Hannah reviews/recaps the 'King of the Nerds 2' premiere!

Photo Credit: nerdking.net

Tonight, the second season of King of the Nerds premiered on TBS.  I really enjoyed the first season last year and even wrote a few recaps for it.  This season I plan on writing a mixture between a recap and a review after each episode and I'll try my best to not get lazy with them.  First and foremost, everyone involved in the casting process is fantastic at what they do.  The first season received a lot of praise for having a great cast and I think that the show has done it again.  The show gives us a variety of "nerd types" and the people they choose to represent those "nerd types" perfectly embody them.  What better to follow this statement than to present you with a quick run-down of my personal favorites, based off this first episode!

1. I picked him first in the AustHan's World KotN Draft and let me tell you this, I am very glad that I did!  Jack takes the cake for my favorite nerd.  Jack's a Bioengineering student who presented us with a fantastic periodic table rap in his introduction segment.  He has a way with algorithms and created one that would help his team decide who was best to send into the first Nerd-Off.  #DemStats I declared Brandon my favorite at this point last season and thus, #Handon was created.  Obviously I have to follow with this tradition and thus, #Hack is now my new thing.  I don't expect this to change.

   

   I am 100% in favor of this comparison.  Tweet Credit: @TheJovenshire

2. Chris is probably my next favorite and I regret not choosing him in the draft.  His personality is not over the top, but it also isn't boring in the slightest.  Honestly, he won me over the moment that he admitted that he's the coolest person he knows.  He also said "Boom goes the dynamite!", a phrase that I am guilty of overusing.
3. Next, I'm going to go with Josh.  He didn't get a great amount of airtime in tonight's episode, but I think he has potential to go far.  There are many engineer types on this season and I just don't think he'll be anyone's main target for a while.  Plus he likes Pokemon!
4. And lastly, the biggest surprise of the cast for me was that I actually really liked Zack.  If I had to compare him to someone from the first season based on his edit, I think he's a mix of Hendrik and Virgil.  He's super nerdy and therefore I like him a lot.

I wasn't aiming to go with all guys in that listing, but it happened. #DontJudge Kelsey and Nicole were really the only girls to get much airtime in tonight's episode.  I didn't dislike any of the girls, or any of the guys for that matter.  It's just hard to form opinions when you see so little.  Honestly, I think Katie might end up being my favorite girl from the cast (and I'll be darned!  She's on my team!).. I mean, she is a puppeteer and it doesn't get much cooler than that.

This season's nerds upon arrival at the new Nerdvana!
Photo Credit: TBS

The show has made a few changes this season.  First, once again, there was an odd amount of nerds cast to be on the show.  Unlike last season, when the person that was left out when teams were chosen got to choose the first winning team and joining the losing team, this season that person got to "immediately banish someone from the competition."  This season, the unchosen person was Kelsey.  She chose to banish Nicole from the game.  (Related Note:  Was I the only one to find it a little rude when Kelsey said she was choosing Nicole because no one would even notice she was gone?)  

But surprise!  Nicole then became the "nerdiest of the nerds!"  She got to choose the winning team and chose the gold team.  As a result of this, she got to join the gold team and move someone from the gold team over to the purple team.  Obviously she sent Kelsey over to the purple team.  Did we really see this going any other way?  Another change is that instead of the nerds coming back and voting to decide the King of the Nerds, the winner will be determined by nerd skill.  Lastly, the only other change that I know about is that one nerd was selected by the viewers and given the title of the People's Nerd.  This was .Josh, as he is a popular Youtuber.  

The Nerd-Off process is the same as last season.  The losing team votes one of their own into the Nerd-Off and the winning team votes one of their opponents into the Nerd-Off.  The first Nerd-Off was a game of "Nerdditch" which is much like Quidditch.  The gold team sent in Chris in an attempt to weaken the purple team and the purple team sent in Kelsey which was pretty obvious considering she wasn't one of the original members.  This Nerd-Off was neat!  They answered questions and whenever they answered correctly, they got to fly on a broom and throw potions into cauldrons for different point values.  It almost looked like Kelsey was going to win it, but Chris won it in the final round.  Kelsey then became the first banished from the competition and she flew off on a broom while speaking a foreign language.  Is there a better way to go out?  Probably not.  

With this loss,  #TeamHannah loses a member and #TeamAustin picks up Kayla for winning the first Nerd-Off.  Ah, it's a sad day on Hannah island.. (Except it isn't because, as mentioned before, Chris is one of my favorites and I was most definitely rooting for him to win the Nerd-Off.  The curse of one of my favorites being eliminated first has been lifted!)

And just like that, Kelsey becomes the first nerd eliminated from the competition!
Original Photo Credit: smallscreenscoop.com

Other little things you may want to know from the first episode:

• Like last season, there are two teams this season.  The purple team, now referred to as the Titans of Rigel, and the gold team, now referred to as the Midas Touch Attack.
• The Titans of Rigel members are Chris, Katie, Brian, Xander, Kayla, and formerly Kelsey.
• The Midas Touch Attack members are Zack, Nicole, Jack, Josh, and Mary Kate.
• Chris won the first Nerd-Off with a score of 600 over Kelsey's score of 450.

My favorite moment from tonight's episode was when.. Zack said that he wants a water fountain in his house one day.  Now he has to win!  #DreamFulfilled 

If you missed tonight's premiere, I highly suggest finding a way to watch it.  It is definitely worth your time.  Become a regular with me and watch the show each Thursday night at 10 pm on TBS!  I will tweet during each episode over at @theonlytrace, so follow me!  I'll follow you and we'll become besties!  This week's conversation starter can be to talk initial favorites.  I told you some of mine, now you can tell me some of yours, either in the comments below or on Twitter!