Analysis and Comparison of Temple Run Contestants

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Just an FYI, (since I don't feel like quoting), David was taken out in the Dark Forest, NOT the Quicksand Bog. And David and Karisa had the "Enormous Feather" layout, not the "Discarded Seal" layout. Just saying.

As for the Mystical Spellbook run, Katie definitely should have gone in first. She was way faster than Jared and she would have been impressive in the temple. Also, notice how the Chamber door opened during the run? That had to have been where the other guard was. And if Katie had encountered that guard and got taken out in the Ancient Warriors, Jared would have gone in and.... who knows what would have happened?

[The Red Jaguars]

Just an FYI, (since I don't feel like quoting), David was taken out in the Dark Forest, NOT the Quicksand Bog. And David and Karisa had the "Enormous Feather" layout, not the "Discarded Seal" layout. Just saying.

As for the Mystical Spellbook run, Katie definitely should have gone in first. She was way faster than Jared and she would have been impressive in the temple. Also, notice how the Chamber door opened during the run? That had to have been where the other guard was. And if Katie had encountered that guard and got taken out in the Ancient Warriors, Jared would have gone in and.... who knows what would have happened?

Oops, I was probably the one that said that David was taken out in the Quicksand Bog. I guess Karisa's stupidity there blanked my memory about the run before she entered. And we were comparing the "Me Linh" run to the "Ivan the Terrible" run, so I don't think anyone said that Karisa and David had the "Ivan the Terrible" layout. 

And I agree, the team wouldn't have won if Katie was taken out early in the Chamber. But assuming she continued on Jared's path, she would've been taken out in the Quicksand Bog with over a minute left on the clock. That should've been enough time for Jared to reach the Mystical Spellbook and bring it out. Or if Jared was taken out in the Chamber first, then Katie may have had enough time to bring the artifact out for the win. At least Jared was competent for the most part though. Its not like he was like Lissy or Janeen who would've had no chance in winning if Nate and Jay went in first for their run.

Here's another run no one really talks about - "The Helmet of Joan of Arc". In this run, the team made it pretty far with a lengthy layout. But what hurt them was that Mandy found the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings but did not use it. Instead, she used the slow Well bucket. Plus, she was kind of slow. My thoughts would be that if Mandy went in first and Eddie went in second, then I think this team would've won. Mandy would've been taken out in the Room of Harmonic Convergence and Eddie was fast and hopefully would've taken the Tomb-Shrine shortcut.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Not to mention, "The Oracle Bowl of Delphi" had nearly the same path and outcome. Fast player goes first, gets taken out early, slow player goes in second, and loses. Had it been reserve order of players, the respective teams would have reached the artifact. Maybe even brought it out too.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Just an FYI, (since I don't feel like quoting), David was taken out in the Dark Forest, NOT the Quicksand Bog. And David and Karisa had the "Enormous Feather" layout, not the "Discarded Seal" layout. Just saying.

I was proposing a hypothetical situation, asking what might have happened if David and Karisa had to take on the "Discarded Seal" path instead of their own. Just saying.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Here's another run no one really talks about - "The Helmet of Joan of Arc". In this run, the team made it pretty far with a lengthy layout. But what hurt them was that Mandy found the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings but did not use it. Instead, she used the slow Well bucket. Plus, she was kind of slow. My thoughts would be that if Mandy went in first and Eddie went in second, then I think this team would've won. Mandy would've been taken out in the Room of Harmonic Convergence and Eddie was fast and hopefully would've taken the Tomb-Shrine shortcut.

Speaking of episodes where the team had to retrieve an artifact from the Center of the Rooms, the only times that the artifact ever was reached (and sometime brought out of the temple) was when the team followed the bottom floor up and around to the room. There wasn't a single team that successfully reached the artifact when they were forced up to the Observatory, then down and around to the bottom floor, and then back up.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

And here is sort of a different question. What are some runs that would have a different outcome if the second player actually went in first?

