Analysis and Comparison of Temple Run Contestants

[The Red Jaguars]

I honestly think that both Nate and Jay rank on the same level, if not they are interchangeable when it comes to ranking them. You are right though about Jay ranking much higher than Nate in a couple of ranking threads. I actually watched the Queen Boadicea run yesterday and forgot how tough Nate got it. By the time Lissy was taken out, Nate had less than two minutes and only had three rooms completed for him. Nate also had bad luck in some rooms like the King's Storeroom where it was the third pot that had the key and the third hole that unlocked the door to the Ancient Warriors. An by the time Nate finish assembling the Silver Monkey, he had less than a minute left and he still reached the Good-Luck Watch with 15 seconds left.

Jay did very well though also. With 1:30 left, he made it all the way to the Jester's Court in under a minute and got sidetracked by a production error in that room. I think he aligned himself just fine on the middle painting first. If it wasn't for this production error, then Jay would've grabbed the Good-Luck Watch and would've won. Both Nate and Jay were awesome, but I thought Jay was the better contestant a little more. He probably would've done just as good as Nnate if he had the Boadicea layout.

[The Red Jaguars]

Also, the Queen Boadicea run usually gets higher rankings than the Empress Eugenie run also. I am not sure if that is because of how slow Janeen was in the Eugenie run, but I have definitely seen Boadicea get more praise. Even when I held the "Rate the Bottom of the Central" shaft run, both Red Sash and Boadicea ranked higher than Eugenie. It is funny because both Boadicea and Eugenie are very similar in many ways. And also, I noticed that the Secret Password door was locked when Nate completed the Silver Monkey. So it just didn't happen in Empress Eugenie.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I think that the disparity between Jay and Nate is unusual since the two contestants and their runs are so similar.


Next, I'd like to turn out attention to Icarus' Jason. He came just shy of achieving a solo victory, but unnecessarily entered the Observatory and could have exited the temple in a much cleaner fashion. In recent discussions, Jason has received a lot of criticism and even received votes in the "Worst Male Green Monkey Males" thread. Isn't that a bit excessive?

He completed the necessary rooms swiftly and was able to find the key in the Dark Forest to gain direct access to the Shrine. Jason was not the only contestant to backtrack in the temple, but he realized his mistake quickly and headed back to the King's Storeroom before he began to assemble the Stone Column. As far as his exit strategy goes, many other contestants took the same route out (most with equal disappointment). But since he was not alone in descending through the central shaft upon exiting the temple, can we assign more blame on him than other contestants who did the same thing?

And in a similar light, how would we think of Jason and his run if he had scored a one-second victory like Olivia-Emma (Applewood Amulet) or David (Lawrence of Arabia's Headdress)? Would it be a great, nail-biter of a run? Or would the successful one-second nail-biter runs be less exciting since there wouldn't be a "so-close-yet-so-far-away" run to be comparably more disappointed about? Would we still think that Jason could have performed better and won with more time on the clock? Or would we say that he did well and nearly blew it but didn't?

[The Red Jaguars]

If Icarus did end up in a one second win, I think this run would get the "Butch Cassidy" treatment where it will get criticism because the win is not as a great as people make it out to be. While Olivia-Emma and David weren't perfect, they did many things right in the temple too that Jason failed to do. Both of those players had solid temple exits too considering the little time they had. Jason had over 50 seconds and still failed to bring the Broken Wing out. This win in general couldn't hold a candle to Emiliano Zapata, Lawernce of Arabia's Headdress, or even Galileo' Cannonball. There were just so many bad things about the Icarus win that it would probably be maligned like Butch Cassidy and Geronimo.

[The Red Jaguars]

I was thinking about this the other day, but does anyone think that Kristin from Catherine the Great is overrated? She ranks high in a lot of ranking threads and games. Her layout was not very hard at all either. In fact, it was just one extra room than the "Roland" win. Plus, the other wins that day (Sforza and Benzibab) get quite a lot of criticism even though the Catherine the Great layout was almost as easy. Do you think the reason Kristin gets a lot of praise was because it was the last run ever filmed? I don't think she is overrated, but I want to see how others feel about her.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I agree with your points about Kristin, and while I think she did a good job in the temple, I feel that she sometimes gets too much praise for her performance. She did have a relatively short and easy path for a Season 3 run, and she had a bit of trouble in the Shrine. However, her head-first dive in the Pit of the Pendulum and her consistent speed, in combination with the fact that it was the final episode of the series, may influence our opinion of this run.

