‘King of the Nerds’ exclusive: Heather Wensler on Secret Six, bond with Amanda, Moby, and more

While we’d say we expected a member of the Secret Six to go home on “King of the Nerds” sooner rather than later, we did not expect it to be Heather Wensler. She proved herself to be smart, strong in many of the tasks, and a very loyal member of the team. She also was a force behind some of the biggest TV moments of the season, including going toe-to-toe with Moby during Nerd Anthem Week.

Before you watch tonight’s new episode, take a look at what Heather had to say about her time on the show during our weekly email interview. She certainly doesn’t back down when discussing Moby now, and you also get a better sense of what her specific strategy was during the season with her alliance.

Just how close were you to finishing the word jumble at the end of the Nerd-Off? Had Colby had another 30 seconds or so of a penalty, do you think you would have figured it out?

Here’s the thing. Going into that nerd-off knowing it was puzzles I was super confident… until I learned it was a word scramble. It’s not something I really advertise, but I actually have dyslexia. I’m quite clever so this isn’t something most people know about me because I’m great at working around it (and fortunate enough to have a form that I can work around). For a puzzle that required absolutely no prior knowledge, I couldn’t have gotten a task more difficult for me specifically.  To make things worse, I instantly knew the bottom answer was Manhattan. It’s so hard to try and solve the top four clues when all you can think is “This doesn’t even matter. The answer is Manhattan.” It’s distracting.

In watching the show back, were you shocked at all by what Jonathan did to keep himself safe?

Not at all! Very early on, I pulled Jonathan aside and said ‘You’re the only person here playing this game as hard as I am.’ I’m an extremely observant person. I knew what was happening, but switching which team had the power to choose the member of the Secret Six was my decision. I was sticking by it. Had it been just my team choosing, I was closer to Jonathan and Amanda than either was to each other. That’s why in an interview Amanda says “I have a 50/50 chance of going in.” I was safe – until I decided not to be anymore.

I entered this game to do exactly what Jonathan did – be friends with people until they were no longer useful to me and then do what I had to do.  I never expected to meet people I clicked with so well! Jonathan was one of my best friends and Amanda… I describe our relationship as cosmic, transcendent soulmates… We’re unconditional best friends – and honestly that barely begins to scratch the surface of how deep and complete our friendship was from the very first day. I said it early in the game and I’ll say it again – what I have with Amanda is worth far more than $100k. I couldn’t have lived with it if the last thing Amanda experienced in the house was me throwing her under the bus. Jonathan was too well-connected to gun for – if he came back, it’d be a war zone. So, if I had to choose between turning on Amanda and going in myself? The answer is easy. Power duos never end well in these games. I knew that. I’ll take the fall so she can get can get one step closer to the crown.

Why do you think you were chosen to go in over Amanda? In some twisted way is it flattery, since you may have been seen as a threat?

I don’t think it’s even twisted – just straight up flattery. Ask any of the people from House Hooloovoo and they believe that they sent in the strongest person who didn’t absolutely crap their pants at the mere idea of going in (*flashback to me calling it in E3* “Jonathan’s a little p***y”). I honestly think in most scenarios I could’ve come out on top, but hindsight is 20/20 and in this particular nerd-off I think Amanda would’ve had the easiest time coming out on top.

There has always been a certain component of strategy to King of the Nerds, but never quite like this season. Even going into this game, was something like the Secret Six floating around in your mind as a possible strategy?

I started getting close to Raychelle and Amanda when we were standing on the mats in front of the house. The very first night, Raychelle and I had a conversation about a cross-team alliance. That’s the thing about the Secret Six. People act as if we hand-picked people based on this criteria or that criteria but that’s not true. The Secret Six was a natural fall-out of a ton of small, personal alliances. Who else had formal alliances by episode 2? Nobody. We were the people who came in to play a strategic, social game in addition to winning challenges and that’s how we all ended up in the Bathroom of Doom. Everyone in the Secret Six already had personal alliances with at least two people also in the Secret Six. We came to play a certain type of game, played it, and recognized like-minded people. That’s it. And what purpose did it serve? It protected us from each other… until a certain point (which we actually discussed during conception).

You vs. Moby was probably one of the most entertaining moments so far this season. Given that he was a judge, was there any hesitation at all to take him on? (Ultimately, congrats on doing so!)

Honestly, there was hesitation… for awhile. As soon as he started in with “in a quantum world, Newtonian physics blahblahblah” I rolled my eyes because clearly this dude was here to try and show people that he’s smart – as if anyone cares about Moby’s intellectual strengths (or lack there of – but we’ll get there). It wasn’t until he started attacking my friends on a very personal level that I broke. As a musician, you’d think Moby had written about something other than personal experiences before… but apparently not as that is the Greatest Sin. According to last.fm, Moby’s most popular song is called Porcelain – pretty sure it’s not about classy china. How dare he take artistic license!

But I digress. Cliffnotes version of the ways in which Moby was factually incorrect.

1. Newtonian mechanics and quantum mechanics don’t actually contradict. At all. One is large, one is small, and they can’t apply to each other really. (It’s more complicated than that but I will spare you).

2. Only Worf drinks prune juice. I believe the standard drink is blood wine.

So here’s the deal. We have someone who is factually incorrect on multiple levels who thinks he’s god’s gift to academia since he read a pop science book once and maybe watched a movie in his day (which, if he had seen Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country he would know that Hamlet in Klingon is a reference to that film). I’ve been to college. I’ve met this dude a thousand times. He probably pals around with that other guy who thinks he’s just one quick rewrite and a roadtrip away from publishing the next Great American Novel. It was when I could see how uncomfortable he was making Ori that I couldn’t take it anymore. The best way to stop him from making Ori feel awful in the very very short term? Transfer that attention to me. I’ve always been willing to play the bad guy – especially if it makes things easier for my friends. At that point, it wasn’t even a question. “But how could you be mean to him last episode then defend him??” The answer is two-fold. First, last episode we were in a boat race and one of us didn’t know how to operate a boat. Tensions were high, whatever. Moby gained nothing but a big stroke to his ego by saying these things to Ori. Second, I liken it to a sibling relationship. I can criticize the people I love because I love them but if a random person comes forth with an attack, they better be prepared.

In closing on something fun, last season there was a quidditch-themed Nerd-Off, but unfortunately there was a lack of Harry Potter in the tasks this time. What would have been your dream Harry Potter-themed challenge?

Ohhhhhhh! We didn’t have a chemistry challenge, but I think a chemistry challenge that takes place on a potions classroom set of sorts could be really fun. We’d get to play witch and scientist at the same time which is, essentially, the ultimate dream.

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Thanks to Heather for the responses! She clearly put a ton of time into this, and it is appreciated. As always, we’ll have some other news related to “King of the Nerds” soon at the link here, including a review for tonight’s episode. Also, sign up now to score some other TV updates on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: TBS.)