One comparison I always wanted to do was how long a player truly lasted in the temple.

A bit after the fact, but here is that comparison for the Season 3 frontrunners.

Episode	Contestant	Removal Room	Rooms Entered	Time Left on Clock
Bifocal Monocle of One-Eyed Jack	Veronica	King’s Storeroom	5	0:42
Comet-Embroidered Battle Flag of William the Conqueror	Olivia	Tomb of the Headless Kings	3	2:17
War Fan of the Forty-Seven Ronin	Jeremy	Secret Password	7	1:07
Much-Heralded Helmet of Sir Gawain	Tiffani	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lion-Headed Bracelet of Chandragupta	Andrea	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacajawea	Lauren	King’s Storeroom	5	1:17
Secret Map of the Bandit Queen	Miriam	Dark Forest	5	1:17
Thornwood Gavel of Judge Roy Bean	Mike	Secret Password	7	1:22
Snow Cone of Mount Kilimanjaro	Casey	Dark Forest	5	0:59
Upside-Down Compass of Henry Hudson	Sherra	King’s Storeroom	6	1:05
Bent Shaving Pan of Jedidiah Smith	Irish	Ancient Warriors	7	0:30
Marble Armrest of Xerxes	Noelle	Quicksand Bog	7	1:03
Smashed Printing Plate of Frederick Douglass	Jason	Dark Forest	8	0:30
Mystical Spellbook of the Imperial Wizard	Jared	Quicksand Bog	8	0:46
Useless Map of the Chibcha Chieftain	Hallie	Tomb of the Headless Kings	3	2:30
Golden Spider Web of Robert the Bruce	Christine	Ancient Warriors	5	1:49
Discarded Seal of Ivan the Terrible	Travis	Silver Monkey	8	1:14
Mysterious Manuscript of Mary Shelley	Kate	Silver Monkey	6	1:13
Dried Apple Half of William Tell	Brett	Tomb of the Headless Kings	6	0:56
Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein	Rachel	Ancient Warriors	5	1:24
Ivory Hunting Horn of Roland	Yakerra	N/A	N/A	N/A
Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea	Lissy	Chamber of the Sacred Markers	3	1:56
Lost Hornpipe of the Pirate Captain	Jessica	Ancient Warriors	6	1:32
Enormous Feather of the Me Linh	David	Dark Forest	5	1:57
Red Sash of Tokugawa Ieyasu	Brandy	Secret Password	6	1:21
Broken Trident of Poseidon	Kimberly	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I	Katie	Silver Monkey	6	0:51
Mussel-Shell Armor of Apanuugpak	Amanda	Dark Forest	5	1:32
Metal Beard of the Egyptian Queen	TJ	Dark Forest	5	1:56
Mummified Hand of the Egyptian King	Maggie	Tomb of the Headless Kings	3	2:20
Lost Taj Mahal Turban of Aurangzeb	Dean	Silver Monkey	6	1:07
Melted Head of Madame Tussaud	Nick	Ancient Warriors	6	0:45
Pearl Necklace of Gwalior	Ryan	Silver Monkey	6	1:27
Bullet-Riddled Handbag of Belle Boyd	Leah	Dark Forest	7	1:00
Lost Whale Bone of Pytheas	Brittany	Silver Monkey	7	1:22
Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth	Eddie	Ancient Warriors	4	1:48
Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza	Lacey	Chamber of the Sacred Markers	4	1:35
Good-Luck Watch of Empress Eugenie	Janeen	Silver Monkey	5	1:30
Ruby Earring of Benzibab	Annie	Tomb of the Headless Kings	3	2:35
Jewel-Encrusted Egg of Catherine the Great	Kris	Tomb of the Headless Kings	3	2:28

Here's a thought about the Enormous Feather of the Me Linh run:

We know that this team successfully reached the artifact from the King's Storeroom, although Karisa did not progress through the temple very quickly. What is interesting is that out of the three King's Storeroom runs from this season, they came the closest to winning, even though they are often regarded as the "worst" of the three teams. The Discarded Seal of Ivan the Terrible team had to complete one extra room objective en route to the King's Storeroom, and the Bent Shaving Pan of Jedidiah Smith team had a more difficult temple guard layout, since Irish was removed one room from the artifact, while Karisa only had to traverse 5 cleared room to reach where her partner left off.

What is interesting is that the Enormous Feather of the Me Linh run could have been a victorious run if Karisa had tried the leftmost armor on the first try. She entered the room with 32 seconds left on the clock. By the time she tried the other two armors and activated the King's Storeroom, there was only 17 seconds left on the clock, meaning she used 15 extra seconds. Given that she made it to the middle of the Pit of the Pendulum and was attempting to exit the temple via the Crypt, had she put those 15 seconds into exiting the temple, she would have won, even with her slow pace and getting lost in the Quicksand Bog.

Had this scenario been the case, what would your thoughts on the run be? Would you enjoy it for being a winning episode, or would the lack of speed counteract the team's success?

