Analysis and Comparison of Temple Run Contestants

[PurpleParrot4Life]

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)?

[PurpleParrot319]

This guy just can't let the elimination game topics go.

[The Red Jaguars]

Well, I told him that it was a better idea to take the elimination thread discussion and talk about it here. This way we can get as detailed as we want about the discussion without having to get in other people's way. And I think it could be an interesting idea if you just give it a chance.

Anyways, I think one contestant that gets some undeserved hate is Jennifer from "The Melted Head of Madame Tussaud". People always compare her to Dana and Lauren from "William Tell" in the temple. I guess that was because she was kind of loud like those two were plus her temple appearance was short-lived. I disagree though that she is comparable to those two and that she was much better than two of those jokes. I mean she only had a little over 30 seconds to herself, and she still made it far. She was smart enough to cut straight to the King's Storeroom AND she almost assembled the monkey. That is pretty good IMO and she used her available time just fine. Meanwhile, Dana and Lauren made no progress whatsoever. Lauren was just so slow and couldn't even make it to the King's Storeroom with the 1:00+ she and Dana was sucky and even took the wrong door in the Ledges. Jennifer is no where as comparable as Dana and Lauren are.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

This guy just can't let the elimination game topics go.

What is your problem with me? I am trying to open up the door for thoughtful, civilly-mannered conversation, and all I ever get from you is rude, condescending remarks. I will not tolerate this disrespect. This thread was made with the intention of having in-depth, analytical discussions about why people hold the opinions they have, and I expect the conversations in this thread to be carried out in a polite, civil, and cooperative manner, regardless of whether people hold the same opinions or not. This thread will not tolerate bashing, hatred, or rude quarreling. If you feel that this thread is not suited for you, then simply ignore it and go on. But I would appreciate it if you didn't go out of your way just to degrade my ideas. Remember what you said earlier: "Opinions are opinions."

[PurpleParrot4Life]

In Ty's Season Two "Atocha" run, he dropped his pendant on his way up the stairs to the temple. Maggie lost her pendant in the Pit in the "Mummified Hand" run in Season Three. Maggie has been reprimanded for losing her pendant, whereas Ty's dropping of his pendant is overlooked and called "a memorable beginning to the run."

Why is there this disparity? Does it have to do with the fact that Ty ended up going on to score a solo victory, while Maggie was immediately removed from the temple?

And I can't help but wonder how the two runs would have ended up if the events were reversed: if Maggie had gotten her pendant back, and if Ty was removed by the temple guard. I personally believe that the "Mummified Hand" run would have been a loss, simply by the design of the route the team was forced to take. Maggie would have had to have traversed the whole central shaft before being taken out by the second guard. Then, her partner would have had less time to be in the temple. I don't think that either were bad or slow contestants, but I think that this layout would have been pretty brutal to overcome. I'm not as sure about what would have happened with the "Atocha" run. Although, I'm pretty sure Ty would have been compared to Ryann from the "Walking Stick" run for being taken out of the temple in the entrance room.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I have a good one:

People give Missy from "The Lucky Pillow of Annie Taylor" crap just because she took a direct path and didn't move that fast. How is not moving fast mean you're automatically a bad player? So maybe she hesitated a little at the beginning. But that doesn't detract from the rest of her performance in the temple. I thought she did great, and her emotion and excitement in the end made it even better. So she wasn't fast, she still knew exactly what to do in every room. Missy gets antagonized for one little mistake, yet Paula from "The Silver Horseshoe of Butch Cassidy" gets special tretament just because she had a cakewalk layout. Just because she's "fast" and "had a really smart partner," automatically makes her a wonderful player. Some people say Missy lucked into her layout, I thought Paula was the one that lucked into her layout. At least Missy had objectives like assemble the monkey and break pots in the King's Storeroom. All Paula had to do was press some actuators, and boom that's it. I never understood why Paula is considered a better player than Missy was.

[The Red Jaguars]

@PP4L:

I don't think the whole pendant dropping thing should be brought up in judging Ty and Maggie. Both instances were just honest mistakes on both contestants parts and was out of their control. I know people tend to judge Maggie harshly for dropping her pendant, but I never did because it most likely snapped off her wrist without knowing. I mean when she is in the Tomb of the Headless Kings and encounters the temple guard, she looks really surprised that she didn't have her pendant. The straps on the pendant weren't the most durable and there are contestants that have dropped their pendants before besides Ty and Maggie (I think Kelly from "Montezuma" also lost hers, but she picked it up). It was out of both players control, so I don't think it is fair to judge both of them for that.

And I thought Maggie looked like a decent player, even though she didn't last long in the temple. Had she kept her full pendant though, she probably would've been forced up the central shaft. But we can't really judge her because at the end of the day she only lasted three rooms. The reason people think highly of Ty is because he was solid performer with a good strategy in the temple. He did get lucky with "Jennifer" tossing the pendant back to him, but I think that shouldn't short-change him or Maggie.

@PPF:

I blame outer space/notundercop27 for the whole Missy "taking the direct path" crap. He was the one that kept preaching that contestants that took a direct path were somehow inferior to ones that don't. She only wasted what, 8 seconds by doing that? And I don't see how people can say Missy's layout was lucky. Sure, she only encountered one guard. But she also took a shortcut, which possibly avoided a guard for her. Other than that, she didn't do anything else wrong with her layout and just because she wasn't Gator fast doesn't mean that she is somehow inferior to other temple runners. There is a reason there were only two center of the temple victories on the show, and Missy earned hers.

And I agree, Paula is the most overrated contestant on the show. The only objective she had to complete in the temple was ride the Mine Shaft elevator. Big deal. Even some season one victories had to complete more objectives than she did. Oh yeah, she scraped by every round of the temple in order to make it there in the first place. Definitely one of the most undeserving winners on the show next to Mitchell and Bobby. 

