An Open Letter to the TBS Executives In Charge of Renewing King of the Nerds

Dear TBS Executives,

Before you see the numbers for the King of the Nerds season two finale and make your final decision about renewing the show for a third season, I have prepared this open letter for you consider while you decide. Anyone that reads my King of the Nerds blog knows that I’m not good at math, but I know for a fact that the equation you are using to give the stamp of approval for King of the Nerds season three is missing a very vital variable: Heart. Don’t forget to factor in how much your loyal viewers love King of the Nerds. As one of those loyal viewers, I would like to present you with a piece of heart to use when you make your decision. 

Survivor premiered the summer after my dad died. My younger sister had just finished her freshman year of college and was staying with me; we were hooked after episode one and soon, our mom and little brother were watching along with a cousin of ours and a family friend. Survivor/Pizza night was formed some time around season three, I think, and I don’t know about everyone else in the circle, but for me, watching Survivor and talking about it after was very therapeutic. Watching everyday people play this crazy game and expose themselves to the world was comforting. 

My dad would have hated Survivor and Big Brother, two of my never-miss-an-episode favorites. I don’t think he would have seen the genius in one of my other favorites either, The Joe Schmo Show, because he would not be a reality TV fan if he were still alive; and if you’re not into reality TV, comedy or the entertainment industry in general, you just don’t understand why that show is so brilliant. King of the Nerds, though…

My dad would have loved King of the Nerds and he would have happily sat down to watch it with me every week because I had one of those really cool dads that let my little sister and I watch all kinds of inappropriate movies for little girls. Movies like, Revenge of the Nerds, Spaceballs, and Airplane – anything comedy related, you can bet that my sister and I were allowed to watch it unless it was really dirty. I can just hear the conversation I would have had with him last year. “Dad, oh my god, TBS is doing this reality show and they are only casting nerdy people and Booger and Louis from Revenge of the Nerds are the hosts.” That’s all it would have taken to convince him to watch and after this season, he would be sending a letter of his own to let you know how awesome it is. This is something that I know for a fact because it’s making me tear up a little right now. It’s sad we don’t get to watch it together for real; sometimes I can hear his laughter and comments in my imagination when I watch now, but it’s not the same. My mom loves the show, though, so does my younger brother and we really enjoy watching it together. 

That’s my piece of heart, now for the spin attack with my Master Sword. If you think you won’t be able to keep the show fresh and new, don’t! You’ve got a small army of nerds on your side to act as consultants for developing new challenges and if you want my ideas on how to mix up and twist the social game, I’ve got some and I’m kind of an expert on the highest rated reality competition shows on television. A couple of other fans and I came up with some great King of the Nerds games as well last week on Twitter. King of the Nerds has a bright future; if not on this Earth, a parallel one that has fully embraced the “worship” of intelligence. Create the alternate time line that takes us to that future! You can help save us from the world of Idiocracy we seem to be hurtling towards! 

At the very least, give us fans a prime number of seasons; three is a prime number. So is seven and 11, 13, 17, 19, 23… Also... Enjoy my Tweets tonight!

King of the Nerds: S2E7: Not So Angry Nerds

We’re down to the Final Five on the second season of King of the Nerds and the individual game has begun. Jack and Zack are the only two fingers that remain from the hand of Midas and there are three Titans blocking their path to the throne: Kayla, Brian and Xander. A clink drink toast is held for fallen Titan Chris, but Xander is happy that Brian is still in the game. Outside, Jack and Zack enjoy a celebratory sword fight on the steps of Nerdvana and are soon joined by others. Zack tells everyone that at this point, they are all Kings and Queens of the Nerds to him and that no nerd is really better than any other nerd. Now I ask you, is that something that a villain says? Nooope! Zack is an Anti-Hero.

When Curtis calls all nerds to the courtyard there are no funny costumes, but that’s cool and I’ll show you why in a bit. It’s Live Gaming Week in Nerdvana and the first individual Nerd War is called Nerdio Kart. Not only will the winning nerd be safe from banishment, but they will also hold the fate of a fellow nerd in his or her palm; the winner is allowed to vote one person into the Nerd Off and the remaining four will vote in the other. No other details are given about the challenge and the nerds are sent back to Nerdvana with three hours of study. Xander isn’t sure what will be involved, but is sure that his skills as a gamer will help him do very well and Kayla, a car enthusiast, is also feeling very confident. Zack; however, is not feeling so great. If they have to do any driving, he’s certain he will lose – Because he’s never driven a car and doesn’t have a license!

Time for the Nerd War! See what I mean about the lack of funny costumes? Tronified nerds is far greater! For this War, each contestant will drive their own Nerdio Kart for 12 laps around the course. First place snags 5000 points, second 4000 and so on, but bonus stars will light up around the track that are worth 250 points each if the players can drive over them. Each Nerdio Kart is in a randomly assigned position: Zach is in position one, Xander is in second, Jack has third, Kayla starts in fourth and Brian is in the final position. After the race starts, the players maintain their positions until Xander bumps into Zack leaving a gap open for Kayla to slide into the lead. With ten laps remaining, the bonus stars begin to appear, but Kayla has a good lead on the boys – she totally laps Brian who has fallen into last place. According to Jack, people are crashing more than Microsoft! And “curse his bleeding heart”, Xander stops to make sure people are okay. With only one lap to go, though, Xander has managed to get snuggled up next to Kayla in second place and is relying on his collection of bonus stars to beat Kayla. Everyone is relying on bonus stars to beat Kayla because she is so far ahead of the boys at this point.