Still, if we are to compare Catherine the Great to other similar Season 3 runs, there seems to be an unfair disparity in favor of the Catherine the Great run. Ivory Hunting Horn had an identical path, with the exception of the Shrine, but it is often stated that that win was "too easy." The Shrine was a room that could eat up a lot of time, but it was only one extra room and Yakerra would have had a minute to complete it if she had to reach the Ancient Warriors. Would Yakerra be a "superstar" contestant if she was forced to complete the Shrine to reach the Ivory Hunting Horn? And unlike Yakerra, Kristin didn't even complete all of the rooms in her path since Kris lasted until the Tomb of the Headless Kings.

Benzibab's layout has received similar criticism as Ivory Hunting Horn, but Annie and Kevin entered the same number of rooms as Kris and Kristin and had a faster completion of the temple. While it is clear that the Shrine was a more time consuming room than the Quicksand Bog, that was the only major difference between the two runs. I mean, Annie and Kris were even removed at the same point in the temple in the same amount of time. And the third guard was not encountered in either run.

Lastly, Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza has been called a good win, but a bit easy. Yes, this team only had to scale the central shaft en route to the Ancient Warriors, but even though that path was one room shorter than the Jewel-Encrusted Egg route, I would argue that it was equally or more difficult. The Jesters' Court had its fair share of dysfunction and the Shrine could trip up contestants, but neither room took a considerable amount of time. And the Dark Forest was a quick room to complete. The Chamber of the Sacred Markers and King's Storeroom, in my opinion, were a harder combination of rooms to have to complete back-to-back. In addition, the Jeweled Scabbard team found their half pendant (even though it was not necessary). Asher reached the Jeweled Scabbard with 48 seconds left and reached the gate with 28 seconds left on the clock. Kristin reached the Jewel-Encrusted Egg with 45 seconds left and reached the gate with 24 seconds left on the clock. In other words, Kristin was equally fast as (or equally slow as) Asher, who has received criticism for not being "quick enough" and should have had more time left on the clock.

Okay, so enough of my rant. I think that Kristin (and Kris) was a good contestant, but when we put it into perspective, she was on an equal playing field as the Benzibab, Sforza, and Roland teams.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, I think the reason that Kristin gets a lot of praise is because of her having the last temple run ever on the show. So a lot of people put this win in high regards because of it being the last win. Also, this is like the only Red Jaguars win that was respectable to most people. So Kris and Kristin do get a little more favoritism because of this, a long with being the last temple win on the show. But you're right, all of the players on that production day performed about the same. Even though Benzibab and Sforza do get some flack for being easy layouts, I still like both of those wins. Although I like Sforza a little better than Benzibab. Even if Lacey and Asher's path was simple, they still had to face some tough rooms. And both players did a good job in handling them. The Benzibab kids did a good job also, and Annie and Kevin were really fast contestants. I still place Catherine the Great in my top 5 wins because of how memorable it was and the bias I have towards my favorite team. But I agree with you about your analysis of Kristin and the other players that day. It was a good production day overall. 

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Often times, temple run contestants are judged based on speed. It's often said "It's not how you start; it's how you finish." Nonetheless, I think it would be neat to do a comparison to see how "fast" our teams were "out of the gate". Here, I want to alert you to an interesting statistic: how long it took for the front runner to complete their first room passed the Pit of the Pendulum. I'm only covering Season 3 because the rooms in the central shaft never changed throughout the season to alter room difficulty. And I will only be including runs where the front runner was able to complete the objective of that first inner-temple room, not episodes in which the contestant was removed upon entering the room. The number in parentheses under "First Inner-Temple Room" indicates whether that was the contestant's third or fourth room entered, depending on how many entrance rooms were entered.

