander decided to sit this one out while Kayla, Brian and Chris fought for Trek.

When it came time to debate, the most exciting judge this time around was Billy Dee Williams, everyone's favorite Lando Calrissian. Another judge was the head of debate at USC and Kumail Nanjiani. And then it was time to debate!

Kayla and Katie started it off with a debate on whether the Enterprise or Millenium Falcon would win in a dogfight. Despite my actual belief that probably the Falcon wouldn't stand much of a chance against the Enterprise, surprisingly Katie won with her points that it could get in and out quickly since it was much smaller. Point one to team yellow. Up next was Chris versus Zack. Their question of contention was whether the Empire or the Borg were more dangerous as evil entities. Here, Chris' debate training really helped him out, and he took that one home for the Titans of Rigel. So, for those keeping track, that's 1 point for each time. Down to the final debate, Brian versus Jack, and whether the Wars or Trek universe was generally better. Jack, knowing not much of anything about the series, decided to go from a purely statistical standpoint, comparing the monetary value and general public feeling for each series, with Star Wars coming out on top. But Brian came at it differently, arguing more on the basis of story and what the purpose of each series is, and won for his efforts. So, that's a continued win streak for team purple.

Farewell Katie and her awesome purple hair!
So, Midas Touch Attack was in for yet another Nerd Off. Zack and Jack basically told Katie that, despite her being the only one on their team to win a point in the debate, they would be voting her in to the Nerd Off because she was really still on the Titans of Rigel's side. I mean, look at her hair. The titans did try to sway Jack to instead vote Zack, arguing that they would be more on his side if he did, as they would be voting him in either way. In the end, their efforts were for naught, as Jack voted for Katie to go in. Thus, it was Katie and Jack in the Nerd Off.

A Nerd Off of spelling! Now, this is one based more purely on skill than any of the others we've had so far. Or, at least, memorization ability. While Zack helped Jack to memorize a bunch of science fiction and fantasy words about stuff he had basically no knowledge of, the others all helped Katie, who apparently is not the best speller. Sadly, I think we could see where this was going. In the Nerd Off, each player also had to pick someone who would get shocked any time they spelled something wrong, so there was a double whammy of pressure for them to get things right. Things were close, so close that it came down to one final point. A point that involved spelling a word that Zack had been drilling in to Jack a bunch of times, which my boyfriend pointed out seemed a bit fishy, as the producers were likely able to see that too and could therefore weight the questions in Jack's favor. Do we believe in such trickery? Hmm.

So, yes, Katie ended up losing, which is a shame because she was definitely one of the people who seemed the most like she was having a genuinely good time, and actually cared about the other people there. It was interesting to note it seemed like she only hugged her other purple team members and not Jack or Zack, but then they did kind of stab her in the back. All I know is, if Zack wins this whole thing, it will only make him worse. They dialed back some of his shenanigans this week, but he was still sniggering in the background through the whole Nerd Off any time something went in Jack's favor.

Well, that's it for this week! Kayla is now the only girl left in this competition! Eeesh! Vote below for who you'd like to see take it all.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x04 "Ready, Set, Robot Dodgeball"

Katie prays to the Nerd gods, while the rest of Team Midas Touch Attack looks downtrodden.
As I guessed last week, with the teams becoming so uneven in numbers, right off the bat the two teams were told one member from the Titans of Rigel would have to join Midas Touch Attack. Of course, all the purple players were less than thrilled to hear this, as that was the very last thing that any of them wanted. They were to all draw colored coins out of a bag to see who would pull the yellow, but that didn't much matter, because first up was Katie, and she got it on the first try.

Which seemed like a boon to the yellow team considering this week's theme - robots! With Katie being a roboticist, the yellow team now had a distinct advantage. Except that their worst enemy was still lurking within - that of distrust, animosity, general unkindness and wackadoo dissent coming from Zack. He did seem to at least try a tiny bit to be nicer to everyone this episode, but there seems to be some kind of inherent belief within him that he is better than everyone else, that his efforts were probably not as high as others would be.

Anyway, the competition was one of robot dodgeball. Each team had to create four robots that would be used in said dodgeball match. Except, one team would be picked for, basically, better looking robots, making the other team lose one of theirs before starting the dodgeball. As has been the general way of things for the last few weeks, the Titans of Rigel had more flashy robots with a more cohesive theme to them, so they came out on top in that competition. And, sadly for the yellow team, they won the whole shebang in the end too. It was actually very close, but in the end Zack messed up with his robot controls and his robot got hit. This led to a downward spiral for him, basically tirading at himself for once, which Jack thought was more mature of him to believe it was his fault, but then Zack was like uh no, it's not really my fault. Sigh. So close. So far.
Goodbye, Nicole!

And, thus, it was Midas Touch Attack's third go in the Nerd Off. Zack was hoping his team would not vote him in yet again, but despite Nicole assuring him she wouldn't vote for him, that was not to be so. Sorry, dude, but you're mean and a bit unhinged, and the truth is no one wants to have to continue to babysit you on their team. The Titans of Rigel pick Nicole to face off with him in the challenge, hoping that this time she would beat him. They were actually getting smart this time, thinking that it might be hard for anyone to beat Zack when it comes down to an individual competition, considering his wins so far.

