• reality shows
  • reality TV reviews
  • about
  • contact
  • reality TV schedule
  • best reality TV
  • send tips or feedback
  • support
  • subscribe
King of the Nerds

The best, most intense reality TV elimination challenge so far this year

by Andy Dehnart 7 Feb. 2014 | 9:58 am

The Nerd Off challenge on last night’s King of the Nerds was insane: intense, hilarious, and full of actual consequence–a battle between good and evil that worked on every level a reality TV competition needs to work.

In this case, evil is Zack, this season’s villain. He’s prone to frustrated, angry outbursts during which he spews highly intelligent sentences that are overtaken by his ego. But he’s also capable of occasional moments of humility, and because he’s, at most, going to have smarty/bitchy eruptions, he ultimately seems mostly harmless, which makes his presence rather entertaining.

The challenge, on paper, seemed uninteresting. It was essentially Battleship, and here, the show’s producers did another great job of adapting real-life things into watchable and entertaining challenges. Last week’s Nerd-Off was Operation with some memorization of anatomy, but this week’s was straightforward Battleship strategy.

But there was more, primarily that two people, “Mighty Mike” Michael Murga and “Wee Matt” Matt McCarthy, were moving the pieces while dressed up as Vikings, maybe, with helmets and fake beards. More importantly and awesomely, they also smashed the shit out of the pieces and/or the game board tiles with giant hammers. Watching that never got old.

Best of all, it was a tight competition, and underdog Mary Kate even pulled ahead, despite her failure to roll a giant die (she seemed to keep dropping it so that 1 kept coming up). That made for an intense showdown all the way to the very close finish.

The outcome was disheartening, in the sense that I want to see Zack fail and be crushed, but his continued presence in Nerdvana and the game will ensure that it stays interesting.

discuss this story

more great reality blurred stories

  • The 20 Survivor winners who will compete on Survivor season 40
  • How Antiques Roadshow works
  • Scare Tactics: The surprising way the show was cast
  • Behind the scenes of the Guy’s Grocery Games grocery store
  • The Survivor rule book and Survivor cast contract
  • How Big Brother’s house is designed

Reality TV in your inbox

Hand-crafted reality TV news and recommendations sent most Fridays. Unsubscribe any time!

most-popular stories on reality blurred

The central cast of MTV's Ex On the Beach: Peak of Love

Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love cast includes Adore Delano and Temptation Island singles

MTV announced the cast and air date for Ex On the Beach season 4, which has relocated to the mountains of New Zealand and now has the nonsensical name of Ex On the Beach: Peak of Love.

Whale Wars

Whale Wars: Watson's Last Stand is not new. It's from 2012.

Animal Planet has bizarrely repackaged old episodes as a new "season" of Whale Wars. But there is a new Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd-focused documentary coming soon.

Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine on Survivor: Island of the Idols

Survivor 40's cast of 20 Survivor winners

Survivor season 40's all-winner cast has been revealed. Original winner Richard Hatch is not competing, but nearly every winner from seasons 22 to 37 is returning.

The best reality TV shows 2019

The best reality TV of 2019

Andy Dehnart’s selection of outstanding reality TV and documentary reality shows from 2019.

Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, Whale Wars

Whale Wars almost came back. Why it's not returning.

Cameras filmed during Sea Shepherd's mission to the Southern Ocean this past year. But there won't be a season of Whale Wars.

Jeff Probst on the premiere of Survivor Island of the Idols, standing next to a sign that reminds everyone what Survivor used to focus on.

Survivor season 40 will start earlier than usual

Survivor: Winners at War will premiere in February, and have a two-hour premiere.

Spy Games host Mia Kang and assessors Douglas Laux, Evy Poumpuras, and Erool Southers

Spy Games: the cast, premiere date, and trailer for the new Bravo competition

Bravo has announced details about Spy Games, its reality competition whose producers include Survivor's former showrunner and a former ABC exec who developed The Mole.

Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio during the Top Chef: Kentucky finale

Top Chef season 17: all stars are filming now

Former Top Chef contestants have been spotted at filming locations in the Los Angeles area, and the Restaurant Wars episode will be filmed next week.

Gabrielle Union during the America's Got Talent season 14 semifinals 2 episode

Gabrielle Union was fired from America's Got Talent. What we've learned since then about AGT's "toxic culture"

Reports have detailed a "toxic culture" at AGT that Gabrielle Union tried to address but was labeled as "difficult."

On Kings of Pain, Rob “Caveman” Alleva puts a tarantula hawk, a massive wasp, on Adam Thorn so it can sting him

Is Kings of Pain science or stupidity? An interview with a History Channel executive

An interview with a History Channel executive about Kings of Pain, on which two men are bitten and stung to see how much it hurts.

behind the scenes of reality TV

The Last Alaskans

How The Last Alaskans stayed real

How Animal Planet’s The Last Alaskans was produced, and why the show is so different from other shows about Alaska and all of reality TV.

RuPaul's Drag Race, Michelle Visage, RuPaul, Carson Kressley

The RuPaul’s Drag Race contract

Drag queens give up everything from rights to revenue in order to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and everything from per-episode compensation to Drag Race’s rules are covered in this 51-page participant agreement that contestants sign during the casting process.

Sharknado 3 Ian Ziering

Sharknado 3’s surprises, on screen and behind the scenes

A review of Sharknado 3 and its cameos (starring Mark Cuban and plenty of other reality stars), plus a look behind-the-scenes at production of the movie.

older

King of the Nerds winner is a Survivor, Big Brother fan

newer >

Why King of the Nerds incredible challenges are better than Survivor’s

more stories about King of the Nerds

discuss this story

about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart’s writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in Vulture, Pacific Standard, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He has covered reality television for more than 18 years, and created reality blurred in 2000.

A member of the Television Critics Association who serves on its board of directors, Andy, 41, also directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. Learn more about reality blurred and Andy.

stay connected with reality TV

Get advice about what to watch and keep up with the latest in reality television with reality blurred's e-mail newsletter. Just enter your e-mail address:

about reality blurred

reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality TV and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It was created in 2000 by Andy Dehnart. He's still writing and publishing it today.

reality blurred is regularly updated with highlights from the world of reality TV: news and analysis; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of these reality TV shows, including Survivor, Big Brother, The Great British Baking Show, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, and many more.

explore

  • recent news
  • reviews of reality TV shows
  • behind the scenes reports
  • interviews with producers and reality stars
  • archives
  • send tips
  • search
  • advertise on reality blurred
  • about reality blurred
  • newsletter
  • RSS and social media
  • contact reality blurred
  • send tips & contribute
  • privacy policy
  • terms of service
Copyright © 2000 to 2019 Andy Dehnart and individual contributors.