Episode	Contestant	First Inner-Temple Room	Time Left on Clock
Bifocal Monocle of One-Eyed Jack	Veronica	Chamber (3)	1:23
Comet-Embroidered Battle Flag of William the Conqueror	Olivia	Headless Kings (3)	N/A
War Fan of the Forty-Seven Ronin	Jeremy	Headless Kings (3)	1:58
Much-Heralded Helmet of Sir Gawain	Tiffani	Chamber (3)	2:02
Lion-Headed Bracelet of Chandragupta	Andrea	King's Storeroom (3)	2:03
Lion-Slashed Jacket of Sacajawea	Lauren	Headless Kings (3)	2:02
Secret Map of the Bandit Queen	Miriam	Headless Kings (3)	2:13
Thornwood Gavel of Judge Roy Bean	Mike	Headless Kings (3)	2:22
Snow Cone of Mount Kilimanjaro	Casey	Headless Kings (3)	1:55
Upside-Down Compass of Henry Hudson	Sherra	Headless Kings (4)	1:52
Bent Shaving Pan of Jedidiah Smith	Irish	Headless Kings (3)	2:02
Marble Armrest of Xerxes	Noelle	Headless Kings (4)	1:44
Smashed Printing Plate of Frederick Douglass	Jason	Chamber (3)	2:02
Mystical Spellbook of the Imperial Wizard	Jared	King's Storeroom (4)	1:48
Useless Map of the Chibcha Chieftain	Hallie	Headless Kings (3)	N/A
Golden Spider Web of Robert the Bruce	Christine	King's Storeroom (4)	1:58
Discarded Seal of Ivan the Terrible	Travis	Chamber (3)	2:17
Mysterious Manuscript of Mary Shelley	Kate	Chamber (3)	2:00
Dried Apple Half of William Tell	Brett	King's Storeroom (4)	1:39
Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein	Rachel	King's Storeroom (4)	1:40
Ivory Hunting Horn of Roland	Yakerra	Headless Kings (3)	2:17
Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea	Lissy	Chamber (3)	1:56
Lost Hornpipe of the Pirate Captain	Jessica	Headless Kings (3)	2:24
Enormous Feather of the Me Linh	David	Headless Kings (3)	2:15
Red Sash of Tokugawa Ieyasu	Brandy	King's Storeroom (3)	2:13
Broken Trident of Poseidon	Kimberly	Headless Kings (3)	2:19
Lily-Crested Crown of Clovis I	Katie	King's Storeroom (3)	2:18
Mussel-Shell Armor of Apanuugpak	Amanda	Headless Kings (3)	2:07
Metal Beard of the Egyptian Queen	TJ	Headless Kings (3)	2:21
Mummified Hand of the Egyptian King	Maggie	Headless Kings (3)	N/A
Lost Taj Mahal Turban of Aurangzeb	Dean	Chamber (3)	1:56
Melted Head of Madame Tussaud	Nick	Headless Kings (3)	2:05
Pearl Necklace of Gwalior	Ryan	King's Storeroom (3)	2:17
Bullet-Riddled Handbag of Belle Boyd	Leah	King's Storeroom (3)	2:14
Lost Whale Bone of Pytheas	Brittany	Headless Kings (3)	2:15
Dried Ear of Corn of Sojourner Truth	Eddie	Chamber (3)	2:00
Jeweled Scabbard of Sforza	Lacey	Headless Kings (3)	2:07
Good-Luck Watch of Empress Eugenie	Janeen	King's Storeroom (3)	1:46
Ruby Earring of Benzibab	Annie	Headless Kings (3)	N/A
Jewel-Encrusted Egg of Catherine the Great	Kris	Headless Kings (3)	N/A

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Interesting stuff there. Based on that list, Leah, Mike, and Jessica were the fastest, and Janeen, Noelle, and Veronica were the slowest. One comparison I always wanted to do was how long a player truly lasted in the temple. I believe TMH did that when he posted his stats, and I think it would be interesting thing to compare.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Interesting stuff there. Based on that list, Leah, Mike, and Jessica were the fastest, and Janeen, Noelle, and Veronica were the slowest. One comparison I always wanted to do was how long a player truly lasted in the temple. I believe TMH did that when he posted his stats, and I think it would be interesting thing to compare.

