Hannah recaps episode #7 of 'King of the Nerds!'

Time for another episode of one of my most favorite reality television shows of the now, King of the Nerds!  Going into this week’s episode, it’s down to the final five nerds.  There will be no more teams and it will be an individual fight to the end.  One thing that I just now realized is how much the intro of this show, with each cast member having a different comic book character, reminds me of the show ‘Who Wants to be a Superhero?’!  If you haven’t seen that show, you really must find a way to do so!  It was amazing and also along the same nerdy lines that ‘King of the Nerds’ is!

Genevieve feels as though she barely won the last nerd off, and even says that she has blisters on the bottoms of her toes from that dance challenge nerd off.  In case you hadn’t realized it before, Ivan is the only male nerd left in the competition.  He wishes that Virgil were still around!  Then a small battle breaks out because the remaining “blue team” members want to move into the orange room where the remaining “orange team” members sleep, just so that the house is more unified and they don’t miss as much.  Danielle is not having it though because she is not a fan of Genevieve.

“You’re NOT the Little Mermaid!  You are 28 years old!  Grow up!” -Danielle

We are now introduced to the individual nerd war.  The premise of this nerd war is that things will be dropped (either weighted balls or weighted stuffed pigs) from different heights over pieces of glass with unified thickness and unified space between them.  The nerds will be given time and the conditions to figure out how many panes of glass they believe will be broken when different objects are dropped from different heights.  Moogega works for NASA and math and physics is one of her strong suits.  She feels pretty confident about her chances in this nerd war and has the information that she’ll need for this challenge all inside of her head. 

Then we get to see all five of the nerds work, mostly as individuals, to come up with their solutions.  A lot of them seem to be using different techniques to solve the problem.   Moogega is excited to solve all of the problems and looks at it as a game.  (Side note:  In my Abstract Algebra class last semester, my Turkish professor told us to treat everything like a game and we’d find it much more enjoyable and easier, but like, it didn’t work, so it must be some special power!)  Danielle, on the other hand, is out of her comfort zone.  She never was required to take physics because her studies were Vet studies and “we don’t care about how fast a cat moves!”  Ivan has also never had physics before, but has done a lot of logic problems, which are somewhat similar.

Celeste and Genevieve decide to pair up and work together some to improve their chances of winning.  They both want Danielle out of the competition and are trying to work together to accomplish that.  Danielle is using Google for help, but mostly all that she can find are problems about things being dropped onto glass regarding 9/11 conspiracy theories.  Everyone is going to sleep, but Danielle is not going to sleep until she starts to figure it all out and come up with her answers.  The show is not giving Danielle a very nice edit on this episode, which is really not anything new.

Time for the nerd war!  #TeamMoogega #TeamCeleste

Before each of the two tests and bonus test are done,  the nerds will be given time to write their answers for how many panes of glass they think will be broken.  For a correct answer, they will gain a point, and for every pane of glass that they are incorrect, they will lose a point.  Obviously, the person with the most points at the end of the challenge will win.

In the first test, five sheets of glass are broken.  Danielle and Ivan had guessed properly and have scores of 1.  Genevieve and Celeste had guessed 4, so they have scores of -1.  Moogega guessed only 3, so her score is -2.   In the second test, two sheets of glass are broken.   Danielle and Moogega guessed correctly.  That ups Danielle’s score to 2 and Moogega’s score to -1.  Ivan, Genevieve, and Celeste were all off by 1 sheet of glass.  Ivan’s score goes to 0, while the other two have scores of -2.  On the last test, the bonus test, a fifteen pound stuffed pig will be dropped and the correct answer will be worth 2 points so comebacks are possible.  I am not sure of the exact guesses, but only five sheets of glass were broken, and Danielle is the only one left with a positive score, so she is the winner of the first individual nerd war.  This is obviously a huge win for Danielle because of the competition she was against and her lack of knowledge in the area of physics.  Ivan acted like a sore sport at one point in the competition because Danielle had used Google and conspiracy theories to help her answer the questions and he felt that she was just getting the answers by correctly guessing.  In this situation, I say do whatever works!  Danielle claims that staying up later and studying helped her out.  She also thanks conspiracy theorists and “high schoolers who do physics on my little pony!”  Everyone else is pretty unhappy because they were all wanting to send Danielle into the nerd off, where she would hopefully go home.