The Nerd Off was a game of Zombie Kerplunk. And, I don't know, can you really be good at kerplunk? Again, it seemed another game mostly of luck rather than skill. Sure, you can sort of see when certain pole are going to drop more stuff, but on the whole not really. So, despite pretty much everyone rooting for Nicole to win, and Zack hooting and hollering throughout the competition every time she did well and he didn't, she ended up losing. Sigh. The way Zack whined throughout that thing? Oy. I mean, the person going up against you shouldn't have to console you throughout, and then be the bigger person once she loses, just saying.

So, yes. Nicole lost, leaving Zack in this competition again. The real question now is, who the heck can beat him? Will any of the Nerd Offs be actually based on skill rather than a healthy heaping of luck? And did you enjoy seeing some of the past contestants as a few of the zombies during the Nerd Off?


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Friday, February 7, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x03 "To LARP or Not to LARP"

Oh man. As far as being painted as a villain, Zack has sure provided everyone an easy target. That's right, the tirade of whatever he calls himself, the Forsaken?, continued this week on King of the Nerds. I'm not saying I wanted to be right, but, I was sort of right? Throughout this episode, Zack's teammates kept trying to diffuse the tension, but he would just ratchet it right back up if he heard one astray comment. But that's enough talk about that, let's talk about some other stuff.

Gettin' IN to it.
This week's theme was the ever-nerdy LARPing. Live Action Role Play, for those who don't know. Though I'm not sure anyone who would be reading this wouldn't know what LARPing is, but I digress. The two teams were tasked with creating a world and characters based on four character archetypes provided, then had to enact their characters for the judges. This week, the judges were Kevin Sorbo, of Hercules fame, Yaya Han, she of the cosplay stratosphere, and Jon Heder, who you may remember as Napoleon Dynamite.

There was much drama on the yellow team, as previously mentioned, as they tried to get their act together, though I do wonder if maybe parts of the team weren't trying too hard in an effort to get Zack into the Nerd Off again in an attempt to get him out. But who knows if that has any merit! The purple team, on the other hand, were having tons o' fun coming up with their characters and story. Perhaps the team to get along best that I've ever seen on this show, which makes me wonder if they're going to mix things up with the teams soon, considering it's now 5 people to 3 on the teams.

Because, yes, Midas Touch Attack did indeed end up losing to the Titans of Rigel in the LARP contest. While they touted themselves as being the true LARPers because everything in their presentation was improvised, in the end the flash, spectacle and cohesiveness of purple could not be denied. I found it especially funny when they were like, um, she's not a monk, she's a forest nymph. Look, you don't have to be absolutely literal when you're coming up with stories. Forest Monks are allowed, I decree! Also, Xander was pretty hilarious.

Anyway, drama erupted again on team yellow when Zack and Mary Kate had a bit of a tiff that ended in Zack basically calling her stupid and not anywhere near his apparent genius. This got them both into the Nerd Off. Zack, voted in by his team (and himself), and Mary Kate voted in by purple because they are being rather diabolical and trying to keep Zack in to cause discord, and viewed Mary Kate as the weakest on the yellow team. You do know that means you're leaving yourself with stronger people to be up against later, if that's your view, right? Just saying. I did respect Kayla for wanting to put up someone else because she would rather not have the constant drama.

Fare thee well, Mary Kate!
But, that was not meant to be. The two were tasked with playing each other in a board game that was sort of like Battleship. They were both allowed to have an adviser, and this led to probably the only sort of redeeming moment for Zack on the show so far, because it became clear to him that no one wanted to be his adviser. He basically made a plea that this was mean-spirited and that because they are already part of a group that is somewhat ostracized in society, they should at least want each other. Which I think is maybe part of his problem, he feels he has to over-compensate because he's been put down most of his life for being weird. Mary Kate pointed out to him that to her, he was acting like a bully, and he did actually apologize for that, so perhaps this is a step in the right direction for him.

In the end, despite her very best efforts and near-win, Mary Kate lost to Zack due to, quite frankly, luck, which was kind of annoying. My boyfriend says he wondered if maybe her dice was weighted to make her roll smaller numbers, but that seems especially diabolical for the producers to do, but who knows. Mary Kate did tell Zack to basically think before he speaks and treat people with more respect as she left, so we can all hope he takes this to heart. As we did not see anything in the preview to indicate that one way or the other, who knows!

One more week down, and I'm still not quite sure who I want in the finals of this thing. I think until the purple team actually ends up in a Nerd Off, it will be hard to tell because right now they're getting along so well. But I do kind of root for Xander just because he's so funny. But is he the nerdiest of all? What about you? Anyone you are particularly hoping will make it to the end?

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Friday, January 31, 2014

King of the Nerds 2x02 "Weird... Science?"

The poll has spoken! I will be doing weekly reviews of our dear King of the Nerds! Luckily the show is only eight episodes long, I believe, so this won't be a huge undertaking. Last week, there wasn't much competing going on with it being the first episode, other than in the Nerd Off. This week, we get an actual challenge where some true colors were put on full display for the first time. And oh boy were they.
Subtlety!

