‘King of the Nerds’ exit interview: Jack Hou on Nerd-Offs, strategy, and if he, Kelsey are dating
Are you missing “King of the Nerds” already? We certainly understand, and while we cannot conjure up a third season in our magic cauldron of entertainment, we can at least bring you reaction and insight from some of the contestants who made it all the way to the finale. We’ve sent out questions for all four of the finalists, and we’ll be publishing them throughout the rest of the week.
We begin here with a man in Jack Hou who surely put up a fight on his way to finishing in second. He dealt with the decimation of Team Midas Touch Attack, having to defeat the unstoppable force that was Zack in a Nerd-Off, and then entered the finale as the underdog against three members of the Titans of Rigel. The only thing that seemingly stood in his way of the title? The Nerdliminator, which Kayla bested him at in a close match.
Even with all this being said, it seems like Jack still has plenty of reasons to refer to himself as a winner, based on what he told us in an exit interview via email.
CarterMatt – Let’s start with the question on everyone’s mind: How did you not turn into a nervous puddle doing a Bill Nye impression in front of Bill Nye?
Well… I can’t say I DIDN’T turn into a nervous puddle in front of Bill Nye. After all, I practiced the reaction around 20 times, and I didn’t drop the ring in any of my trial runs. Guess what happens on gameday? Nevertheless, I kept my composure for the speech part, and I personally thought my lecture and impersonation went by without a hitch. It was on the back of our heads that he could be a judge, but I doubt any of the MTA actually was expecting it. Writing a Bill Nye parody set in Middle Earth was a fun way to exercise my creative side along with the simple science aspect. It worked out to that extent since Bill Nye said my impression was like ‘looking into a mirror,’ and I regret nothing for doing it.
I was surprised about the nice things that celebrities said about me. In addition to Bill Nye’s compliment, Jimmy Fallon thought I should’ve won the show with just my rap alone, and George Takei praised my athletic ability and demeanor along with my math skills multiple times. Now, him, Curtis, and Bobby giving me compliments while I was trying to do math was NERVERACKING!
Through some of those early weeks on Midas Touch Attack, how did you continually manage to keep yourself together when there was so much chaos going on around you? When losing so many challenges there has to be some ort of feeling of dread.
It certainly wasn’t easy, and there were plenty of times I would’ve loved to give Zack to Jabba the Hutt in a gift-wrapped carbonite package labeled ‘Sarlacc Snax’ (yes, I watched Star Wars eventually ^_^). However, the most important thing in my opinion was to have poise and maintain a composure in dealing with lots of clashing personalities. No matter the harsh circumstances, the show must go on, and anything less than our best was unacceptable. I personally felt that some of the challenges that we lost as a team like the Science Fair, LARP, even Star Wars/Trek were some of my best performances regardless of how the voting went down, and I was proud of everyone on the team for the valiant effort that we put through each of these challenges, and we put ourselves in a position to win each challenge so none of them were completely out of reach.
As probably the only person on your team who managed to really work with Zack successfully, how did you guys find a way to combine your powers and avoid some of the problems that were taking place when other members of your team were there?
I think that it is some combination of our complementary personalities and learning about what makes us tick. Zack has a grandiose personality who is extremely passionate, ambitious, and REALLY REALLY wants to win. I am a much more passive personality, and although I don’t mind taking initiative and risks (ex. Chris’s mind games or jumping the lasers), I would prefer to do so quietly, and avoid needless risks like confronting Zack on the small things. The problem with our struggles at first was that it was hard to find the middle ground between our quiet and grandiose types. However, the world needs both types of people and the Spelling Bee was our wake up call. We knew we were both competent players, and we had skill sets that were both extensive and non-overlapping, and its safe to say that we used them pretty well :)
What’s the experience of going through a Nerd-Off like? Does it get easier after finishing the first one, or does that nervousness only grow over time?
For me, I participated in Battlehammer (as an aide), the Spelling Bee and Angry Nerds. Each of them had a very different feel. I was very nervous in Battlehammer because I wasn’t fighting for myself, I was fighting for Mary-Kate, and losing that was very devastating to me. I had the unique, but unenviable, experience of being on the other side of a nerd-off and still coming back to Nerdvana.
The Spelling Bee I treated as an All-or-Nothing thing. I certainly didn’t want to give the ToR the satisfaction of what Chris put it: ‘having all of its members in the final 5’. I was nervous, but also determined to snatch victory from jaws of defeat and show my skills and prove my worth. I was not going to be a one-and-done like the unaired pilot of Star Trek (yes, I watched that too ^_^). My last stand, as it turns out, was a lot more successful than General Custer’s, and the MTA (aka the Ack-Attack) rallied around it, which eventually became the turning point of the series.
I was super-relaxed during Angry Nerds. With how Zack was finally less intense in this nerd-off, and that I would be in every episode regardless, I would be much less disappointed if I went home that episode, although I certainly didn’t want to give Zack the satisfaction of beating Genevieve’s record and defeating every member of the Midas Touch Attack single-handedly (wrong team, Zack!). Zack and I were pretty cool at that time, and I was satisfied.
All in all I was glad to experience all of Nerdvana, both the good and the bad. I participated in a wide array of Nerd Wars and Nerd-offs, and I was constantly tested outside my comfort zone and had to make do with meager resources at times.
In the Nerdliminator Thursday night, what do you think really cost you? Was it the Sudoku, or was there something else we didn’t see that caused you to lose a bunch of time? (Either way, massive congrats on second place!)
I made all the decisions that I thought would allow me to win the Nerdliminator. I got the team of people I was closest to in Nerdvana, and it was fitting, because I helped all of the Team Jack members in their moments of truth even if it didn’t turn out the way they expected, and I am glad that they stood by me to help me when I needed it just like I did for them. My team was very helpful, and for me, I opened the table to all of the challenges and asked my teammates if they could do the remaining challenges. I got a bunch of ‘umhhs’ and ‘maybes’ which was the disadvantage of having a smaller team, but I chose Josh because he seemed to be most sure about Sudoku, though in hindsight, having Kelsey help me with the rope or using Josh do the logic puzzle (I did it and got it wrong) would’ve won me the game. However, the Monday morning quarterback is better than the Sunday afternoon quarterback. I knew full well that the last puzzle was not guaranteed, and I would call on Josh again if the situation came up because he was one of the best teammates I’ve ever had.
We’ve been trying to think of a clever way to ask that also didn’t sound too intrusive (not an easy combination), but you know that there are a ton of people out there who want to see you and Kelsey date, right? :)
I’m sure there would be lots of happy people for some reason then ;)
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Thanks to Jack for what we believe to be some super-awesome and informative answers! Want to read some more of our coverage, including how you can help make a season 3 happen? Then just be sure to click here, and sign up now to get more updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: TBS