Bonus points end up not meaning a thing, though, because Kayla has enough of them to win the Nerd War with Xander finishing in second. It is because of his performance that Kayla shares the reward with him: they will each receive a Telepresence Robot from Double Robotics worth $2,000! While Kayla and Xander play with their new toys, Jack and Zack talk with Brian. They know they are at risk of going to the Nerd Off and they are curious as to who Kayla might vote into the competition. Actually, everyone is curious about who Kayla is going to target. It’s the talk of the Nerdvana. As Brian says, the “great game” is afoot; everyone is breaking off into pairs and trios to talk strategy.

Xander and Kayla must have received a special dinner reward in addition to their awesome Telepresence Robots because they are outside on a patio eating and chatting, away from everyone else. Based on the assumption that Kayla votes for Zack, Xander is pretty sure that Jack and Zack are going to vote for Brian because Xander is a gamer and the dangling fingers of Midas want to protect themselves during Live Gaming Week. If Xander and Brian vote for Jack together, Kayla will have all the power because she will have to break a tie. Later in the T.A.R.D.I.S Brian is talking with Kayla; for his game, it would be ideal if Xander were up against Zack in the Nerd Off. When Brian leaves, Zack enters and Kayla slips into the conversation that Xander may be a viable candidate. Zack then walks in on Xander and Jack talking game; they discuss the possibility of voting as a trio to put Brian into the Nerd Off to avoid the tie. Then Zack tosses some firecrackers into the box; Kayla might target Xander. Boom!

The next day, the remaining Titans are having breakfast when Xander announces that he has created “Xander Bombs” throughout Nerdvana: If you vote for him, there’s trouble for you. Kayla is free to vote however she wants, but Xander has terms. Of course, Kayla doesn’t take this very well, she had no intention of voting for Xander and she lets him know that he probably just hurt himself more. Oops! Awkward! And for those of you who don’t know what this whole “Leroy Jenkins” thing is all about, watch this video.

To the throne room! Things play out a lot like last week’sepisode of Survivor Cagayan; Kayla votes for Jack, (not Zack! – Kayla is more scared of Jack’s brain), and the boys split their votes between Brian and Jack. Since Kayla won the Nerd Off, she breaks the tie and she doesn’t stray from her purple alliance, pitting Zack against Jack – the bird flip attack from the hand of Midas will soon be upon the Titans, but who will remain in Nerdvana to give the middle finger? Everything comes down to a game of Angry Nerds – yeah, it’s just what you’re thinking, a life-size version of Angry Birds. In the T.A.R.D.I.S is everything that Jack and Zack need to build a miniature version of the structure they would like to use in the Nerd Off; their builds will be recreated for them. (By the way, they totally use Big Brother music in this show, same music that we often hear in Survivor too).

Before the epic showdown, the golden boys get to work designing their structures. Both Kayla and Brian are helping Jack with construction in the Midas Touch Attack War Room. Jack will be using the standard Lego-building strategy of staggering blocks for optimum stability while keeping his Nerds Balls spread far apart, (minds out of the gutter, folks, minds out of the gutter, it’s the best way to phrase it!). In the ToR Room, Zack is left alone to work out his block wall with only his friend Twilly, from the Adventure Quest games, to keep him company and give him advice. Too bad Twilly doesn’t really talk! Zack needs a Melissa-fied Yoda Backpack from Think Geek, but I don’t even have one of those, nor do I possess the skills necessary to modify a Yoda backpack. Maybe Katie could help me… Anyway, Zack is hoping that the game will come down to shooting because, pardon the pun, he thinks he will have a better shot at winning.

So how cool is this Nerd Off?

The game begins with Rock, Paper, Scissors and of course, Jedi Master Zack wins the choice of going first or second – BECAUSE HE CHOOSES SCISSORS EVERYTIME, COME ON, PEOPLE! Even if he doesn’t win King of the Nerds, Xander is definitely the King of the Diary Room. lol So Zack actually chooses to go first, giving Jack the advantage of watching him shoot the air cannon and learn from his mistakes. Zachary! What were you thinking?! Did the gravity of the situation get to you? You never choose to go first in a competition like this! Anyone that wants to be on King of the Nerds should really watch a couple of seasons of Big Brother and Survivor; you will learn a lot.

Both boys miss their first shots and do little damage to each other’s structures. In his second shot, though, Zack scores a direct hit against Jack, but does little to lessen the integrity of the build. Jack thinks it was a lucky shot and in his second attempt, he manages a direct hit as well! Against one Zack’s blocks. No points! Their third shots do some damage to the walls, but neither scores a point, though Jack comes close. Zack’s fourth shot is a miss as well, but Jack has finally switched gears. Instead of aiming for Zack’s Nerd Balls, he’s going to shoot for the structure, which is was a good strategy because it not only does good damage, but also puts him on the scoreboard. Zack’s fifth shot is successful in scoring a point, another direct hit then Jack evens up the score. Only smaller, well-protected, balls remain on Jack’s wall and one of Zack’s balls is precariously close to the edge at to the top of his.

