‘King of the Nerds’ season 3 spotlight: Meet Jacob Rubin, Bearded Cape Man
Clearly, we have either a very childish sense of humor, or we just need to get some more sleep before the premiere of “King of the Nerds.” For some reason, we have this inexplicable urge to refer to Jacob Rubin as Bearded Cape Man for the rest of the season. It’s a term of endearment and respect, mostly because we have never been able to grow a full beard longer than five days (too itchy), and we do not have any capes at present in our closet. (Granted, his Green Lantern-inspired accessory could also very well be a cloak just as much as a cape; maybe it’s both, a la a clope.)
Regardless, if you look beyond our babbling here you will find in Jacob a very fascinating contestant, and someone we rather like. He’s smart, clearly nerdy, but also somewhat optimistic and cheery. He may be one of the most upbeat nerds we’ve ever seen, at least if he is always like his TBS video. (We’ve found a way to include some of these in the articles; three cheers for Twitter embeds!)
Quick reminder here: We’re doing one of these spotlights every day, and you can check out the others at the link here. The plan is to record the preview podcast for the season Friday, and that should be online at some point during the day (pending some crazy last-minute change) for your enjoyment over the weekend.
Name – Jacob Rubin
Age – 25
Location – Oakland, California
Specialty – “Quiz master.” We presume that this is somewhat different from “Jeopardy!” champion Colby. He seems to be more of a TV / movie / pop culture guy, and has the advantage of not being terrified by Alex Trebek. However, he has the disadvantage of probably not winning nearly as much money of his talent.
If we were not busy actually covering the show, we would issue a TV trivia deathmatch minus the death part … even though if we lost it would be a tremendous embarrassment given that this is our job.
Nerd cred – He’s got knowledge about a little bit of everything crammed up in his brain, and should be a useful contributor in just about any task. More so than mere skill, he’s not one of those nerds that seems to be set in their ways, or worried about looking silly and embarrassing themselves on TV. Basically, if you needed someone to dress up like Tingle for a “Legend of Zelda”-themed challenge, we feel like he would actually do it. Not sure everyone else would. Tingle is the litmus test for horrifying video-game characters someone forces you to cosplay as.
Weak points – How does a trivia skill translate into more active, creative, or scientific-based tasks? Just because you know a tremendous amount of information does not even remotely mean that you can implement it. He could be the prototype of the contestant who lasts for a while due to popularity, but then takes the long, lonely walk out of Nerdvana the first time he is in a Nerd-Off.
Also, we don’t get the same laser-focused competitive edge from him that we do from other contestants.
End assessment – Fittingly, Jacob is a somewhat quizzical contestant; we find him fun, but there’s a distinction between fun and being perfect for this show. We could see Jacob not lasting that long, and really being more than okay with it rather than stomping out the door and threatening to burn the place down. We suppose in life it’s a pretty good philosophy to have. We just like killer instinct on this show, and not just the original version of the game back when Rare was an awesome developer.
What’s your take on Bearded Cape Man Jacob? Share in the comments! If you want to get some TV news via your email inbox, then head over here, where you can sign up for our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: TBS.)
(Photo: Jeffrey Freeman main image, Eddy Chen thumbnail / TBS.)