‘King of the Nerds’ season 3 spotlight: Heather Wensler brings the brain power
Given that Heather Wensler is apparently a massive enough “Harry Potter” fan that she has two tattoos referencing the series, we thought it would be appropriate to try to stuff this “King of the Nerds” spotlight article with as many references to the J.K. Rowling universe as possible. Then, we remembered that we read the entire series only once, over a period of a few months in the late spring / late summer 2007. We finished Deathly Hallows on what we believe was July 23rd, a few days after it was released. Basically, we did the Harry Potter version of binge-watching, and therefore remember much less of it than we should.
Enough about us. Heather is going to try to acquire the golden snitch on this season of the TBS reality show, and by the golden snitch, we mean the crown and getting to sit on the Throne of Games. (We tried with the reference.) With so little information this season, let us re-emphasize how tough it is to really analyze some of the people with the limited information that TBS has put out there. Still, we think Heather’s got a good mind for the game, and there are some things that she says on her TBS video that give us a Paul McCartney level of hope for the future.
One last reminder: Be sure to check out some of our other spotlights that we’re putting up every day until we’re all done. We’re also going to have our pre-show podcast online at some point next week.
Name – Heather Wensler
Age – 24
Location – Denver, Colorado
Specialty – “Neuroscientist.” The last time we studied science was around the last time we touched a Harry Potter book. We often associate it with Jesse Pinkman now, which is probably terrible. Science is a valuable and necessary part of our daily lives, and the fact that she went through all of the hard work to earn this title is impressive. It’s a lot of dedication for an important job; on a lighter note, we’re waiting for the day when there is a field in neuroscience that leads to mind-control powers.
Nerd cred – What we really like about her video bio first and foremost is an emphasis on competitiveness. She really wants to rule Nerdvana, However, she recognizes that being ruthless is not the way to do that. She needs to smile, be friendly, and win people over to her side. This is a game of strategy. Basically, she’s more of a Margaery than a Joffrey when it comes to the social game, except that she probably doesn’t have Diana Rigg on speed-dial for advice. You don’t know who you will be paired with or what their skills are going into this crazy competition. You have to assume the worst. Therefore, It’s best to figure out how, other than winning every Nerd War like a complete juggernaut, you can avoid ever going into a Nerd-Off. Playing the nice peacekeeper is smart.
Also, science! Given how many creative types there are this season whose science skills may be akin to our own, she could be a valuable commodity for the more technical tasks.
Weak points – Is she extremely creative? No clue. Also, could her competitive nature rub some players the wrong way? All it takes with one person with a shockingly good ability to read people to figure out she is employing an in-game strategy, and she can be in trouble. She could be seen as a threat, and that means she could have to win a ton of Nerd-Offs to make it to the end.
End assessment – We had to stretch here to think of some major weaknesses, much like how “Gotham” is really stretching it by making most of their villains so much older than Batman just so they can put them on the show. She seems like a good competitor! Obviously anything can happen once you feel the pressure and have Nerdbot / whatever other diabolical robot they have created this season staring you in the face, but she’s going into this with the right strategy to avoid becoming the “King of the Nerds” version of Cedric Diggory. (We tried again.)
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