Jack doesn’t even need to hit the ball to knock it down, though; a direct hit to the wall is all it takes to bring down the would-be Tyrant King of Nerdvana, Zack, who takes the loss extremely well. He will always consider the nerds to be his friends, and hugs are shared by all. I wanna give you a hug too, Zack! It kills me you’re not going to be in the finale. You deserve to be there, most definitely, but as you put it – All of you are Kings and Queens of the Nerds to me.

So we’re down to the final four and the finale episode of the season is upon us! Who will win King of the Nerds? Jumping Jack the Giant Slayer, Xander, King of the Diary Room, Brian the Bard of Bacon or will they have to change the name of the show to “Queen” of the Nerds if Kayla wins the right to sit atop the Thone of Games? Find out Thursday on TBS at 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central! And we have to Tweet Tweet TWEET to TBS to ensure they renew the show for a season three!

And for all you nerds that are fans of Reality TV, take some time to look around the new Your Reality Recaps website! We cover all the best shows and if you don’t see a show you consider to be the best, let Eric (@RealityRecaps) know! He never has enough stuff to do. :) I’m also still compiling my list of “Top Ten Things We Learned from King of the Nerds Season Two” – Got something funny to submit? Hit me up on Twitter @thedolphinpoet and I might add yours to the list! Until next time, stay nerdy, my friends.

Survivor Cagayan: Ep2: Dot Dot Dot Hmmm

No chit chat! Let’s get right into the action. With Garrett out of the game, Spencer is the only dude left at the Brains camp and he knows his days are numbered. After Tribal Council, he asks Tasha if the outcome would have been different if Garrett the Dictator hadn't show up at camp and she confirms that he is correct. Things changed for Tasha, as they should have, when the alliance between Garrett, Spencer and Kass was exposed. She has no loyalty to Spencer and she and Kass are all in for a girls alliance. Spencer is in big trouble if they don’t pull out a win at the next Immunity Challenge. So what if J'Tia threw out 95% of their rice?

At the Brawn camp, Tony comes out of the cop closet to Sarah and did I call it or what? The cops have decided to form a Cops-R-Us alliance, but as soon as it’s formed Tony start throwing around names and false stories – he’ll swear on any name he has to, he doesn't care, he’s in it to win it! And he’s playing way too hard way too fast. You’ve got an idol, Tony, and your team is doing really well in Immunity Challenges! Why muddy up your reputation this early on by lying to a cop who knew you were a cop before you told her? Duh! Not a smart move for a guy with an Immunity Idol in his pocket. Not a smart move at all. I predict this guy either gets blindsided with the Idol in his bag, (or back at camp like Garrett) or he plays it when doesn’t need to. Sorry, Tony, but this is the part of the game when a guy like you has to play real chill because you're a huge threat in individual immunity challenges.

And the RAIN is back! No Survivor Light for these players!  It amazes me this far into the series how often people “didn’t think it would be this bad” on Survivor. Have they never watched the show?! Dealing with the unpredictable elements is all part of the experience. Woo gets it, he loves it and I love Woo! The wind in this episode, though… I don’t think I’ve ever seen wind that fierce on Survivor ever before. Or a tribe of more useless women! Beauties! Letting those boys do all the work on the shelter, like you can’t weave palm leaves together for the roof and hey, maybe you’ll warm up if you move around a little more! All the time spend huddling in the shelter was good for LJ, though, because it gave him time to think about what Morgan was doing over there by those rocks when the rest of the tribe joined her at camp…

Tree Mail Call at the Brains island! The next immunity challenge will involve throwing buckets of water and they could win a tarp! Tasha immediately wants to practice, but J’Tia would like to eat some rice first… Let me say that again, J’Tia wants to eat rice before they practice for the challenge. Kass wants to do some work on some interior design elements in the shelter, Spencer is really dehydrated… Tasha does get in her practice time, though, and thus begins my favorite scene in the episode: The Brains tribe in the ocean tossing water back and forth into coconut shells with the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss playing in the background. I will always think of Survivor when I hear that piece now. (And I made sure to get a picture of Spencer shirtless in the blog for Eric).

Immunity Challenge 3: Very teamwork oriented, this challenge requires that one tribe member toss a bucket of water to another, the person catching the bucket must throw the water out for a third member to catch in another bucket. (Oh yeah, and everyone is shocked that Garrett is gone). The third person will fill a container with water until it lowers, releasing a shiny ball that will be used in a vertical, circular maze that requires two tribe members to solve. First two to finish win Immunity and it’s looking real good for Beauty and Brawn when the challenge begins. Beauty finishes the water toss first; Jeremiah and LJ take the reigns for the maze. Shortly after, Cliff and Woo get to work on the maze for the Brawns. All of my favorites are working on this puzzle! When the Brains finally collect enough water, Spencer and Kass have a lot of time to make up and the Brawns provide them with a lot of motivation when they finish in first place. So it’s down to the Beauties and the Brains and Spencer is working those ropes like Jack jumped through those lasers on King of the Nerds. He’s moving fast and the Beauty tribe is starting to freak out and BOOM! Brains win Immunity!

