Kirk's Dubbed Over Commentary in Season 2

[The Viper]

In a variety of Season 2 temple runs, Kirk seems to sound different than he usually does. His voice sounds more nasally, and a bit higher. This odd phenomenon can be heard in runs such as The Lucky Pillow of Annie Taylor, Babe the Ox's Nose Ring, and The Golden Goblet of Attila the Hun. There are probably more runs that I can't remember. Something that all these runs have in common is that they were all solo runs. This means that at no point during the run did they have to show the 2nd contestant running into the temple which means that they didn't need to show Kirk. Furthermore, in all these runs, Kirk's face is never seen. Also, at one point during the Lucky Pillow, the camera shows John, and he looks like he is saying something, but for whatever reason we can't here it. ALSO, you can hear another voice commentating at points during the run which was picked up by the cameras filming Missy. So what are your thoughts about these weird voiceovers? Why do you think they did them?

[AimYourBrent]

To take a stab at it, Kirk uses a wireless mic throughout the show. In the music world, we deal with wireless systems all the time. And the batteries that power those things get drained quick!! My guess is that Kirk's mic probably cut out and they had to do a quick battery change. That's why the dubbed over commentary in post-production. You can hear Kirk's voice change back to normal when Missy enters the Treasure Room and I believe you hear more crowd noise as well.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I have no idea why some runs needed to be voiced over, but Brent's explanation makes the most sense to me. Also, a voiceover occurred in Billy the Kid too, and that was a team run. So maybe Kirk's mic did give out, or there was some noise going on that interfered with his commentary.

[The Viper]

I find it odd that the voiceover doesn't really sound like him. I was thinking that maybe it was Dee Baker who did the voiceovers? And also, I think some of the voiceovers could have been done because Kirk's commentary was bad. I remember reading that some of the producers disliked him because his line reading was weak and things like that, so it makes a bit of sense.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I remember some interviews (given by Kirk) where Nickelodeon hated him as a host. And the reason Kirk was given less hosting duty in the latter two seasons was because Nickelodeon had no faith in him. I'm not sure though if it was because of bad commentary. Unless Kirk said something he shouldn't have, I don't think it was because the producers didn't like what Kirk said. Especially since his hosting duties were much better in Seasons 2 and 3 than they were in Season 1. As for the voiceovers themselves, Kirk did sound different. I think it was still Kirk doing the voiceover though, he just sounded like he just sucked helium.

[The Red Jaguars]

Here are some runs that had the ugly dubbing:

- Enormous Iron Nose Ring
- Lucky Medallion
- Annie Taylor
- Ahmed Baba
- Billy the Kid
- Attila the Hun
- Polynesian Girl

I am sure I am missing more too. As for why they were dubbed over, I am not entirely sure. Maybe the producers weren't satisfied with Kirk's original dubbing so they started over? I mean look at all of these runs -- they were successful for the most part. Even Attila the Hun had Rachelle come close despite a hard layout. This is just a complete guess though and I am not sure why they were over dubbed. Truth be told, the dubbed over episodes sound like crap. It just sounds so unnatural and out of place. The Iron Nose Ring one sounds the worst. 

[AimYourBrent]

He sounds different because they would have had him do commentary in a recording studio setting, and with different equipment. Live off the floor in the TV studio, it's more raw, and you have noise interference etc. while in the recording studio, he would be using a studio mic that would pick up his voice a little differently and additionally, the recording studio is soundproofed and designed for totally different purposes. That's why he sounds different.

As far as Nick hating him as a host, that shocks me. Kirk did an awesome job. Maybe they didn't like him because of all the "Fogg ups".

[The Viper]

Well then Kirk should stay away from recording studios because his voice in the dubs was obnoxious to me. And one of the spotters was interviewed and talked about how while he helped with the temple games and such, he has an earpiece an listened to the producers/whoever he heard via the earpiece talk crap about Kirk 

[AimYourBrent]

Poor Kirk!!