Random thoughts on S1 episodes

[AimYourBrent]

Did anyone else feel suspicious about Kirk asking the teams what their Temple strategy was? It always made me feel like the temple guards would be placed in their respective rooms based on the team's answers, although nowadays I doubt that theory.

I always wanted someone to say they were going to go one way but actually choose the other path.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Kirk asked the teams their strategy immediately before starting the run. The actual temple layout and temple guard placements had already been set by the time Kirk asked the team what they were hoping to do.

One prime example is the guard in the Cave of Sighs: during the prize sequence, they would often edit in shots of the temple in between each prize. In many cases, a guard can be seen squatting in the bottom of the Cave of Sighs. Regardless of whether a team's strategy was to begin high or low, they would not move the Cave of Sighs guard (i.e. if the team said they would begin upstairs, they would not move the Cave of Sighs guard seen during the prize sequence upstairs also).

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, the temple layouts were already set prior to the teams entering the temple. So whether the contestants took a path that was riddled with temple guards and dead ends was just the luck of the draw for them. Although, there are times they could've avoided these problems like not taking a direct path. And like PP4L mentioned, you can see the guards in the Cave of Sighs for certain runs before they even begin. Like in Golden Ship and Map to the Lost Gold Mine. It would've been really cheap if they set the temple layouts based on the players strategy.

Although the one thing I do like about Season 1 runs were the pre-temple interviews. It was fun to listen to how the players thought they were going to reach their artifacts. I also liked how the players would describe certain rooms too like Shannon calling the Wheel Room the "Hamster Wheel" and Jennifer from Lost Gold Mine calling the "Map" the "prize".    And it was also funny to see how contestants thought it would be really easy to reach the artifact. Like Joe from Golden Ship though he could reach the Throne Room from the Wall Climb.

[AimYourBrent]

Oh yeah I totally realized later on that the guards were placed ahead of time, but when I was younger it always drew suspicion from me, especially when a player did in fact run into one in the entrance room they chose.

Poor S1 contestants. They had no idea! And yet that season produced the most winners. That fact blows my mind to this day.

[AimYourBrent]

Although the one thing I do like about Season 1 runs were the pre-temple interviews. It was fun to listen to how the players thought they were going to reach their artifacts. I also liked how the players would describe certain rooms too like Shannon calling the Wheel Room the "Hamster Wheel" and Jennifer from Lost Gold Mine calling the "Map" the "prize".    And it was also funny to see how contestants thought it would be really easy to reach the artifact. Like Joe from Golden Ship though he could reach the Throne Room from the Wall Climb.

What's ironic about that is that I am about 99.9999% sure that the wheel used in the pit was in fact the same wheel used on Double Dare for the 1 Ton Human Hamster Wheel/Drumroll obstacle. That's probably where Shannon got the idea from, and she's probably very correct in that assumption.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Plus, in Shaka Zulu, Bobby called the "Wheel Room" the "Squirrel run." So Shannon wasn't the only one to give the wheel a nickname.

[The Red Jaguars]

I wish Kirk did more of the post temple run interviews too like he did in Shaka Zulu and Sultan Saladin. He was hilarious in Sultan Saladin because you can tell Lea did not want anything to do with Kirk during that time. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Lea was completely out of breath, and Kirk kept rambling on and on post run. I remember Kirk even asked "You're not gonna think about the temple guards when you're on vacation, are you?" Leave her alone and let her catch her breath, Kirk.

[AimYourBrent]

Seriously, talk about the worst time to interview the players lol!