King of the Nerds: S2E1: CALLING ALL NERDS!

Season two of King of the Nerds has begun on TBS and if the first episode is an indication of what we can expect as viewers, fans will not be disappointed by the second installment of this reality competition show.

Hosted and executive produced by revenging nerds, Curtis “Booger” Armstrong and Robert “Louis” Carradine, King of the Nerds is a lot like Big Brother; eleven self-proclaimed nerds are chosen to live in house (Nerdvana) to compete for a $100,000 grand prize, the title of “King of the Nerds” and the right to sit upon the “Throne of Games”.

This season began in the same nature as the first, after a welcome to Nerdvana from the show’s hosts, team captains were chosen by a random draw from a sorcerer’s hat. Zack, a 21 year old fantasy writer, was chosen as the Gold team captain and Chris, a 27 year old mechanical engineer, was chosen as the Purple team captain. All of the contestants were then allowed to enter Nerdvana to marvel at their new home and to mingle for two hours as part of the first Nerd War.

During the meet-n-greet, Nicole, 28, reveals to the Gold team captain that she is actually an inorganic chemist and proposes an alliance. Zack seems to be on board with this idea, stating that he would like to go to the final four with her.

Now, if these nerds have watched as much Big Brother and Survivor as I have, they would know to keep an eye on everyone during those first few hours of being in the game to see who’s talking to who and what pairs and groups go off to talk more privately. And talking privately is exactly what Zack and Nicole do to solidify a day one alliance. I have to think that someone noticed them slipping away into the Nerdvana T.A.R.D.I.S, which is actually bigger on the inside.

When Curtis issues a Nerd Alert, calling all nerds back to the front courtyard outside, the next part of the first Nerd War commences: the school yard pick to decide the teams beginning with the team captains. After a smart round of Rock, Paper Scissors, Zack’s Jedi Mind Trick grants him the opportunity to choose first and, staying true to his alliance, lowers a gold robe over Nicole’s shoulders. Kelsey, 23, a Japanophile is confused by the choice since Nicole was reserved about her background during mingling time.

As the choices dwindle, and with only one more pick to go, Kelsey and rocket scientist, Kayla, 26, are left to face the twist of the first Nerd War. The proposed idea is that there is nothing nerdier than not being picked for a team; last year, the person not picked was given the power to choose the winning team, but had to join the losing team. This year, Kelsey is left without a team and instead of choosing the winner, she must choose a contestant to banish from the game and join that person’s team. Stating that Nicole’s exit from Nerdvana wouldn’t impact the game very much, Kelsey chooses the incognito inorganic chemist and dons a gold robe.

However, Curtis and Bobby then propose that being kicked out of the game by the person not picked for a team must be nerdier than not being picked and Nicole’s prayers are answered. Not only is she responsible for choosing the winner, but she is then allowed to join that team and remove one person from it. Obviously, Nicole chooses the Gold team and obviously, Kelsey is the person made to switch robes. The bad news for the losing Purple team is that two of their members, one chosen by each team, will participate in the Nerd Off to fight for their fate in the game.

Before they announce the nominees, Bobby and Curtis ask each group to share the name they’ve decided upon to represent their team.

Midas Touch Attack is the chosen name of the Gold team: (from left to right, back to front): Josh, Jack, Nicole, Zack and Mary Kate.

The Purple team names themselves the Titans of Rigel: (from left to right, back to front): Katie, Xander, Chris, Kelsey, Brian and Kayla.

The Gold team unanimously votes for Chris and Kelsey is chosen by her team to compete in the Nerd Off, which will be centered on the world of Fantasy with a Harry Potter theme; Nerddich.

From this point, the competitors are allowed time to study for the challenge; Chris is nervous because he’s more into science fiction and immerses himself in the land of Harry Potter. Kelsey feels her fantasy knowledge is well-rounded. When everyone arrives at the Nerd Off; however, answering questions is only half of the battle. A right answer will give each player a shot at flying on the Nerdbolt, armed with six potion bottles, down a course of cauldrons with varying point values assigned to them.

You’d think a bunch of smart nerds would have used all six potion bottles during each run down the course and not flown past half of the cauldrons before taking a shot, but you’d be wrong! Kelsey is a sweet girl, but honey, it was your last chance to score some points! Why didn’t you try to hit more targets? Was it nerves? It was probably nerves.

So, the real life Luna Lovegood is the first nerd eliminated from the competition and it’s a shame. Kelsey was sharp and probably would have figured out that Zack and Nicole are working together, which would have been fun to watch. She and Xander could have done a lot of strategizing in secret since they both speak Japanese; this would have been suspicious to everyone else, but risk is involved whenever you have an advantage.

King of the Nerds airs on TBS on Thursday nights at 10pm eastern, 9pm central. You can also visit The Official TBS King of the Nerds Website for lots of extras and the lowdown on the contestants. Until next time, stay nerdy, my friends.

Survivor BBB Will Be Like BBT Says Spencer from BB (CBS Must Like the Letter B...)