So it’s off to Tribal Council for the Beauty tribe, (I’m skipping right over all the celebration and the Brawn tribe), where LJ reveals the he, Jeremiah, Alexis and Jefra are “on the same page” and they all think Brice should be the target. Brice is worried about being the target and has a little chat with his good friend, Jeremiah, who lets him know that what LJ and the rest of the group (minus Morgan) is targeting him; Brice suggest they vote out Alexis instead. Jeremiah says he down for that. If they can swing Jefra over to their side, Morgan thinks they can switch it up and she finds some time to chat with her alone. In turn, Jefra approaches Jeremiah for a chat to confirm what she just talked about with Morgan and then there are baby birds and a lizard and all of the sudden they are going to split the votes, go to a tie, then vote out Brice.

Tribal Council 3: There really isn't any reason to break down this Tribal. They split the vote between Alexis and Brice, there’s a tie, they vote again and Brice goes home. While I see why they voted out Brice, I really don’t understand the point of splitting the votes into a tie. What’s the point of making someone who will stay on the island angry? The best thing from Tribal council number three is to the right, but there’s only one other thing I have to add, regarding the preview of the next episode: YOU NEVER EVER THROW A TRIBE IMMUNITY CHALLENGE IN SURVIVOR. EVER. If any of my readers are ever on Survivor, please follow that bit of advice and promise I get your first official interview.

Survivor airs on CBS on Wednesday nights at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. Don’t forget to tune in live for the Your Reality Recaps Survivor Recap every Thursday at 3:10pm Eastern, 2:10 Central and subscribe to the YouTube channel so you never miss an upload of the edited versions. This is a link to the Episode 2 Recap! (Don’t forget to “like” them on YouTube)! And if you love what you see at Your Reality Recaps, help bring more awesomeness into your life by supporting the YRR Kickstarter. (NEVER ever throw a Tribe Challenge in Survivor. Ever.)

King of the Nerds: S2E6: Hashtag Whaaat?! And Other Hashtags As Well...

What a great week for Reality TV! After a pretty awesome first episode of Survivor Cagayan, the sixth installment of King of the Nerds season two was an equal match for excitement. Midas Touch Attack is down to two members, Zack and Jack, and the Titans of Rigel still have four, Xander, Chris, Brian and, the only girl left in the competition, Kayla. We’re on the verge of a merge and there’s no telling what will happen when the players execute their end-game strategies.

After Katie’s departure, the teams head back into Nerdvana. Jack and Zack feel great about their position in the game, Zack in particular is feeling quite confident that MTA will control things from here on out and that one of them will win the crown. The Titans of Rigel are really bummed that Katie has been eliminated and don’t know where they went wrong since they did everything they could to help her send Jack home instead. This is the first time that ToR has really felt the sting of losing a team member since they had to say good-bye to Kelsey in the first episode; their mood has visibly changed as they grumble about Jack and/or Zack being a part of the Final Five they wanted to share with Katie. It’s time to focus, regroup and figure out what to do in the next phases of the game.

At this time, I completely retract all comments made about Chris being a wall flower. This guy is actually quite sinister; he aims to misbehave, making it his mission to drive a wedge between Zack and Jack so that their performance in the upcoming Nerd War will be more difficult for them. They fall for it hook, line and sinker. Chris is disgusted that Jack would choose to have him physically harmed in the name of revenge during the last Nerd Off and there is no way the emotional damage can be repaired. Jack takes the sneak attack in stride. Equally upsetting thoughts are shared with Zack and you can imagine how he reacted to Chris poking at his ego… Zack isn’t sure what’s happening, but he doesn’t like it! 

When Curtis calls all nerds to the courtyard, we see that the silly costumes are back! This week’s activities are all about science fiction and one of sci-fi’s most beloved icons is in trouble. George Takei needs help and only our nerds can provide it. Resident Star Trek lover, Kayla is absolutely excited, well, they are all absolutely excited, I mean, come on – it’s George Takei! What nerd doesn’t love Uncle George? Curtis and Bobby further explain that two people from each team will have to work together to navigate a maze of lasers and solve a math problem to open the cage in which George Takei has been imprisoned. Jack is super excited that math is involved; math is a staple in the nerd community and numbers are Jack’s bread and butter, but that’s only half of the equation. The “working together” part of this Nerd War means that one person will be “blindfolded” and the other will have to direct them through the lasers.

Always excited for the next Nerd War, everyone rushes back into the house to grab their practice gear from the T.A.R.D.I.S. Each team has been giving brightly colored spools of string and tape so that they can create their own “laser” mazes. The gravity of the situation hits Zack after he and Jack have set up their mock maze a hallway. If they lose this Nerd War, they both go to the Nerd Off and one of them will go home. They decide that Jack will go through the maze and Zack will guide him. Zack has lead many successful raids in World of Warcraft and he’s very confident that he will be able to do the same in this situation. The Titans also have their mock maze set up; six foot two inches tall Xander is not having much luck and from the sounds of it, his math skills are as “amazing” as my own, (hashtag not that amazing). Everyone agrees that Chris and five foot four inches tall Brian are the best Titans to go to battle on this one; Brianrietta’s skort will come in handy yet again!

