‘King of the Nerds’ finale preview: Ranking Jonathan, Kaitlin, Ben, Lily as contenders

Calling all nerds … the finale for “King of the Nerds” is almost here! The show will close season 3 on Friday night, and there are only four contestants left competing for the grand prize and the title at the very end: Jonathan, Ben, Lily, and Kaitlin.

So as you prepare to witness this nerdy showdown for the ages (we hope it’s like last season), we want to revive an old standby: The contestant rankings! We’re basing these on a variety of different factors, but at the top of the list here are challenge strength, discernible weaknesses, social game, and also to a certain extent the edit. This show is a little bit better than others when it comes to masking the winner, but we feel like after two straight years of a woman coming out on top, this may be the year for the guys.

4. Lily – The main reason she’s last is because she was just sick, and who knows if she’ll be feeling any better? That can make it so much harder to focus during important tasks.

3. Kaitlin – This one was hard, since Kaitlin has been a favorite to watch most of the season. What we worry about is that while she is extremely strong in all scientific fields, she does not have the same pop-culture cloud as some of the other contestants who are left. With a more obvious weakness, her risk is high.

2. Jonathan – We personally picked him to win preseason, and we’ve admired his strategy throughout in keeping himself out of danger. With this being said, Zack made a good point when we talked to him earlier this week: Will he have ticked off some former players with his aggressive play? Having help for the final challenge is important, and he could have a harder time than who we feel right now is in the best spot.

1. Ben – If you asked us before the last Nerd War, we would’ve put Kaitlin and Jonathan ahead of Ben … but he completely killed that challenge. He was so impressive! He has the social game down, knows science, and also knows nerd culture. He doesn’t have an obvious weakness at this point.

Of course, we’ll have our full review of the finale very soon, so be on the lookout for that! Also, click here to see our most-recent exit interview, or here to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: TBS.)