As the winner of the challenge, Danielle will get a fancy meal cooked for her.  She gets to pick someone to share the reward with her and she chooses Moogega.  Why?  Because she (Danielle) is a nice person and just beat her at what she’s best at.  At least this is the reasoning that she gave.  Also, for the nerd off, the four (excluding Danielle) will get to vote together to send someone in.  As the challenge winner, Danielle will get to pick the other person to go into the nerd off all on her own.

Moogega believes that since the nerd war was physics related, like past episodes, the nerd off will be physics related in some way.  She is offering to go into the nerd off, which is a stupid move, in my opinion.  You should never willingly offer yourself to go on the chopping block in any kind of competition!  Especially when it’s down to the final five!  She wants to redeem herself, though, for not winning the nerd war that was built for her.

Then Danielle and Moogega get their fancy dinner cooked by Richard Blais.  He uses a lot of science and chemistry when cooking his food so that it is like no other!  The presentation of this food is really stellar and amazing to watch!  There is a lot of smoke, which must be some fancy gas, and it’s just awesome!  He uses nitrogen and smoke to make the ice cream even.

“He’s like a food magician.  A foodgician, if you will.” –Danielle

Danielle seems torn between sending either Ivan or Genevieve into the nerd off against Moogega.  It seems though that Danielle is learning towards sending Genevieve in.  My assumptions are because she doesn’t personally like Genevieve and also Genevieve has won two previous nerd offs and is a huge threat in the endgame.  Celeste doesn’t think that there is a target on her back, but goes to talk to Danielle anyway.  She basically just sits, nods, and agrees with everything that Danielle says in order to make Danielle feel better about her decision and to keep from choosing Celeste.  Danielle basically tells Celeste that she has nothing to worry about and that she’ll tell whoever she’s sending into the nerd off, before the announcement is made so they aren’t surprised by it.

Later, Danielle goes to pull Genevieve and Ivan over to talk to them.  As she does this, she passes the Throne of Games and she has a revelation of sorts.  It’s not a throne of comic books, or a throne of nerd knowledge, or math, etc.  It’s the Throne of Games, and the two gamers that have been there since the beginning of the game are herself and Celeste.  It seems like she may send Celeste into the nerd off.  (Note: NO!!  Celeste and Moogega are my two favorites!  I am so torn!  Why can’t you just send Genevieve into the nerd off and make me happy?!)  Danielle is leaning towards sending Celeste into the nerd off because she thinks the challenge at the end will involve games and in that case, her and Celeste would have a lot of the same skill set and it would be tough to beat Celeste.  Also, Celeste has never been into a nerd off, whereas Genevieve and Ivan both have been in one or more.  Oh wait.  I wasn’t aware that King of the Nerds was a competition of fairness where we send people into nerds off just because they never have been before!

While talking with Genevieve and Ivan, they both convince Danielle that it’s a good idea to send Celeste into the nerd off.  At this point in the show, it feels A LOT like Big Brother (notably season 14) to me!  Moogega is obviously not around because it’s already been decided that she will be going into the nerd off.  But Celeste, one of the three on the chopping block is not around, so the other two scheme with the person in charge and the whole tables are turning!

The next morning, Celeste wakes up to a note that tells her that she will be the one sent into the nerd off by Danielle and is shocked by this.  Danielle had previously told her that she was safe from the nerd off.  Celeste believes that Genevieve has thrown her under the bus, rightfully so, and then decides that two can play this game!  She goes to Danielle and is attempting to throw Genevieve under the bus to save herself.  She tells Danielle that the only reason that they won the team challenges that they did was because of Genevieve and all these other reasons why Genevieve is such a huge threat in the game.  Danielle seems pretty easily swayed and reverts to talking about how she originally wanted to send Genevieve into the nerd off, and Danielle further works off of this information.