The challenge was all about science, more specifically about creating a science fair-like presentation about volcanoes. They would be judged both on the science and the wow factor of their presentations. The teams went in wildly different directions for this challenge, which is always fun to see. It was interesting, actually, because while one team was more scientific in their presentation, their actual mountain was fantastical, while the other team was more fantastical in their presentation, but was more realistic in their mountain - ie, it was a real volcano.

Both teams were not without some drama in the creation of their projects. Team Midas Touch Attack, aka team yellow, at first seemed to get along better than the Titans of Rigel, aka team purple. Kayla was very concerned about the science of their presentation, while the rest of her team was more focused on theatricality of the actual presentation, and this caused some disparity. Team yellow was hampered by Zack, who seemed to be on a bit of a high horse, meditating and taking naps while the rest of his team worked. Of course, he believed he was the backbone in making their presentation. It's hard to say because of editing what the 100% truth is, but he did not come off well, let's just put it that way. I believe I did predict he would possibly get drunk with power? Hmm.

Fare thee well, Josh. I was rooting for you!
Anyway! When it came down to it, the purple team ended up winning. Bill Nye the Science Guy was a guest judge and appreciated their use of Yellowstone as their mountain, and the theatricality of their presentation. He was also joined on the judging panel by Mayim Bialik and... some whiz kid genius. Sorry, I forgot to write down his name. This meant the yellow team was to go up on the chopping block, and here is where the true drama began. Zack figured he was safe, but all of his teammates were not on the bandwagon, and voted him into the Nerd Off. He had a bit of a tirade when this went down, and made all of us audience members root for the purple team's choice - Josh. Their reasoning was he would not be very good at science, and they wanted to keep Zack on the other team to cause more strife.

Alas, the purple team's plan worked. Josh got a little too harried in the Nerd Off, which basically involved memorizing not only what the human organs do, but some "alien" equivalents as well. Josh messed up on figuring out it was the heart that had ventricles and chambers, and that pretty much lost him the game, which is only going to bolster Zack's megalomania at this point. Perhaps the show is painting him more as a villain than he is, but I don't know. He was pretty rude to Josh when they were both voted into the Nerd Off, so it's hard to say.

Anyway, next week is sure to be full of drama now that Zack remains on the yellow team. I do hope the contestants don't make the same mistake as last year by keeping in someone they don't see as threat for a super long time, who then ends up winning the whole thing when they shouldn't. Grumble, grumble.

So, who are you rooting for to take it all? I think it's still a little too soon to say who might make it. After next week I will probably have a better idea who I'm rooting for, and who I think will at least make it to the finals.

Until next time...

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Friday, January 24, 2014

King of the Nerds Season 2 premiere

You may remember my post from last year lamenting who was voted as winner in the finale of the first season of King of the Nerds, because, you know, she was not really the nerdiest of them all. But I digress. We're moving on, now, to a whole new season of fun and awkward. Because let's just get this out of the way now - nerds are awkward, normally because of social skills not exactly being top notch. I'm not trying to take a dig right now; I think most nerds would agree.

From Pokemon masters to Japanophiles to Gaymers, we've got a whole host of new contestants.
Anyway, there are new contestants, and I feel like I can't really comment much on what's going on yet because it's the very first episode, but I will say I feel kind of bad for Kelsey for being the first to go home because she happened to be one of the more socially awkward people there, and was probably not envisioned to be a very strong ally to some of the people around. In fact, she was the one not chosen for a team right from the start. Of course, she ended up getting on a team anyway in a bit of reversal trickery that nearly involved someone going home before any contests even happened, but ANYway, she DID make it on to a team, only to be the team's first choice to send to the nerd off. Sheesh.

Kelsey and Chris are the first two to face off in a Quidditch-inspired duel. Chris does not look pleased.
To be honest, Kelsey should've won that game if it were based on fantasy knowledge merits alone. But, alas, the competition merely went on to show that hand-eye coordination is somehow equally important in this thing, even though it's pretty established that nerds get picked last in such competitions. The whole gym class thing, you know? So Chris ended up winning just because he was able to get a ball of "potion" into a cauldron worth more points than Kelsey, even though she got more questions right. I suppose this is the same as last year, and they make it out to be some kind of recognizing relative space and arcs and when is the right time to throw based on knowledge, but.... sometimes it just comes down to hand-eye coordination.

I'm sorry, I'm rambling a little bit. The truth is, I really like this show. The people on it are much more interesting than those on some other reality competitions. They genuinely care about each other (usually) and are truly excited to be part of the whole Nerdvana experience. It's hard to say off the bat who I'm routing for and who I think is going to win, but I will say one of the nicer people on the show so far seems to be our resident Gay Gamer (aka Gaymer) Xander. I will say I think maybe Kayla could be a dark horse, and that while Nicole and Zachary already have an alliance, they seem like they could become drunk with power and lose it.

That's all for now. Not sure if I'm going to do actual weekly recaps of this show. Would you guys like that, or just like me to check in every now and then? Let me know and vote below!

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