I just watched this run again, and it seemed extremely odd. There were a lot of aspects to the run that seemed out of place or strange.

 

To start, I want to focus on the King's Storeroom. The guard in the King's Storeroom appeared rather late, after Brandy already smashed two pots (Frame 1). And what's even more interesting is that as soon as the guard left the camera shot, Quentin from below can be seen running into the temple at 2:18 (Frame 2). But that was only Brandy's first guard...

The Shrine of the Silver Monkey/Secret Password/Quicksand Bog doors also seemed unusual. The door from the Shrine of the Silver Monkey was already open to the Room of the Secret Password when Brandy entered the Shrine (Frame 5), but rather than going straight for that room, she decided to assemble the statue. Then, the door to the Quicksand Bog opened (as evidence by Frame 4), and she even started to go for that room (Frame 6). I don't know what made her change course and head to the Room of the Secret Password after all that, but Brandy went into the Secret Password and was captured by the second guard (Frame 3). It is odd how that guard was also a bit delayed, coming out from the door after Brandy already said the first password; in other episodes with a guard in the Secret Password ("Thornwood Gavel" and "War Fan," for example), the guard came out immediately after the contestant entered the room.

After Brandy got taken out of the temple, Quentin ran in to clean it up. When the camera cut to Quentin running into the temple, the lighting on Olmec was down and his eyes were black (Frame 7). But as Quentin ran behind Olmec and Olmec was just barely within the camera's panning view, his eyes lit up red (Frame 8 )! That was unexpected! (Not to mention that Quentin's running into the temple looked a lot like his running from the King's Storeroom shot...)

I thought it would be a neat idea to create this thread to discuss why certain contestants were deemed "overrated," others "fan favorites," some "forgettable," and the rest "bad contestants." I'd like for people here to think about a few factors, and hopefully we can engage in a thoughtful and civil conversation. Some of the major questions I have are:


1. What qualified the contestants to be categorized as they were?

2. Do some of our views about the contestants come from the way the episode was edited or the way the contestant was portrayed during the rest of the episode? To what extent is this effect seen? Does media have a significant impact on our perceptions and beliefs?

3. Are there instances where different contestants shared many attributes, characteristics, and occurrences during the run, yet the contestants were portrayed in different ways such that viewers categorized the two contestants differently (or such that viewers liked/disliked one person more than the other)?