Later, there is an altercation in the hallway; Chris and Brian have stumbled upon Jack and Zack’s hallway maze and Chris want to use it to practice. It’s in a public area, which according to Chris makes it public property and he is adamant that his team will use it. Zack argues that it’s unfair if the purple team unless the advantage is vice versa. Chris is still executing his “mind games” strategy, “asking” if the Titan’s can use the space next to MTA’s maze to practice, which absolutely makes no sense and Zack agrees with me. Frustrated, and aware now that Chris is messing around with him, Zack gives up, let’s Chris do whatever he wants with the gold team’s maze and meditates in another room. Zack is not going to let his emotions get the best of him; he is determined to win this Nerd War.

So off to the Nerd War we go and the whole set up is just too much for Xander; there are lasers, math problems on podiums - he’s over-stimulated. It’s probably a good thing Xander is not actually competing to save George Takei. Before the War begins, Curtis explains a few more rules. Every time they trigger a laser, the player must freeze in that position and endure a one minute penalty to be able to continue; if they mess up on the math problem to unlock Uncle George’s cage, they will incur a 30 second penalty. Without further ado, George encourages the teams to “live long and prosper”, (Jack doesn’t know how to do the hand gesture), the teams take their positions on opposite sides of a hallway, the maze crawlers each don a pair of spectrum reducing goggles so that they can’t see the lasers and the War begins.

Using the “Tortoise and the Hare” strategy, Brian of the Titans is taking baby steps around the lasers. Jack is definitely the hare in this situation; Zack encourages risky moves like jumping over lasers and crawling swiftly under others and Jack is not afraid to execute his commands. Curtis and Bobby provide the usual commentary, unbiased and objective commentary unlike some other reality competition show hosts we know… What I find interesting here is that almost every time we see the hosts and our iconic captive, George has his eye on Midas Touch Attack; it must be be Zack’s rambunctious instructions, which lead to the first one minute penalty in the game. Brian scores a penalty for the Titans soon enough – oh myyy! He’s also kind of stuck in a corner at this point in the competition.

When Jack’s penalty time is over, Zack urges him to jump again and he does so successfully; Brian’s penalty time is up quickly after, but he immediately incurs another – on the same laser. Jumping Jack continues following Zack’s directions of hopping over lasers and lands in the math zone of the challenge quickly; the Titans aren’t even half way down the hallway. In the math zone, the question of the day is as follows… Tribbles Trouble: Through asexual reproduction, a single Tribble will produce a litter of 10 offspring every 12 hours. If you brought ONE Tribble aboard your starcraft, how many Tribbles would you have after 48 hours.

Yeah… Math… Multiple multiplications… My brain just isn’t wired to be able to solve these math problems quickly in my head. I would probably have trouble on paper as well. Numbers just aren’t my thing, but Jack and Zack should breeze through it right? Not so much, they fail to answer correctly on their first attempt, opening the door for the Titans to advance during the 30 second penalty time. Chris and Brian, taking a cue from the gold team, begin to act more adventurously, lessening the gap between the teams. After their 30 seconds are up, though, Jack figures out the key to solving the equation – the Fibonacci Sequence! Just because I’m not good at it, doesn’t mean I’m not fascinated by mathematics – I own Donald in Mathemagic Land and Pi on DVD so… I know what the Fibonacci Sequence is… I just can’t explain it nor do I possess the ability to explain how Jack uses it to quickly release George Takei from his cage. Yup! Midas Touch Attack has finally won another Nerd War!

Ironically, Chris’ mind games actually helped solidify the bond and focused the communication skills of Midas Touch Attack. Their reward for winning the Nerd War is a visit to the Legacy special effects studio, which Jack and Zack totally enjoy. Too bad Katie couldn’t have survived to go with them! While the two fingers of Midas are off seeing the special effects wizardry, the purple teams makes light of their situation by filming a series of special Diary room sessions. Two members of their team will be voted into the Nerd Off and they have to do part of the voting. They haven’t had to do this since the first episode. Chris is pretty sure that the gold team is going to vote him into the Nerd Off because of his behavior before the Nerd War. Zack confirms they are thinking about Chris, but he and Jack both agree that Brian is just as threatening in the end game.

In the ToR room, talk has now switched to which of their own they are going to offer to the Nerd Gods in the throne room. Want to see what happens when real brains have an open forum before a “tribe vote”? I’m still so disgusted by Garrett in Survivor… I will say it again here: What a terrible casting choice for someone who was supposed to be on the Brains tribe, let alone the show itself. So glad he’s gone... Since all of the Titans are rational, logical people who work well together, and don’t have a lame player like Garrett around, they discuss openly that most of the team is threatened by Chris and will be voting someone into the Nerd Off that they believe can beat him. Kayla has a lot of science fiction knowledge and both Xander and Brian agree that she is the best choice to compete against Chris.

Before they are called to the Throne Room, the Titans are still debating on who to vote for; Brian suggests they vote for Bacon. AND I FINALLY KNOW WHAT ALL THE #IMBACON IS ALL ABOUT! Seriously! I was so confused because I didn’t think any of the nerds were Big Brother fans so they couldn’t have been referring to Adam from Big Brother and his obsession with bacon. Now I know it was a talking bacon strip plush, probably from Think Geek. I really want one now – he would go well with my “The Cheat” talking plush. Anyway… Chris doesn’t want to vote for Kayla to go into the Nerd Off – she can beat him and he doesn’t want to lose. Kayla tells him to vote for Brian, but Chris doesn’t know if she plans on doing the same or if there is strategy involved. In the Throne Room, the votes are revealed; MTA has voted for Chris and ToR has voted for… whaaaaat? Hashtag blindside in King of the Nerds!? Brian is voted in by the purple team to compete in the Nerd Off, not Kayla!