CBS has made it official! Survivor: Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn premieres on February 26^th at 8/7 central with a special two hour episode, but the cast has yet to be revealed! Since we have no one to associate with our BBB tribes, I was a little lost on what I could write about for this pre-premiere post. The official release from CBS is four/five paragraphs of the basically the same information and I like to provide my readers with something a little more fun and interesting than THAT.

Serendipitously, I was leaving on a road trip to Louisiana with my ex/boyfriend, (long, complicated story), just a couple of days after the official CBS release and since I’ve got moxie, I decided to tweak the route so that we could go through Conway, Arkansas, home of Big Brother 15 2^nd runner-up, Spencer Clawson. After we got settled into our hotel room on Friday night, I sent Spencer a Tweet to see if he was interested in talking with me for a bit about the new season of Survivor and to my delighted surprise, he was!

On Saturday, I woke up feeling very excited, but slightly nervous about meeting my first Big Brother houseguest. I’m not really a good interviewer; I am much more comfortable with the flow of a natural conversation and I wanted to talk to the real Spencer, not the “coached by CBS on how to talk to the media” Spencer that walked off the CBS lot after the show ended. I also wanted to film it, but once we walked into his house (yes, his house), I abandoned that idea – it just didn’t feel right. Most of our chat would have been off the record anyway and my camera batteries wouldn’t have lasted the five hours I spent nerding out about Big Brother and Survivor with Spencer and Marilyn. Yup! Marilyn was home! And, yup! Five hours…

So, as I said, most of the conversation with Spencer will remain off the record, but here’s what he has to say about the new season of Survivor.

Firstly, Spencer is predicting a “Big Bang Theory” situation on the island after the tribes are either switched up or merged. He thinks one of the beauties will align/showmance with one of the brains despite all of the brawn on the island. I agree! Nerds are cool now, maybe not the nerds still in Jr. High and High School, but teenagers don’t usually have a firm grasp on reality so their opinions are questionable at best because of the change in perceptions that happen in your twenties. (Any teenagers reading this blog that are offended by that comment are probably the teenagers I’m talking about…)

Secondly, Spencer thinks a military-themed season of Survivor would be far more interesting than what they are doing with Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn. I agree again! Aren’t brains, beauty and brawn how people group up anyway on Survivor (and Big Brother)? YES! It’s about as original as separating tribes according to how old they are, but after hearing Spencer’s prediction about brains attracting a beauty, I’m a little more excited about the new season. I still think that the military theme is something that the producers should think about and I would also love to see some more Big Brother players. Spencer is down for a trip to the island, by the way, and if he could choose former players to play and align with, he would choose Denise, Malcolm and Penner; Penner and Spencer would mesh very well too, in my opinion.

Spencer and Marilyn also said that they would love to do The Amazing Race together; after meeting them both, I think that CBS should consider it and I’ll tell you why in a bit, but first…

Mostly, Spencer and I talked about BB15. It wasn’t even my intention to talk about BB15 a lot, or about all of the nasty attention that Spencer has gotten, or any of the controversial comments made in the house, but that’s what happened. It is also the reason most of the five hours I spent at his house is off the record. The whole afternoon had a “chilling out with friends” vibe and even before I arrived, I had a lot of respect for Spencer. He’s a really great guy and Marilyn is an equally great gal. My ex/boyfriend and I, even though he’s not into reality TV like I am, had an awesome time hanging out with them.

And I got to see all the awesome BB memorabilia that Spencer was allowed to keep! There was so much stuff! A plastic tub full! I held Spencer’s key, the “Super Ian” crab, Spencer’s OTEV “letter”… I got to wear his chicken suit hat… I so was overwhelmed by all the stuff that I couldn’t focus on taking pictures! Speaking of pictures...

This is proof that the photo I have is actually signed by Spencer. Those are Marilyn hands trying to get that stuff out of the picture. Too late! He was happy to pose again, though.

Now it’s time to wrap this up! I’m back in Conway on my way home and I’ve heard that CBS will be making a big announcement tomorrow/today. Cast info maybe? I’ve also heard that the cast will be all new players, which is refreshing after several seasons of having mixed new and returning players.

Oh yeah, my “but first…” I think Spencer deserves another shot at charming America and with Marilyn by his side during an Amazing Race, he could win over some of the haters. Marilyn would be to Spencer what Caleb could have been for Colton – a loved one to offer a new perspective on someone with a negative stigma attached to them. Spencer is also talking with McCrae about doing a podcast for Big Brother Canada 2 and Big Brother 16. If you’d love to see Spencer and McCrae podcasting Big Brother, you should let them know on Twitter! You can follow Spencer @SpencerBClawson and McCrae @mccraechum.

For now, this blogger is a sleepy girl and she can’t wait to curl up in a hotel bed to watch television she can’t watch at home (because she doesn't have cable/dish) until she drifts off to dreamland.

Thanks again, Spencer and Marilyn, for inviting William and I into your home. We want to be invited to the wedding! ;) Seriously, Spencer, put a ring on it!