‘King of the Nerds’ season 3, episode 1 review: Ori creates tension with Heather
So here we are at the start of season 3 of “King of the Nerds” and we have to say we couldn’t be more excited. There aren’t many really smart reality shows out there, so when something like “King of the Nerds” comes around, nothing else matters. Season 1 and 2 have had very strong casts and two female winners, so we are curious to see if the trend is going to continue through season 3.
As per every season premiere, the show killed the king, and this year king Kayla died of space madness leaving the throne open for a new victor. We will miss you King Kayla, you were an awesome ruler.
Normally the nerds get to pick teams, but this year the teams are picked by Curtis and Bobby, which we had no problem with since last year the teams felt a little uneven.
Green team: Colby, Jacob, Heather, Jonathan, Ori, Amanda
Blue team: Raychelle, Todd, Thomas, Kaitlin, Lily, Ben
The challenge this week is building a Steam Punk, Rube Goldberg machine in 24 hours to reveal their team names to the judges. Instead of jumping into work right away, the nerds were instead very interested to learn about each other – which makes sense since there is a bit of a social aspect to this game, but Kaitlin wanted to get right into the challenge and start building the machine. Clearly she is here to win.
The green team presented their machine first and they had a machine fail right out of the gate, but had two more chances to make it work. The second time was the charm and they are revealed as team S.M.A.S.H
The blue team threw some really cool story telling into their machine presentation with Todd the bod playing an evil villain (we can’t help but love him). Unfortunately they also had a machine fail as well, but instead of starting from the point where it failed which was right at the end, Kaitlin suggests they start at the beginning because it’s cooler (and also riskier)… It works and they are called House Hooloovoo.
House Hooloovoo wins and they are selecting one nerd from team S.M.A.S.H. to go up for elimination along with team S.M.A.S.H picking someone from their own team to go against them. Amanda wants to put together an all girls alliance (first cross team alliance ever if it works) which we think is a very smart move since their are less women this season in the cast and in past seasons teams get mixed around all the time.
Nerd Off: Team S.M.A.S.H sent in Ori and he went up against Jacob, which was shocking to everyone including us since we picked him to win the whole show… and we should also mention that we picked Kelsey to win last year and she went home first. Clearly we are a jinx (Sorry about that Jacob).
The nerd off had them focusing on Anime, Manga, and Kaiju trivia and with Jacob claiming to know very little about this subject matter we are worried for him. The Godzilla trivia/building smashing was so much fun to watch (especially Ori yelling “Leeeeerrroooooy Jenkins” before smashing a bridge), but in the end there could only be one winner and that winner was…. Ori! And once again we predicted the first person eliminated to win the game… go us!
Extra nerd drama: Ben is interested in Lily… will we have the first on camera nerdmance this season? Also, Ori made a comment to Heather about him not paying attention to her idea because she’s a woman, which she of course found offensive because women in science are already battling being marginalized. The joke was in poor taste, but let’s face it, nerds don’t always say the right things and awkward situations sometimes brings this out even more.
This was a great premiere and as usual they managed to shock us, have us screaming at our TV sets and laughing out loud. We couldn’t be happier that this show is back. Episode grade: A-
What did you think of the premiere and are there any stand outs that you are rooting for to become the king of Nerdvana? Looking for more news on “King of the Nerds”? Then head over to the link here where we will have previews, reviews and weekly podcasts all season long. Also if you want more great TV news sent your way, then be sure to sign up for the CarterMatt newsletter. It comes out every Sunday and is stuffed full of great TV scoop! (Photo: TBS)
Charles
January 30, 2015 @ 6:22 am
Okay first of all! They should have picked teams again, I mean really. The last nerd picked is the nerdiest, best way to start the season, why break that tradition without even good reason besides poor graphic doubles coming from the future to add a more complex story line? (The nudity factor is unnecessary and disturbing as well). This season has terribly disappointed me, the first 2 were awesome beyond all means but this season seems, I hate to say it, but white-washed. EVERYONE is white, you can’t even tell the difference sometimes. Where is the asian competitor? Do you know how much of an effect that has on the audience, ratings, etc? You end up losing a good percentage. I also STILL have yet to see a hispanic nerd (Although Katie from last season COULD have some influence). No colored hair nerds? punks-rocker nerds? There’s only one black guy, once he’s gone, it’s a white show. Even to be a more nit-picky, COLORS. First season, Blue team and Orange team. Second season, Purple team and Yellow team. Third season, IF in fact someone with Artistic Nerd skill would have helped build this show; the correct colors for this season should have been green team and RED team! not blue again. *Facepalm. My favorites this season are the guy with glasses and good hair (forgot his name but mostly for attractiveness anyway), Raychelle (cause she seems cute, humble and sweet) and also the girl that has a strange alien personality with no emotions who works for NASA (she makes for good confessionals and great smart remarks!). The chubby guy seems like he’ll cause some ruckus too. This season just seems like it’s really irritating and obviously there’s nothing that can be done about it now. HOPEFULLY, it will get better as the season goes on and more is revealed about the contestants as individuals. But the producers deserve to get a sit-down and an earful for the lack of consideration in audience this season (AND color choice!).
rachel
January 24, 2015 @ 5:44 am
I loved it because KOTN is a smart show. I liked the challenge of reveaing the team names. Also, I enjoy seeing Danika McKellar. Long live the nerds