Analysis and Comparison of Temple Run Contestants

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, Veronica and Thomas wouldn't have even reached the artifact in Roland.  Some temple teams would've sucked ass no matter what layout you gave them. It would be another Snow Cone type run where Veronica would screw around the bottom floor of the temple and she might be able to reach the Hunting Horn at best. It's just like giving Lauren and Brett the Sforza layout where they would still lose despite it being really simple.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Another contestant I'd like to bring to the front of our discussion is Mike from Thornwood Gavel of Judge Roy Bean. As PPF pointed out here:

Interesting stuff there. Based on that list, Leah, Mike, and Jessica were the fastest.

Mike was one of the fastest contestants to enter the temple. He completed his third room with 2:22 left on the clock, making him the fastest male front runner of Season 3. He completed six rooms and entered his seventh before getting removed from the temple with 1:22 left on the clock. In other words, he got though half of the rooms' objectives in half of the allotted time- that's pretty quick, in my book. Mike had one of the fastest Shrine completions and had an overall strong performance. Although he wasn't "sprinting" through the temple, he made great time and was efficient in all of his rooms. In fact, I'd say his overall performance was pretty flawless, even though some may argue that his choice to go into the Tomb of the Headless Kings instead of the King's Storeroom cost the team more time. Yet, whenever this episode is mentioned, Mike is deemed an "average" and "boring" contestant. Is this a fair assessment of his performance?

[The Red Jaguars]

I can’t believe anyone would say anything bad about Mike. I am not a fan of Thornwood Gavel, but this has nothing to do with Mike. He was a solid front runner in the temple and made great time. Not to mention, he had the fastest Silver Monkey assembly on the show. It was Kelli that completely ruined this run. With 1:22 to herself and path cleared all the way to the Room of the Secret Password, she had more than enough time to grab the Thornwood Gavel. Instead, she blows this run by running into incomplete rooms and moving like a slug. I never had a problem with Mike at all, I totally blame this loss on Kelli. How anyone could call him average are probably the fans think that think only Gator and Zac matter. I remember outer space use to criticize him for the direct path, but he made it far in the temple and left Kelli plenty of time. Even if he started at the top, this team still would’ve lost thanks to her. Also, I am pretty sure Kirk criticizes Mike in the temple run too for being too hesitant? Kirk is full of crap sometimes.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, Mike was a great player. He even assembled the monkey in THE fastest time. Didn't he do it in 9 seconds? Kelli was completely to blame for why the team lost. She had a whole 1:22 to herself, but was a poor planner. She should've just followed Mike's path, and leave all the other uncleared rooms alone. I don't blame Mike one bit for entering the Tomb instead of the King's Storeroom. It may not be the best route to take, but it's either that, or waste too much time climbing the Pit walls. Contestants like Sherra and Halie did the same thing. Mike was a solid player, it was Kelli who ruined the whole temple run. Also, didn't Kirk accuse David from Enormous Feather for "being too hesitant?" David was Speedy Gonzales compared to Karisa.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

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

[The Red Jaguars]

I am impressed in how much time Brittany from Pytheas was removed from the temple with. As much criticism as she gets for moving slow, she actually left Damien with enough time in the temple.  Hell, she even made better time than Irish from Bent Shaving Pan who gets a lot of sympathy for her one room away guard. Also, I always forget how Annie was removed the quickest from the temple. 

[NikoMetsPlus]

I was watching "The Lucky Medallion of Atocha", and I noticed something that I've never noticed before. As Ty is crossing the gate with the Medallion, you can see that he starts to trip down the steps. Then, when he is about two steps from the bottom (and looks like he's about to fall), the angle switches to him at the bottom, where he seems like he has been out of breath for a while, and stopped running a while ago, and Ty's excitement seems to have decreased.

Watch for yourself:



This could be nothing, but after rewatching the clip a few times, I also notice that the audience (which is present) seems to have a producer generated applause at a strange time, not when he crossed the gate, but after the scene changes.

My hypothesis is that Ty feel, he got up gave a hug, and they edited out the fall. Thoughts?

[The Red Jaguars]

I never noticed that before about the ending to the Atocha run.  When Ty runs past Olmec, you can see him stumbling a little bit and then it's like he teleports to the bottom where Kirk and Jennifer are. It's possible that he tripped during the ending and they wanted to refilm it to make it look better? Interesting find though and I like how to this day we can still find quirks about the various temple runs.  Also, the Emiliano Zapata run had a weird edit when Olivia-Emma was in the Observatory. Which was taped right after Atocha.

This could be nothing, but after rewatching the clip a few times, I also notice that the audience (which is present) seems to have a producer generated applause at a strange time, not when he crossed the gate, but after the scene changes.

This is actually true, there was a stage hand off screen that was coordinating the audience to make gestures and sounds at certain times. A while ago, there was this neat video called the "Legends Wrap Video" for Season 1 of the show where it showed footage of behind the scenes of the S1 Legends episodes. There were some scenes where the stage hands coordinated the audience to do different interactions.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

How could I have missed that this whole time. The celebration does look less enthusiastic, and this is because it's a different take. This is like the Freydis ending where they had to re-shoot the ending due to Tarrah puking. The producers try to make everything exciting without changing the result. I think it was in Zac's interview that they had to re-shoot the ending of a Temple Game.

[Purple Parrot Fan]

This could be nothing, but after rewatching the clip a few times, I also notice that the audience (which is present) seems to have a producer generated applause at a strange time, not when he crossed the gate, but after the scene changes.

On a similar note, has anyone also noticed how in the second season as well as the third season, recorded applause and cheering was used, even when an audience was present?  I can't understand why the producers felt it was necessary unless they were filming without an audience.  The cheers and applause sound effects that they used in the second season was beyond annoying imo, and was the only downside to an overall great season.  Luckily, they improved on that in the third season.