After Brian and Chris bend a knee, they learn that this Nerd Off will be part science fiction trivia, part first person shooting game. They have three hours to utilize the weaponry provided for them in the T.A.R.D.I.S for target practice and they are encouraged to memorize the millions of sci-fi literature on Amazon. There are absolutely no hard feelings between the Titans of Rigel and both nominees are eager to begin preparations. Chris is not going to worry about shooting Nerf guns; he is going to study as much science fiction as he can because the trivia portion of the Nerd Off will be most challenging for him. Brian will balance his time between studying and target practice. Kayla offers her assistance to anyone who would like her help, but it seems that Chris is more content working alone. Don’t know where Xander was in all of this, but even Zack and Jack are giving Brian some shooting pointers.

When all of the nerds are gathered for the Nerd Off in the Throne Room, Curtis explains how the game works. For each trivia question answered correctly, both Brian and Chris will have the opportunity to shoot 40 rounds at three rows of spaceships of various sizes, shapes and point values. Whoever scores the highest number of points will win the Nerd Off. The first question is Firefly related and easy if you’ve seen Firefly and Serenity… Chris! Come on, man! So Brian answers the first two questions correctly, the table turns for the next two questions and Chris ends up with the higher score: 7800 to 6300. With two questions left, tensions are high, but both boys answer the fifth question right. Chris shoots first and boosts his score to 8900; Brian boosts his to 8700.

Time for the final question, and it is far easier than the first. Though our nerds may disagree on Star Wars and Star Trek, I think there is something other than Firefly that brings them back together: Doctor Freakin’ Who. What nerd doesn’t know what T.A.R.D.I.S means?! Oh wait, probably Jack, right? lol Obviously Chris answers correctly, he defined T.A.R.D.I.S for everyone in the first episode, and Brian knows as well that it means “Time And Relative Dimension In Space”; they both get 40 more rounds. Chris is first to shoot and he sets the bar at 11,200 for Brian. When Brian takes his last crack in the gunner’s chair, an error occurs in the games-o-matic scoring system; a hashtag nerdcliffhanger protocol has been executed while the system re-boots! Ahhh! zOMG1!!

Brian is victorious and another nerd bites the dust. The teams are as predicted, dissolved, and the game will switch to “every nerd for his or herself” mode in the next episode. And there are only two episodes left!!! <sigh> Two episodes… I have Survivor and the second season of Big Brother Canada to satisfy my desperate need for reality TV, but I am really going to miss King of the Nerds. I’m saying it now, and I will say it again – TBS: There had better be a season three; my suggestion, you do eleven seasons then all the winners compete for chance to join the ranks of Curtis and Bobby as a Nerd God. It’s just an idea. Let me know if you want more. I’ve got a lot.

King of the Nerds airs on TBS at 10pm/9pm on Thursdays. You can check out the cast bios and loads of extras at the Official King of the Nerds Webpage. And don't forget to follow our nerds on Twitter! All of their Twitter handles are on their corresponding biography pages on the TBS website. Stay nerdy, my friends!

If you're not following me on Twitter you can @thedolphinpoet. I'm compiling a Top Ten List of things we learned from this season of King of the Nerds and I want YOUR suggestions for what should be on it. Tweet them to me whenever you think of something funny and I might use yours!

Survivor Cagayan: Ep1: Yes... All the Rice...

What a fun Survivor premiere! I’ve already given some of my thoughts on the first two episodes of Survivor Cagayan Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn… Could that name BE any longer? Really, though. It’s ridiculous. Anyway, I’ve already talked about the premiere a bit and if you’re reading this, you should definitely be watching the Your Reality Recaps live shows, even if you can only watch the edited, and unedited, versions later. Don’t forget to “like” and subscribe on YoutTube and if you really like the content your seeing, you should help the Kickstarter to send our hosts to Reality Rally, which you can do by following this link: Your Reality Recaps Kickstarter!

Let’s get to it! After the obligatory introduction of the tribes everyone takes a place on their mats and Jeff welcomes the players to the game. While they are separated, no one knows what kind of “B” they are yet and Jeff asks Morgan of the Beauty tribe which “B” she thinks she is – obviously she’s a “Beauty”, right? Jeff moves over to the Brains tribe and asks Spencer the same question, he knows his place in the game as well because look at Cliff and the other muscle over in the Brawn tribe! Kind of a boring way start things off, why not mix up the tribes then shuffle them into the right order after Jeff calls them to the starting mats? That would have really thrown people for a loop; especially since this opening was chock full of twists - why not throw in one more?

The twists I’m talking about are the choosing of a tribe leader, that leader having to turn around and choose another tribe member as the weakest, those three deemed the weakest given a ride to camp while the others hike and upon arriving to their camps, the weakest players have to choose between a tribe reward or a clue to a hidden Immunity Idol. Long sentence, I know, but Survivor is hitting the ground running this season so it’s only fitting that I use a run-on sentence to break down the beginning twists of the season.

