Teams that were dominant before the temple and sucked during the temple run?

[The Red Jaguars]

We always diss certain temple teams on the show because they sucked in the temple. While they deserve the criticism they get for their temple run performance, there are a few teams that were actually pretty dominant before the temple but turned out to have a disappointing run. Let's make a list of all these teams! Here are a few that come to mind:

• Kim and Billy, Lost Hammer
• 1st in the moat, 2nd in the SoK, beat Orange Iguanas 2-1 in the temple games. (Won both individual games, tied the team game)

Press the button, Kim! We all know that the Lost Hammer run was one of the worst temple runs ever on the show. Kim literally did not know how to press a button at all in the temple. And out of 120 episodes, she is the only contestant that got stumped by this. -_- Billy was no prize himself as he moved slow, failed to take a shortcut, and wasted time in the Spider's Lair. But before the temple run, Billy and Kim were actually a strong team. They came out first in the moat and won their individual games also. Why did they suck so bad in the temple?

• Shane and Jackie, Oracle Bowl
• 1st in the moat, 1st in the SoK, beat Silver Snakes 2-1 in the temple games. (Won both individual games, tied the team game)

This episode is exactly like Lost Hammer. For the first Purple Parrot appearance, Shane and Jackie did a great job. They were first in both the moat and SoK and both players won their individual games. Its one of those teams you have high hopes for in the temple. Shane did continue his outstanding performance in the temple, but Jackie was so awful though. She moved way too slow, didn't try any shortcuts, and got lost in the Pirate's Cove for almost a minute. Maybe it is not as disappointing as Lost Hammer since Shane was a beast. But this team still should've done much better.

• Heather and Tony, Stone Head
• 2nd in the moat, 2nd in the SoK, swept the Silver Snakes in the temple games

In my opinion, this is one of the most disappointing temple teams ever. Heather and Tony did great before the temple including finishing second in one of the toughest moats ever and destroyed the Silver Snakes in the temple games. They looked unstoppable before the temple run. Inside the temple though, they only traveled through 5 rooms. I know Tony getting stuck with four snakes Medusa's Lair was pretty brutal, but it should not have taken that much time nor should the team have only traveled through 5 rooms. Especially when the Captain John Smith team had a similar layout and still had almost 30 seconds left despite their run ending in triple capture.

What other teams do you think should be included on the list? You don't have to do it in my format, I can add them to the original post.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Dried Ear of Corn (2nd, sweep on the steps, 2-0.5 temple games, failed in the temple)
Mysterious Manuscript (see Dried Ear of Corn, and they failed miserably in the temple)
Poseidon (2nd, sweep in the steps, 2-1 temple games, failed miserably in the temple)

That's all I can think of for now. You can add that to the OP above.

[The Red Jaguars]

I was definitely going to mention Broken Trident next. Kimberly and Tony were great before the temple including sweeping the SoK. Kimberly even grabbed the artifact in her temple run but failed to bring out her artifact with a lot of time. How do you screw up like that in the most important round of the show? Especially when victory was highly possible?

And I agree with Dried Ear of Corn and Mary Shelley too. Even though they made it to the room of the artifact, Tess and Eddie made too many mistakes and were too slow. Especially Tess who moved so slow and stalled in all her rooms. This outcome should've been better. I am shock they even made it to the room with the artifact, but that was because their layout was sort of easy and even similar to Sir Gawain. And Kate and Larry failed big time in the temple. Especially how pumped Kate was before the temple run. She moved so slow and got removed with only 118 left. Larry didn't even make it past the Shrine AND he couldn't run either.

Here are some more I would like to add:

Tim and Retina, Gordian Knot (1st in the Moat, swept the SoK, beat the Silver Snakes 1.5-0.5 in the temple games)
Maybe they didn't win two pendants in the temple games, but Tim and Retina were a pretty good team before the temple. Maybe it was because Tim did all the work, but the numbers don't lie and this team should've done much better than let time expire in the Shrine. Most of it can be blamed on Retina who was a slowpoke and failed to use an important shortcut. They definitely should've used their second chance a little better.

Silver Snakes, Icarus (1st in moat, swept the SoK, won the team game and lost due to an easy tiebreaker)
Okay, this is not a temple team at all. But I felt that this team really should've gone to the temple, especially when they looked older than Jason and April. And maybe they wouldn't have screwed up like Jason did either. But losing that tiebreaker question was just shameful.

Kelli and Mike, Thornwood Gavel (1st in the moat, 2nd in SoK, swept the Green Monkeys in the temple games)
This is another temple run where one player blows it while the other one is consistently dominant. But still, Kelli looked like one of those contestants that was excited to be on the show and that could hold their own ground. She kicked ass in the rare maze temple game. Why did she fall apart in the temple? I expected a Discarded Seal performance, not an Enormous Feather one.

That's all I have for now. I will add all of these + Paintbrush's to the original post later in the same format I used for the first three. I will also add more later too.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Agreed about all of those, even the Silver Snakes from Icarus. Not that Jason and April didn't dominate themselves (both teams were 1 and 2 in the moat), but they were the first to cross the moat and swept the steps. But that tiebreaker question though. They really should've gotten that. Other than that, I really don't have anymore ideas. Maybe the Iron Mask and Missing Portrait teams? Since both Blue Barracuda teams were 1st in the moat and swept the temple games, but lost in the temple. Not that they were bad teams, but they weren't great either. Would those count too, since they DID dominate pre temple or are those not the best examples?

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, I was definitely thinking of the Iron Mask team. I know they made it one room away, but the outcome should've been better.  Especially when they were 1st in the moat and swept the temple games! And people tend to overlook how fast Danielle moved in the temple. If she avoided Medusa's Lair, then she would've had a solo victory and it would've been faster than Ahmed Baba. But that detour and Justin's slow speed hurt their chances of winning. Too many avoidable mistakes.

Here are a few more

Amanda and Chaz, Lost Lion Tail (1st in the Moat, 1st in the SoK, would've won the temple games 1.5-0.5 if they didn't drop their signs)
It was their own fault for dropping their signs, but the Silver Snakes looked really good in this episode. They were first in all of their other rounds and probably would've won the temple run due to how easy that layout was. The real kicker though is that after the Purple Parrots were gifted a temple appearance, they went in blew their load big time.       

Jonathan and Amber, Grandy Nanny (3rd in the Moat, 1st in the SoK, swept the Red Jaguars in the temple games)
As little and young as this team looked, they did great in the earlier rounds of the temple. They were even the first Season 2 team to sweep the temple games! I wonder why they sucked so badly in the temple? I guess Jonathan not paying attention to what he was doing was a big part of it. -_-


Nick and Kim, Charles Lindbergh (3rd in the Moat, 2nd in SoK, swept the Orange Iguanas in the temple games)
They may have not been impressive as some of the teams on this list, but this is an episode where both players looked like they were level-headed and would've put up a good effort in the temple. Kim even answered a couple of questions in the SoK and won her temple game! So why did she suck so bad in the temple? Should've been an easy Dark Forest win.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Don't know about Missing Weather Maps. I mean, they kind of scraped by each round before the temple games. If they're included, then teams like Scheherazade should be included, who were also 3rd/2nd/2-0 temple games. The rest I agree with though, especially Silver Cannonball.