‘King of the Nerds’ season 2, episode 3 rankings: Can Mary Kate take down Xander?
There has only been two episodes of “King of the Nerds” so far and already there has been some epic drama including broken alliances, some smart strategic play and Zack going Defcon 1 on his whole team after everyone put him into the Nerdoff. Our rankings this week are based on TV edit, strategy, likability, and performances in the various tasks including the upcoming challenge in this week’s new episode revolving around cosplay.
9. Zachary Storch (last week: 5): His whole team is ready to throw him into the fires of Mordor and we are pretty sure that every week they can put him up, they will. His only saving grace is going to be that the purple team want him to stay so he will continue to cause distention in his team, so they will always put up a weaker player against him. This could save Zack for a little while (we hope cause we like him), but when playing the odds you eventually lose and we suspect that we are going to be losing our “World of Warcraft” warrior sooner rather then later (even if he is good television).
8. Nicole Evans (2): We really like her, but at the same time her decision not to come clean about her being a chemist during a challenge that requires a chemist may have hurt her. Zack outed her (despite their alliance and his promise to keep her secret safe), but it was at a time that Nicole really should’ve told the team herself. This has made her look a little sketchy to other members of her team, but as long as Zack is around, there will always be a bigger target then her.
7. Jack Hou (3): He is incredibly likable and very smart, but dropping the ring in the last challenge pretty much cost his team the win last week. Luckily for him Zack took the heat off of him or we could’ve easily seen him going into the Nerdoff, but this is something people will remember, especially if it happens again.
6. Kayla LaFrance (6): Outside of Katie, she really hasn’t had problems with anyone else on the show and that issue was just challenge related (and possibly communication related) and not because the two have any real issue with each other. She noted last week that she is more of a scientific nerd and not really into cosplay or theatrical games, but she also proved to everyone that when push comes to shove she has some cosplay chops behind that scientific mind.
5. Brian Davidson (7): We really haven’t seen a lot of Brian yet this season and that usually means that there is a richer story for him to come a little later on in the season. There will likely be some sort of literary challenge coming up and Brian will be a huge asset. Unless something crazy happens, we don’t see him going home any time soon, especially with bigger targets floating around.
4. Chris Jackson (10): Last week we had Chris at the bottom of our rankings, but that was because we thought that after showing off what a challenge threat he is, that he might’ve had a target on his back since it was so early in the game, but now that other people have taken the heat off of him, he is able to work his magic behind the scenes and stay a little longer. He has not only shown that he makes friends easily with the group, but he’s shown that he has a head for strategy with the push for his team to put up Zack.
3. Katie Correll (9): The last challenge was judged more on the performance side of things then the actual science it seemed and thanks to Katie and Xander their team really flourished because of their creative edge. Next week will be bringing in a cosplay challenge and although we haven’t heard Katie talk much about cosplay, she is very creative and isn’t afraid to throw herself into a role. We expect her to shine.
2. Mary Kate Smith (4): Until this week Mary Kate has been pretty much invisible and for a person who said in her bio that she’s going to be the master manipulator we are a little disappointed by that. However she has also said that she is the master of cosplay, so this weeks challenge will be right up her alley and she could easily destroy everyone. The only thing we worry about is that she is on a team with people like Zack and Jack, who might have some trouble with this challenge, so while she may be the star of her team (and we expect that she will be), it may not make a difference.
1. Xander Jeanneret (1): After watching Xander and his British accent take over the entire science fair presentation we are fairly certain that Xander and his LARPing skills are going to hoist this challenge to a whole new level. The other thing about Xander is that he is incredibly likable, but at the same time is really a master manipulator as we saw him spearhead the idea of putting Josh up against Zack in the Nerdoff last week and then helped Zack study in order to send Josh home. If he can continue to play the nice guy while still pulling the strings behind the scenes without anyone catching on, he will easily run the table and win this season.
If you missed our exclusive interview with Josh Wittenkeller talking about his elimination, the alien autopsy and Zack’s “Nerdoff” meltdown, then be sure to click here where you can get all the inside scoop courtesy of JWittz. Also if you want to sign up to get some TV updates from us (they come out every Sunday) then make sure you subscribe!
Photo: TBS