It was most often the case in the Season 1 and 2 temple for multiple doors to be open between the Pit and King's Storeroom, forming a "loop." Many times, a contestant that entered the Observatory could bypass the open Heart Room space and head directly into the King's Storeroom, even though the Heart Room space opened as well. Likewise, contestants that entered the Heart Room space could bypass the Observatory and head directly into the King's Storeroom, even though the Observatory unlocked as well. These doors could be seen unlocking either once the Heart Room space/Observatory objective was completed, or after the King's Storeroom was completed. This "loop"is perfectly evident in runs like Electrified Key of Benjamin Franklin. Another similar example is Silk Sash of Mulan, where Jessie went from the Pit to the Heart Room space, then up into the Observatory; when she was removed, her partner was able to access the Observatory directly. Similarly, in the Golden Stallion of Ali Baba, Kendra was able to form a loop between the central shaft and the Pit. In these two latter examples, the King's Storeroom did not open from either of these rooms, but the overall idea holds true.

Because both the Heart Room space and Observatory were unlocked via the Pit, it would not be surprising if this trend continued for the Priceless Portrait run.

I'd like to think that you aren't a burden. If anything, this whole site is a support system for you. Anything you do or say here gets people behind you, or at least active and talking. And it seems that every time you seek approval or words of encouragement, you get it. So I don't see how you feel that you don't fit in or that nobody cares about you. As far as I can tell, it's the exact opposite.

The only one I disagree about is Stone Head. You can see the Medusa's Lair door open after Tony completes the objective. Which means that Heather could've tackled that room herself and probably would've done a better job. But one guard was most definitely avoidable in that run.

That was the exact point I was making about Stone Head of the Evil King. It also serves as a general precaution for many Season 1 and Season 2 runs. There were many instances where teams only accessed one door from the Pit to the central shaft, when many times there were multiple entryways available to the contestants. Depending on which doors were open for which runs, many guards in the central shaft could have been avoided.

Similarly, the Heart Room space guard was often avoidable by heading directly down from the Observatory space to the Treasure Room space in Seasons 1 and 2 (or avoid the Observatory by heading directly from the Heart Room to the Treasure Room).

I can't believe anyone would give Mike a hard time. He did a solid job in the temple and didn't do anything wrong. He moved swiftly through all the temple rooms and had the fastest Silver Monkey completion ever. Kelli was entirely to be blamed for this loss. She had a 1:20 and a clear path to the Secret Password, but she blew it big time by taking a wrong path (she was lucky her team had 2 Pendants) and was trying to complete objectives already done. And she moved so slow too. This team could've won if Kelli hauled her ass and completed the two bottom floor objectives, which were relatively easy. Just like the Paintbrush said about Jessica in the Cosa Rara run going into the temple first, the Orange Iguanas in Thornwood Gavel would've still lost even if Kelli went in first. She just had too many problems and had no idea what to do. Disappointing loss like Enormous Feather, Good-Luck Watch, and Bandit Queen with slow female runners.

The only way I think would've made this run better was if Mike went into the King's Storeroom and get removed in the Secret Password. Not only his route would be shorter, Kelli would also have no excuse to detour again. I don't think they would've won either way because she was way too stupid.  

It's not that Michael has a bad rep; it's that his performance is downplayed because of the success of his episode's run as a whole. That is why I find some of the results for player rankings to be a bit skewed. I feel like there is a "tainted" image of a contestant because of the episode he or she is part of, even if we can't recall details about a contestant's performance, whether or not it is because we haven't seen the episode in a long time. Sometimes going back and rewatching an episode- as was the case for Justin in Cosa Rara, for example- can bring to light the misconceptions (either extolling or criticizing) we have created about the contestants.

While Veronica and Thomas struggled in the temple, the path was strange. And while their success was very low, I can sympathize with them for their layout (which, I must point out, is different than sympathizing for them due to their ability). This was the first and only Season 3 episode that featured a dead end. This was also the first episode of the new season, so it was more-or-less a "testing ground" for the new rooms and objectives. Once the producers saw that adding dead ends to the already more difficult series of rooms was excessive, they probably realized that it was sufficiently difficult to have teams proceed in a predetermined path, rather than have to deal with dead ends on top of it. This pattern of trial-by-error and adjusting/clarifying episode-by-episode was seen in several moat crossings and temple games throughout the duration of the show as well. So all in all, I am not surprised that the producers chose to get rid of the dead ends for Season 3.

Another point of interest I want to mention in regards to the Bifocal Monocle run occurred after Veronica encountered the temple guard in the Ancient Warriors. One of the cameramen (or perhaps another crew person, etc.) mumbles something about a "door" when there is 0:55 left on the temple run clock. She then kneels down by the door that led back into the Chamber of the Sacred Markers before looking at the cameraman, hesitating, and proceeding up to the King's Storeroom. Perhaps she intended on returning to the Chamber, but was influenced otherwise to head to the King's Storeroom.