Let’s start with the Beauties. LJ chosen as the leader of the tribe and he chooses Morgan as the weakest, but in reality he is threatened by her hotness and rightfully so. If you’ve read about Morgan in my cast preview or at the CBS website, you know she’s poised and ready to play. On the Brawn tribe, Trish explains that Sarah’s confidence will make her a good leader for their tribe then Sarah turns right around and picks out Trish as the weakest player. What a terrible way to start the game – making an enemy of someone who would have been an ally. Finally, the Brains are convinced that David’s blazer, (no Twitter account created for it…yet), makes him the leader of the tribe and he strategically taps Garrett’s shoulder to mark him the weakest player.

So yada, yada, yada… Garrett easily finds his Immunity Idol before his tribe finds their way to the Brains camp. Trish wants to look for the Idol, but she’s conflicted because she’s a team player and ultimately chooses to help her tribe instead of find herself some safety. Not a smart move! You always take an advantage when you’re offered one in a reality competition show. Morgan’s decision is also easy, she’s looking for the Idol and while she’s gone, the rest of the tribe shows up at the Beauty camp. When she returns from a failed attempt at finding hidden Immunity, she does a great job of covering her tracks, but LJ is suspicious because he knows better, because they are playing Survivor, because Morgan was left alone at camp as the weakest tribe member, and duh, of course there is a hidden Immunity Idol, and of course she was given a crack at finding it.

So, the Beauties are the only tribe that seem to have it together before the Immunity Challenge; they’ve got fire, they are working together to build their shelter – good for them! The Brawns are on it as far as shelter is concerned, but I didn’t see anyone trying to make fire – you can get my thoughts on that in the Survivor recap with Eric and Missy here. You can also hear what I think of Tony not telling Sarah that he’s a cop… In the Brains camp, J’Tia takes the reigns for building a shelter, she has it all planned out; however, things do not go so well with the execution of her design. When Tasha tests out the balance, all of their work collapses.

Immunity Challenge 1: As a very studious viewer of Survivor challenges, the first one is pretty typical of the first leg of the game. There is always a physical element that encourages teamwork and a puzzle at the end to round out the competition. The first challenge in Survivor BBB does not stray from a formula that works and we probably won’t see a change up until episode four or five, especially if we see a tribe switch before the merge, which I’m sure we will. All of this has been chatter because it was pretty obvious early on that the Brains were going to lose this one, they couldn’t even keep their puzzle pieces in their chests! It is surprising that the Beauties came in first, though! <wink>

Since they lost the challenge, the focus is all up in the Brains camp for the rest of the episode. David wants to get rid of Garrett, but Kass wants to get rid of J’Tia and isn’t shy about telling her that it’s because she doesn’t pull her weight around camp. When Tasha approaches, J’Tia lets her know what’s up then Garrett joins the party and he tells them that he would rather get rid of David since he’s a bigger threat. Garrett’s going to have a little chat with Spencer before Tribal Council… But first… Here’s some freakin’ SPIDERS! Come on, guys… I have arachnophobia and I’m tired of my nightmares flashing through my mind every time you nature shot it to spiders… You’ve got to stop. I can handle the snakes, but cool it with the eight-legged freaks.

Tribal Council 1: The Brains arrive at the Tribal Council area, light their torches and settle into place, well, Garrett tries, but he doesn’t do so well with spiders either! Once the offending arachnid has been swept away, Tribal begins. J’Tia immediately tosses herself onto the fire pit to be grilled by Jeff because she knows that Jeff knows that she knows she’s on the chopping block. Jeff proves that he knows what’s going on back at camp by addressing David next. For the rest of Tribal Council, David, J’Tia and Garrett are the center of Jeff’s attention and all are trying to swat the attention away from them until Jeff announces that it’s time to vote. And hashtag blindside! First episode! David is called by Jeff to have his torch snuffed and the President of the Miami Marlins... is... outta here!

The Survivor action isn’t over yet, though, because premiere night is a double header – two episodes! After David gives us the yada, yada, yada about being voted out we dive into more Survivor action. At the Brains camp, Garrett is not having any fun playing Survivor. He doesn’t want play Survivor to survive, he wants to out-wit and manipulate people like he does around the table as a professional poker player. Boo! Hiss! Ugh! THIS GUY! Seriously, why are dudes like this cast on Survivor? Surviving in the wilderness is part of the game, Garrett, that’s why it’s called Survivor. Anyway, Garrett speaks with Spencer and they feel comfortable where they are in the game; Kass is in the minority and J’Tia will always be an easy vote. Kass doesn’t feel quite as secure, but knows that she is the swing vote between the boys and girls and she doesn’t know where to put her loyalty.

Cliff and Woo are becoming fast friends over on the Brawn tribe. If you keep up with my blog and if you’ve watched the recap show you know that Woo is my pick to win it all and I think that this Woo Tang Clan, which is what I’m calling them from now on, could go far together. Just not in a boat that they have to paddle.