TJ should be a part of that top 3 in place of Leah, at 2:21. 

[PurpleParrot4Life]

One thing I want to point out is that a majority of the contestants (focusing on those who only entered one entrance room) finished their third room with approximately 2:00 left on the clock. For this reason, I think it is unfair to say that contestants who fall in this time zone were "too slow" or worse than "the average Season 3 contestant" and therefore "ruined/blew the run." In particular, I think of Lissy from Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea. She completed the Chamber of the Sacred Markers with 1:56 on the clock, which was the average time. It seems that whenever her episode is mentioned, she "takes the blame" for this run not being a victorious run. In reality, she was right on target in terms of pace. Once she was removed after her third room, Nate did a good job completing the remaining objectives. However, it was the longer-than-average path to the Tomb of the Headless Kings that ended up being their downfall; not their pace or ability to complete rooms. (Just to clarify: this was the only Tomb of the Headless Kings run whose path required the team to complete both of the other central shaft rooms, making it the longest forced path en route to the Tomb of the Headless Kings in Season 3.)

[The Red Jaguars]

Lissy actually did a pretty good job in the Chamber of the Sacred Markers. I mean did she complete the room in like 15 seconds or something like that? That was pretty good considering how it took some contestants up to 30 seconds. However, I felt that she took too long before entering the Chamber of the Sacred Markers It took her more than 20 seconds to get out of the Crypt (I guess the temple guard sort of phased her) and then took her another 25 second to get out of the Pit. Rewatching the Queen Boadicea run again, I think I have been a little harsh towards Lissy. But I still think if she didn't stall too much before the Chamber, she would've left Nate enough time to bring the Royal Torque out of the temple. At least Lissy was not as bad as Janeen. That girl was too afraid to even try some of the objectives. If Nate and Lissy had the Good-Luck Watch layout, they would've won that one. Lissy was definitely stronger than Janeen.

Although I have to say Red Sash was slightly tougher than Queen Boadicea. Mostly because of the quirk with the Secret Password door being open from the Shrine. But this layout was still pretty winnable also, and Brandy and Quentin's hesitations cost them.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Honestly, I always found Royal Torque overrated. I mean, everytime I go into a ranking thread and this episode is up for scoring, everyone gives it perfect 10's and puts it on the same level as Apanuugpak and Lost Hornpipe. To be honest, I wouldn't even give that run higher than a 6. I just find the temple run boring. Besides Nate's performance in the temple, nothing sticks out in the least bit. Yes Lissy was a stronger player than Janeen, but it doesn't make the temple run "amazing" or "excellent" that people make it out to be. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I really dislike this temple run. I feel like Lissy deserves the criticism she gets, even if she didn't last long in the temple. I know this has nothing to do with personal opinions, but I felt like I should share it anyways. I even prefer Good Luck Watch to Royal Torque, even if this layout was far more winnable.

[The Red Jaguars]

I like Queen Boadicea since it was the Red Jaguars best temple loss next to Two-Cornered Hat. And the Red Jaguars did not have very many successful runs. But yeah, this temple run is kind of uneventful aside from Nate almost bringing the artifact out of the temple. I have to say that Priceless Portrait is the best bottom of the central shaft run. That temple run was very exciting, especially when Kristen raced along the bottom floor of the temple. That would've been a top 5 episode easily for me if Jim and Kristen won.

And since we are comparing temple runs, how do you guys think Thomas and Veronica would fare if they had another Shrine run from Season 3? Even though they sucked ass in Bifocal Monocle, their temple run was also kind of cruel was the dead end path. What if the Orange Iguanas had the Bandit Queen layout? Veronica wouldn't have to worry about climbing walls in that run at all. Would they have more success than in Bifocal Monocle?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Priceless Portrait was very exciting. Kristen was even closer than Nate to escaping the temple. I find both Priceless Portrait and Good Luck Watch much more eventful and exciting than Royal Torque. I really don't consider Royal Torque "the best Red Jaguar loss ever." Far from it, that title goes to Napoleon. Royal Torque to me is just plain boring.

And I doubt Veronica and Thomas would've won even if they had a Roland layout. Wall climbing problems aside, they were just too slow.