I feel like every run would have been different if the players switched positions. The outcome may not have been drastically different, but I think that there would have been something in every run that would have played out differently (even if that meant just a small change in the time a room was completed or how much time was left on the clock). And plus, if the order of the runners had been switched, we would have missed out on a lot of memorable moments. It would have been impossible for Renee to miss the half pendant if she were the frontrunner, Ryann would not have been able to be taken out in the Crypt, and Nick would not have ended up jumping out of the temple (well, hopefully not... if he did jump out from the Heart room, it would have been much more hazardous to his health).

[The Red Jaguars]

Not to mention, "The Oracle Bowl of Delphi" had nearly the same path and outcome. Fast player goes first, gets taken out early, slow player goes in second, and loses. Had it been reserve order of players, the respective teams would have reached the artifact. Maybe even brought it out too.

Compared to Jackie though, Mandy looks like Jarrid and Jessica. Seriously, Jackie was way more pathetic than Mandy was. She took forever to get out of the Cave of Sighs and she slowly trots along the bottom floor of the temple. Even if Jackie were to go in first and get taken out in the Swamp, I don't know if Shane would even have enough time to reach the Oracle Bowl. But yeah, both teams had a very similar layout with both second runner girls taking the long route without trying the shortcuts. I have to say that it is hard determining who is the worst Purple Parrot player... Jackie or Claude? They were both so awful, I don't know where to begin! 

And here is sort of a different question. What are some runs that would have a different outcome if the second player actually went in first?

I feel like every run would have been different if the players switched positions. The outcome may not have been drastically different, but I think that there would have been something in every run that would have played out differently (even if that meant just a small change in the time a room was completed or how much time was left on the clock). And plus, if the order of the runners had been switched, we would have missed out on a lot of memorable moments. It would have been impossible for Renee to miss the half pendant if she were the frontrunner, Ryann would not have been able to be taken out in the Crypt, and Nick would not have ended up jumping out of the temple (well, hopefully not... if he did jump out from the Heart room, it would have been much more hazardous to his health).

Yeah, every run could be dramatically different if the other player entered first. But in the cases you listed above, those outcomes could've been easily avoided if the players made wiser choices. Like Ryann not running into the Crypt and instead following Chris's path could've resulted in a win. I mean we don't know her true potential because we only see her for four seconds running up a staircase. Same with Renee, she wasn't that bad aside from missing the obvious half-pendant or plowing through the wall. And Nick didn't really do anything wrong. I think jumping out of the temple was an honest mistake and even if he had a full pendant, I am sure the producers would've just edited it out and gave him a second chance.

[The Red Jaguars]

And I have to ask this question... what was Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer" deal in the temple? I mean really, how do you not know what an actuator is? Could the giant button next to the door have not been anymore obvious? Even John from "Cricket Cage" and Lisa didn't have problems with pushing an actuator. She must've been REALLY inattentive when the producers were giving the Silver Snakes a rundown of the temple. 

[PurpleParrot4Life]

And I have to ask this question... what was Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer" deal in the temple? I mean really, how do you not know what an actuator is? Could the giant button next to the door have not been anymore obvious? Even John from "Cricket Cage" and Lisa didn't have problems with pushing an actuator. She must've been REALLY inattentive when the producers were giving the Silver Snakes a rundown of the temple. 

There was another episode (I believe it was during Season Two) where the contestant also had trouble finding the actuator. I don't recall the name of the episode off the top of my head, but I am certain that it occurred. The swung across the Pit and tried to physically push open the door to the Observatory. The contestant quickly caught his/her mistake and went for the actuator, before Kirk needed to announce "Hit the button!" But it happened nonetheless.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, but they weren't nearly as bad as Kim. I always thought when the producers showed the kids the temple, the Wall Climb doors were opened instead of closed. That's how we see the doors in the background during the temple games. And when Kim finally got to the temple, she was confused when the doors were closed. Even then, that doesn't excuse her incompetence, and she should have known how to use an actuator. I know this was early on in the shows run, but still.

[PurpleParrot319]

And I have to ask this question... what was Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer" deal in the temple? I mean really, how do you not know what an actuator is? Could the giant button next to the door have not been anymore obvious? Even John from "Cricket Cage" and Lisa didn't have problems with pushing an actuator. She must've been REALLY inattentive when the producers were giving the Silver Snakes a rundown of the temple. 