See? Just because I don’t like that Cliff was cast, doesn’t mean I don’t like him! And guess who is threatened by him? Sarah and Tony! Everyone else just loves Cliff so I think that the Woo Tang Clan is safe for now. Plus, it’s not like the Brawns are going to have trouble winning Immunity for awhile, especially since there are two Immunity spots to claim. It’s also not like they have a lot of competition. The Brains are down a member and have already blindsided someone off the island so – trouble in paradise there. At the Beauty camp people don’t even know how to open a coconut with a machete safely, or don’t want to speak up as the “smart” one.

Bryce is pretty tired of all the fakeness too. Bryce is hip to Alexis’ game of playing dumb and flirting with the guys, but he’s pretty sure Jefra isn’t playing with a full deck. Jeremiah and Morgan’s bond doesn’t sit well with Bryce either, but he’s not above forming a loose alliance with them; country folk have to stick together. And things are not looking good for Trish and Lindsey back in the Brawny camp. Something about firewood? It may or may not matter and either way, we’re jumping to the challenge. I don’t care about Tony’s hashtag Spy Shack. That’s some Phillip madness right there.

Immunity Challenge 2: (with fishing reward): Another classic challenge for the beginning of the season. Teamwork required with lots of stuff to do in the water and a puzzle to round out the competition. Jeff is quick to point out who the slow swimmers are and how quickly folks are climbing up the bamboo structure; they cannot dive to untie their puzzle piece containers until everyone is together inside. Maybe I missed something, but I don’t know why everyone wasn’t diving down to untie knots, but before you know it, the Brains and the Brawn are back on the beach working on the puzzle. Sarah has cut her finger and it’s bleeding, but she is working quickly on the puzzle for the Brawns. J’Tia is the puzzle solver for the Brains and she is not having as much luck. When Sarah is about half way through, LJ begins to work on the puzzle for the Brains, but within minutes, Sarah is finished. Brawn wins the first Immunity Idol. LJ is making swift progress and it’s not long before he places the final piece; the Brains will be off to Tribal again.

When they get back to camp, the Brawn tribe is all high spirits and Tony is on the hunt for an Idol clue. Reward basket in hand, Tony finds a quiet spot and locates a piece of paper in one of the containers – Yup! Tony found an idol clue and he thinks he knows where it is. Dashing off to the pond behind their camp, Tony quickly spots the markers from the clue, dives in the water and fishes out Immunity. From his reaction, you’d think Golem had just found his Precious.

On Brainy Beach, Garrett leads the charge in discussing who is going to be voted off the island; Garrett thinks that by instigating a conversation of this nature that Kass will show who she’s loyal to in the game. Kass is all about J’Tia again because she doesn’t contribute at camp or in the challenges; Spencer and Garrett agree. When Tasha doesn’t want to discuss her thoughts in front of the group, Garrett is annoyed. Garrett wants everyone to sit together until Tribal and not run off to have private conversations, which frustrates Tasha – and me! Didn’t we just hear Garrett whining about wanting to play the game? So now that they’ve lost the challenge and that he’s out numbered by the girls he just wants to sit around? What a … Really, though… This guy! What a piece of work. Spencer agrees with me – Garrett is a Class A Moron.

Tasha and Kass find some time to talk on the beach, though, and Tasha makes an emotional plea, promising that they will get rid of J’Tia the next time, but right now the girls have the numbers. Before they can further discuss the votes, Garrett and Spencer join them; Kass is immediately concerned because they’ve left an unstable nuclear reactor unsupervised – J’Tia is alone at camp. Garret doesn’t know why she’s anxious, there is nothing to be worried about, there are no shenanigans back at camp, J’Tia is fine; he doesn’t want his group of four to be separated. His paranoia is misplaced in this instance because back at camp the meltdown alarms are sounding as J’Tia dumps all of the tribe’s rice into the fire! Then she tries to act like she doesn’t know what happened when everyone knows what happened.

Tribal Council 2: “Noticing” that the Brains look upset, Jeff questions Spencer on what happened and everyone on the tribe “fills Jeff in” on what has been going on at camp. Clearly, everyone is annoyed that J’Tia dumped all the rice into the fire, but clearly everyone is also annoyed that Garrett’s paranoia won’t let them play the game. Trying to defend himself against Tasha’s allegations that he is stifling her game, he let’s everyone know that he thinks he’s in an alliance with Spencer and Kass. Jeff asks if he has it right, that J’Tia and Tasha are on the outs of that J’Tia is going home and Garrett says he doesn’t see it that way… And round and round he goes, this Garrett person who is supposedly a Brain, until it’s time to vote. And when the votes are in we have another hashtag blindside!

So your eye candy is gone, ladies (and gentlemen) and I say good riddance! Garrett definitely wasn’t qualified to be on the Brains tribe and he definitely should not have been cast for this show. All he did was whine and complain and you just know that Garrett is the kid that flipped the Monopoly board when he knew he wasn’t going to win. Maybe now the Brains can operate at maximum capacity to, I don’t know, win an Immunity Challenge before the tribes are switched up, maybe?

Survivor airs on CBS on Wednesdays at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. Don’t forget to tune in next week when this season’s players learn that they are not playing “Survivor Lite”. Because it looks like it’s going to rain. A lot. Until next time, may your torch burn bright and your rice stay dry, but not too dry, like, when someone dumps all of it into the fire. Oh yeah... One more thing...