‘King of the Nerds’ exit interview: Nicole Evans on Zack, robot dodgeball, and ‘Doctor Who’
Life was not easy as a member of the Midas Touch Attack team on “King of the Nerds” this season, especially for recently eliminated contestant Nicole Evans. She had an early alliance with Zack which fell apart quickly and then she had to watch as her team lost challenge after challenge as their team got dismantled. We had a chance to talk with Nicole about her time on the show, her strategy and working with Zack and we were excited to hear what she had to say.
CarterMatt – Let’s go through this episode a little bit piece-by-piece. How did you feel when you realized that Katie was joining your team, especially for a challenge that seemed to be right in her wheelhouse? Was there a sense of confidence on team Midas Touch Attack?
Nicole Evans – First, I felt terrible that anyone from the Titans would be joining our team… with how the game has been going so far, the team switch was a death sentence for whichever nerd came over. When Katie came over, I knew her and Zack would not see eye-to-eye, and I made it my job to take her under my wing (I’m a mother hen – it’s what I do). When Curtis and Bobby announced robot dodgeball, I felt like MTA got our first lucky break in the entire competition. That feeling of having the advantage, combined with the Titans visibly freaking out…there were the first happy times in Camp MTA since the Science Fair challenge.
We gotta say, dodgeball with robots looked fun! Was this the most enjoyable challenge that you had gotten to be a part of?
Not at all – mostly because I disliked the ‘lose one robot after a subjective judging round’ stipulation (it really was a death sentence for whichever team lost the first part of the Nerd War). My favorite challenge was surprisingly Zombie Nerdplunk. I had been going through a bit of despair by Episode 4, and it was getting harder to shake myself out of that feeling. But the moment I walked up to the Nerd-Off, I just let go of my fears, anxiety, rage, etc., and decided to have fun.
Competitively have fun, but fun nonetheless. I had an absolute blast during the Nerd-Off… the euphoria (nerdphoria?) I felt probably rivaled – maybe surpassed – the Titan’s joy of constantly winning. When I got to the hotel after being eliminated, I expected to break down in tears. Nope – I was smiling at how awesome Nerdplunk was.
It’s funny how that works.
How much of the Nerd-Off was skill-based? Is there a certain amount of luck that went into it?
If we were to play Kerplunk the normal way (working top to bottom), that game would’ve been about 65% skill, 35% luck. In Nerdplunk, one of the rules was that we had to pull stakes starting from the bottom and working up (side note: it’s amusing just how many times I’ve been asked why we started from the bottom, and the episode aired not even 24 hours ago!). This caused a shift in percentages, making the Nerd-Off 20% skill, 80% luck. Adding in the small size of the brains, allowing them to slip through just about anything, and with how lucky Zack’s been getting…the odds were never in my favor.
Why do you think that your team couldn’t really get it together? Was it friction with Zack solely, or something more?
Did Zack have a large part of MTA collapsing from the get-go? Definitely. But another problem was that it seemed that no one aside from myself was actively working to either a) keep Zack in check, or b) bring the team back to a cohesive unit. Josh wasn’t there long enough, so he’s off the hook, as well as MK because of the events during Episode 3. Jack is truly an amazing guy, but I was hoping for a little more help from him with Zack. If the two of us were working to glue the pieces of the team back together, we might’ve been good to go. But it was far too difficult of a task for one person to handle alone.
In terms of strategy, do you have any regrets about getting an alliance with Zack right away, or trying to hide your chemistry background? Playing “woulda, coulda, shoulda” is a dangerous game, but is there anything that you wish you had done differently?
No regrets…I didn’t want to leave Nerdvana with any regrets, so I always tried to do what I thought would work best for me. To be honest, all of my credentials pale compared any of the other contestant’s nerd cred. So when I was choosing the person to tell my chemistry background to, I needed someone that might be impressed by in. I highly doubted engineer Chris would be wowed, but a fantasy writer like Zack might think chemistry is more impressive than it actually was.
The only thing I wish we would’ve done differently is win once or twice. That would’ve been nice. (side note: I greatly appreciated Chris’ comment to not rub their robot dodgeball win in MTA’s face. I don’t think the Titans ever fully understood the emotional toll their wins were having on us.)
What’s your relationship like with Zack now? Is a lot of what happened water under the bridge thanks to it being such a stressful environment?
I’d be lying if I said that Episodes 3 and 4 didn’t open some old wounds in regards to Zack. He and I also had a little disagreement the night before this interview. But I’m taking the high road approach with him currently. I think when everything’s said and done, and this season is in the record books, I think we’ll be friends again. Even with Zack denouncing me as a friend in the Nerd-Off, because I don’t know if he would’ve said that if I hadn’t been trolling him that whole time!
How has the experience of sitting back and watching the show been for you? Have you enjoyed some of the fan interaction and the fun that comes with it?
It’s strange seeing the final edit of each episode, and knowing all the little details and side stories that didn’t make the episodes. But it’s also phenomenal to relive Nerdvana and all of it’s ups, downs, and nerdy awesomeness. The fans have been beyond fantastic, and far more awesome than I’d even imagined. It’s been fun hearing reactions and opinions from people rooting for me, as well as those rooting against me. It’s a blast getting to talk to fans of the show, and I hope they love what’s coming during the second half of the season!
We’ll end with something fun. As a major “Doctor Who” fan, what actor from the show’s history would you have wanted to guest-judge you for a challenge if given the opportunity?
I’m torn between Katy Manning (Third Doctor Companion Jo Grant) and Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor). Katy is one of the few remaining Third Doctor era leads, and I would love to pick her brain if given the opportunity. As for Colin, I had the absolute pleasure of meeting him at Chicago TARDIS last year, and he is so gracious, so hilarious, and so amazing. He doesn’t get enough love from the Doctor Who fanbase, even though he absolutely loves the fans!
That, and Colin can rock a dress as amazingly well as Curtis can! ;)
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We want to thank Nicole for not only taking the time to chat with us, but also for bringing us some great entertainment on “King of the Nerds” this season. If you missed out on any of our past “King of the Nerds” exit interviews, then just head over to the link here where you can check out some more. Also if you haven’t had a chance to subscribe to our newsletter, you can do that here and get some great TV updates every Sunday.
Photo: TBS