[PurpleParrot319]

This guy just can't let the elimination game topics go.

What is your problem with me? I am trying to open up the door for thoughtful, civilly-mannered conversation, and all I ever get from you is rude, condescending remarks. I will not tolerate this disrespect. This thread was made with the intention of having in-depth, analytical discussions about why people hold the opinions they have, and I expect the conversations in this thread to be carried out in a polite, civil, and cooperative manner, regardless of whether people hold the same opinions or not. This thread will not tolerate bashing, hatred, or rude quarreling. If you feel that this thread is not suited for you, then simply ignore it and go on. But I would appreciate it if you didn't go out of your way just to degrade my ideas. Remember what you said earlier: "Opinions are opinions."

After thinking about this whole matter, I think I owe you an apology for what has been going on with our opinions on certain players. I just felt you were a little too strict toward certain players, that's all. However, I can be held accountable for making the same mistake as well. That being said, I'm sorry about this.

Now onto the main point of this topic. In regard to "forgettable" players, I feel that a player is forgettable if they 1: don't last very long in the temple and 2: they didn't do anything remarkable or memorable. An example: Chris from The Walking Stick of Harriet Tubman. I really don't remember him at all. Yes, I know I called his name, but I had to pick someone that I feel is forgettable and he is a forgettable player in my opinion.

[The Red Jaguars]

And speaking of direct path, I tried to not give the contestants a hard for taking one in the following situations:

1.) If the player was a season one contestant. These kids had no idea how the show worked since no episode was airing at the time, so I don't expect them to think that the most direct path usually ended up being a longer route or dead-end for them. The only exception would be if their direct path is way too obvious. (Like Joe from "Elizabeth I's Golden Ship". Come on now, did you really think the Throne Room would open that easily? )

2.) If the direct path actually works for the contestant. I don't see how this is a bad thing at all, much to the dismay of outer space. Yeah, Olivia-Emma and Robert won with a direct path. Do you really expect me to slam them for that?

3.) If the direct path was the only route that was open and the team was forced on that route. Like the Green Monkeys in "Belle Boyd" and "Imperial Wizard". Or the Orange Iguanas in "Mush Pot Hat".

4.) If the artifact was at the opposite end of the temple. Like if it is in the Mine Shaft and the team enters the Laser Light Room, I don't really consider that a direct path.

[The Red Jaguars]

Now onto the main point of this topic. In regard to "forgettable" players, I feel that a player is forgettable if they 1: don't last very long in the temple and 2: they didn't do anything remarkable or memorable. An example: Chris from The Walking Stick of Harriet Tubman. I really don't remember him at all. Yes, I know I called his name, but I had to pick someone that I feel is forgettable and he is a forgettable player in my opinion.

I agree, I think a player being "forgettable" is a good justification for judging them. I mean if they don't stand out in the first place for something, then there is probably not much to talk about in the first place. Players like Chris from "Harriet Tubman", the "Efoua" kids, the "Stone Marker" kids, etc. are not going to be talked about much because there wasn't anything to talk about in the first place. Even though contestants like John, Tia, Claude, Veronica, and Thomas were god awful in the temple, they are definitely not forgettable because we remember how bad they were.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Returning to Missy's run in "Lucky Pillow," do you think that the producers edited the episode with the intention of increasing the emotion and excitement of the episode? Do you think the editing contributed to the heightened sense of emotion for this particular episode?

In contrast, the producers decided to include Dana and Lauren yelling at their partners during their respective runs. Do you think this particular choice of editing impacted the way people remember these contestants? Or do you think that these contestants were portrayed the same way throughout their respective episodes?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Missy, Lauren, Dana, and Jennifer from "Melted Head" to me were just over emotional players whose personality just came naturally to them. That's the only way I see it. Though Season 3 seemed to have a lot of enthusiastic players. So maybe they (excluding Missy of course) were picked by the production crew for that reason.

[The Red Jaguars]

It kind of felt by season three that the contestants personalities were more along the line of being "staged". The season three contestants were much more enthusiastic compared to the season one and two contestants. I mean they would always try to make a "#1" gesture or some pose in front of the camera any opportunity they would get. Kate from "Mary Shelley" is the one that comes to mind when it comes to the "staged" contestants. But there were plenty of other season three contestants whose gestures felt authentic like Elisa, Andrea, Lacey, and Asher.

It would be interesting that if the producers intentionally included Lauren and Dana's screaming for their runs purposefully. To answer PP4L's question, including their cheering and screaming sure made it memorable for me. And not for good reasons either in regards to Lauren and Dana. Dana was just going over-the-top with her screaming and Lauren was very annoying too. I didn't mind if a contestants like T.J., Janeen, and Jennifer screaming because their partners were sucky and at least they pulled their own weight. But Lauren and Dana were so awful that I think they deserve the hate they get.

It makes me wonder if Zac from "Bandit Queen" was yelling at Miriam, but it got edited out. It felt that way from reading his interview that he got upset with her. Or Nate when it came to Lissy in "The Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea".

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wait, Randy was sucky? And I don't remember Nate or Janeen's shouting.

To get back to the question itself, yeah it did seem like Season 3 had more "staged" enthusiasm. Kate was "Manuscript" was a perfect example of it, with her poses and constant "We're #1" gestures. I remember Renegade Pancake/TMH saying a while back: they were attention loving TV mongers who just wanted to be on film. And that the likes of Lacey and Kate were brought on to the show thanks to their "stage parents." While I wouldn't call them attention whores, that is pretty funny.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Neither Nate nor Janeen said anything during their runs. However, Jay was urging Janeen to hurry up in the King's Storeroom.