There was another episode (I believe it was during Season Two) where the contestant also had trouble finding the actuator. I don't recall the name of the episode off the top of my head, but I am certain that it occurred. The swung across the Pit and tried to physically push open the door to the Observatory. The contestant quickly caught his/her mistake and went for the actuator, before Kirk needed to announce "Hit the button!" But it happened nonetheless.

John Henry's Lost Hammer from season 1. The player was Kim.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

And I have to ask this question... what was Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer" deal in the temple? I mean really, how do you not know what an actuator is? Could the giant button next to the door have not been anymore obvious? Even John from "Cricket Cage" and Lisa didn't have problems with pushing an actuator. She must've been REALLY inattentive when the producers were giving the Silver Snakes a rundown of the temple. 

There was another episode (I believe it was during Season Two) where the contestant also had trouble finding the actuator. I don't recall the name of the episode off the top of my head, but I am certain that it occurred. They swung across the Pit and tried to physically push open the door to the Observatory. The contestant quickly caught his/her mistake and went for the actuator, before Kirk needed to announce "Hit the button!" But it happened nonetheless.

John Henry's Lost Hammer from season 1. The player was Kim.

I understand that it happened to Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer." I've seen that run before a number of times and remember it clearly. But as I've already stated, I recall that there was a second episode (in addition to Kim's episode) where the same thing occurred, and I believe it was from a Season Two layout that featured the contestants swinging across the Pit. The blunder was not as prolonged or egregious as Kim's mishap, though, and Kirk did not make a big deal of it like he did during Kim's run. Although I cannot put a name to the contestant or episode off the top of my head, it definitely occurred.

Yeah, but they weren't nearly as bad as Kim. I always thought when the producers showed the kids the temple, the Wall Climb doors were opened instead of closed. That's how we see the doors in the background during the temple games. And when Kim finally got to the temple, she was confused when the doors were closed. Even then, that doesn't excuse her incompetence, and she should have known how to use an actuator. I know this was early on in the shows run, but still.

That's an interesting thought, and it makes sense. But then why was Lisa ("Keys to the Alhambra") confused when the door to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey was already opened from the Tomb of Ancient Kings? If she had been shown the temple with all of the doors unlocked, it would seem that she would just go through the open door... not push the door flap ajar more, look up, try the key on the already unlocked door, look up again, and then retreat in the other direction.

[PurpleParrot319]

Kelly from "The Snakeskin Boots of Billy the Kid" tried to pry the door open with her hands at first, but then quickly went for the buttons.

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, Kelly from "Billy the Kid" sounds like the one that tried prying the door open before hitting the actuator. And I think Becca from "Genghis Khan" also tried doing the same thing, but I am not sure of this. But none of them compared to Kim. She wasted a good chunk of her temple run screwing around in the Wall Climb. It was so bad that even the audience was shouting at her to "Press the button!". And if that is bad enough, she got confused in the Heart Room also. And notice how that temple guard in the Heart Room abruptly comes out of the temple guard door, snatches Kim's pendant, and leaves right away. Mercy guard, anyone? 

And as for the Lisa thing, I can't really blame her for getting confused even if the producers showed the contestants how each rooms worked. We know for a fact they did because both Jennifer from "Galileo's Cannonball" and Nick from "Great Seal" mention this in their interviews. And like I mentioned earlier, Lisa did try using the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings, but the door was already open prior to her entering the room. We don't even hear a sound either when she places the key to the Shrine door. I am sure if the golden door to the Shrine opened after she placed the key on the key panel then she wouldn't have backtracked all the way to the Wall Climb.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

And as for the Lisa thing, I can't really blame her for getting confused even if the producers showed the contestants how each rooms worked. We know for a fact they did because both Jennifer from "Galileo's Cannonball" and Nick from "Great Seal" mention this in their interviews. And like I mentioned earlier, Lisa did try using the key in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings, but the door was already open prior to her entering the room. We don't even hear a sound either when she places the key to the Shrine door. I am sure if the golden door to the Shrine opened after she placed the key on the key panel then she wouldn't have backtracked all the way to the Wall Climb.

Right. But what I'm saying is, if they were shown the temple with the doors open, then wouldn't Lisa have thought to just go up the ladder to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, since the door was already opened?