‘King of the Nerds’ exclusive: Ori Perl on Moby’s behavior, Secret Six, larping, and more
Ori Perl was an undredog, a Space Cowboy, a version of Indiana Jones, and also unfortunately the fourth contestant eliminated on season 3 of “King of the Nerds.” Despite being a target almost from the start, he kept a pretty positive attitude throughout, even when his back was against the wall and he knew he was facing off against Colby in a Nerd-Off a little over a week ago.
We’re not going to waste much time on the introduction here, since the meat of this story is below. Read below for his take via email on watching himself this season, whether Moby came across even worse in person during Nerd Anthem week, and some of his favorite moments of the entire season.
CarterMatt – We suppose we should start with this: What has this been like watching the show, and yourself, on TV the past few episodes?
Ori Perl – Watching myself the first episode made me cringe…a lot. I didn’t think that they would make me seem so useless and awkward. I was really trying to enjoy myself there and still trying to get used to working with these people in such a crazy environment. I enjoyed the later episodes a lot more, especially my comments in episodes 3 and 4 because they really show my more “goofy” nature when I am relaxed and confident. I wish they could have shown my “engineering mode” when I get really serious, but they chose to give me role of the lovable, honorable, goofball and I am absolutely okay with this.
How close was the Nerd-Off with Colby? Had he missed, do you think you could have pulled out the victory?
As Kaitlin would say, Colby blew me out of the water. I had a great head start with the boulder and the whip, but lost some time with the snakes. I managed to catch up with Colby with the rope cutting, but my defeat came from one person: Mary Shelly. I didn’t know who she was, and that completely threw me off. I also really did not know where to put people. I also mixed up the dates of the greek philosophers, so it decreased my chances even more of getting it right in two tries. If I had known who Mary Shelly was, I would have had a chance.
Obviously the Secret Six is controlling the season so far. Was there any suspicion on your part that something like that was going on?
I didn’t suspect a secret six. I knew there were alliances with people that were in the secret six, but I did not realize people were allied together. If I had known, I would not have spent as much time trying to convince people to help me get out of the nerd off and would have spent more time enjoying my potential last moments there.
Did you feel like you were going to be put into the Nerd-Off almost every week? If so, when did you start feeling that way?
I knew I was perceived as the weakest link on the team when I was thrown into the nerd-off the first time. That was a huge wake-up call. After that I did the best I could to help and not to be on the bottom rung, which unfortunately did not happen.
What was a cooler thing to do: Wearing green makeup during a cosplay skit, or pretending to be Indiana Jones running away from a boulder?
I hate having paint on my face, but definitely being the Space Constable. Running from the boulder was exhilarating, but playing a ridiculous space cowboy was really fun. I loved the fact that I made the judges laugh at the jokes I told and enjoyed the choreography I performed and created. I wish TBS would post the entire play because my favorite line I said didn’t go to air.
Did Moby come off even worse during that challenge than he did on TV?
He was a little worse because he said more similar stuff that was not aired. I think he was trying too hard to show off his nerd-cred and his opinion of nerd culture and he just rubbed everyone the wrong way. I would’ve enjoyed his feedback if it had any positive feedback or more constructive criticism, as opposed to just negative remarks. For example, his quantum physics critique was dumb because Newton’s law don’t apply at the quantum level, where the uncertainty is. Otherwise every engineer, including structural, would need to learn quantum physics in order to do their jobs.
You seemed to be really great at keeping a positive attitude at almost every turn this season. Did that come out of just gratitude for just being there, or just a natural part of your personality?
I am usually really a positive, happy guy. I try not to let the bad stuff get to me and I try to look on the bright side of things. It takes a lot to upset me for more than a moment and I was not going to get too riled up by events that do not really matter in real life.
We like to close with something fun, and since I know of many people (myself included) who have an interest in larping, what would you suggest for someone trying to get into it for the first time? How does someone start to pick it up as a hobby?
There are lot of different LARP groups out there, and it’s all about what you are looking for. Are you looking for a LARP with more role playing? One with a lot more physical exertion? One that requires more or less physical strength? Basically you have to look for LARP groups in your area (through google or some other method) and see if it fits your criteria, try it out and see if it’s fun. Don’t be afraid to look at different ones, and sometimes it’s not the LARP itself that is bad, but just the specific group of people in it is not the people you want to LARP with. I found Dagorhir and my LARP family on the first try and I have enjoyed the community and experience for over 6 years now. Good luck with finding a group though!
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As always, thanks to Ori for his time! You can head over here to see the rest of our “King of the Nerds” coverage (the next podcast should be posted shortly), or click here for some more TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: TBS.)