The friendship between Celeste and Genevieve may officially
be over until the end of the game!  Are you #TeamCeleste
or #TeamGenevieve?

This, to me, is when this show has become really fun!  I love all of the drama, switching, and backstabbing that is happening.  Everyone seems to be playing hard, besides maybe Moogega.  This part of the show really does have a Big Brother feel to it, except that the two people on the block have to battle to see who leaves instead of it being based solely off of a vote.  It ends up that Moogega is unanimously voted into the nerd off, meaning that even she voted for herself.  And Danielle has voted to send… GENEVIEVE into the nerd off!  I was not expecting that!  Celeste was not expecting that!  Genevieve especially was not expecting that!   Danielle apologized right before voting for not telling the person that she was sending them in, because it was such a late decision.  I personally hope that Genevieve leaves because she’s the only one left that I would be unhappy with winning.  #TeamMoogega!  (But I am a curse, so she will probably leave.)

This is Genevieve’s third time going into a nerd off and she is very upset about it.  She hates that she has been labeled as such a threat.  She feels like Celeste underplays her intelligence to keep the target off of herself, but why wouldn’t you?  Obviously these people have their own strengths and are intelligent people, so why not be intelligent enough to underplay your intelligence so people don’t target you?  Danielle felt that Genevieve was manipulating her into sending Celeste into the nerd off, which is why she changed her mind back to what she originally wanted to do.

This week’s nerd off is about building the tallest standing structure out of an assortment of unconventional nerdy items.  They practice some, but it’s to the nerd off pretty quickly.  To give a picture of some of the things in the assortment: there were Nintendo 64 game cartridges, rubix cubes, paperback books, rules, etc.  The challenge is to have your structure reach 10 feet, and the first to do so will win.  The challenge will only last ten minutes though, so if 10 feet is not reached in that time, the one with the highest tower at the end will win.  Moogega and Genevieve have also been given nerf guns to shoot at one another’s towers in attempts of knocking them down.

Both of them are hitting marks at the same time and they both seem pretty confident about their chances.  Genevieve’s tower falls pretty early on and she has to start a new strategy.  Moogega’s strategy also seems a bit shaky because she has one rubix cube somewhere in the middle of her structure holding up a bunch of things all on its own.  Genevieve then realizes that she can’t win by just stacking things and must come up with a more creative approach.  Genevieve is ahead at this point and has almost reached the 10 foot mark.  At that point, Moogega attempted to shoot down the tower, but to no avail, so she turned around to keep working on her tower and at that same time, the tower fell.  Moogega has little time to start rebuilding, but uses an approach that is catching her up quick to Genevieve!  Genevieve takes some stuff down to try another approach and when the ten minutes ends, the two towers are not that different in height.  But Genevieve’s tower is still taller and she wins!  I told you I am a curse!  I really thought Moogega had an awesome shot at winning!  Now, everyone is even more scared by Genevieve and see her as an even bigger threat, as they should.

The episode ends with Danielle saying she thinks she could have “raped this challenge,” but you know everything is easier said than done!  I am sad that Moogega went out on the episode that was built towards her strengths, but if we have seen one popular trend on this show, it’s that nerds usually go home on episodes that are geared towards their strengths.

Next week is the finale and it’s down to the final four.  Celeste, Ivan, Genevieve, and Danielle!  Who do you think will win it all?  Tell me on Twitter @theonlytrace or @AustHansWorld or in the comment section below!  (Side note: WHATEVER will we do with our lives after the finale ends next week?  Answer: Hope and pray for a season two to already be in the works!)  (Another side note:  I am #TeamCeleste!)

The remaining four nerds on the King of the Nerds! (From left to right, in
color, they are:  Ivan, Danielle, Celeste, and Genevieve!)

King of the Nerds airs Thursdays at 10 pm on TBS!