"Funky" Temple Game Calls/Rulings

[PurpleParrot4Life]

There were a number of temple games (and other rounds) where the judging, ruling, or scoring was a bit iffy or off. I'd like to use this thread to discuss some of those instances, and how the poor judging ultimately affected the rest of the episode.

One of the rulings I'd like to focus on is the team temple game from Melted Head of Madame Tussaud. That was the game where the teams had to run out and grab 4 busts while avoiding the swinging obstacles. You may also recall it as the game where Screaming Jennifer got obliterated by a giant swinging ball. As far as I can tell, this particular run has never been "called out" for improper judging, but I have always thought that the Purple Parrots got all four busts in their basket before the Orange Iguanas. They scored at 0:54, 0:47, and 0:44. At the 0:44 score, Kirk says, "Purple Parrots only have one left!" but then says that they got two and would have to bring one back. Then the Purple Parrot boy scored their third at 0:23 and fourth at 0:06, but Kirk said that the score after their third score was 3-2 Orange. In the end, the Orange Iguanas won the full pendant of life, making the final score 1.5-0.5 pendants and allowing the Orange Iguanas to go to the temple. If the pendants were awarded "correctly" (as I see it), then the Purple Parrots would have gone to the temple.

Do you think the ruling for that temple game was correct?

[The Red Jaguars]

I am not sure about the Madame Tussaud one. I have to watch that one again and get back to you on it.

I think an obvious one that I thought was unfair was Christina's temple game in "The Secret Battle Plan of Nathan Hale". In this temple game, Christina and the Green Monkeys girl had to collect pieces of a word to spell out "Attack Philadelphia" by climbing up a spider net and finding them in the cubby holes. They then had to place them onto a board and spell out the phrase above. Well, when the temple game was done, both Christina and the Green Monkeys girl had the same part of the word spelled out. However, Christina's "IL" was upside-down and Kirk took it off. But it was in the correct position for spelling though. I think this temple game should've ended in a tie at least and that would've given the Silver Snakes two pendants to the temple games.

[The Red Jaguars]

Another sketchy call too was in the very first temple game in "Map to the Lost Gold Mine". It was the temple game where the two players had to crawl through the Dragon Tunnel and put golden nuggets into their team bucket. When the temple game was over though, the Blue Barracudas only had 4 nuggets while the Silver Snakes had 5 nuggets. Yet, Kirk still called the game a tie because he said the Silver Snakes had 4. So technically, Jennifer and Damian should've gone to the temple with 1.5 pendants.

EDIT: Here is a picture for proof:

[Purple Parrots Fan]

It was the Green Monkeys in Nathan Hale TRJ, NOT the Red Jaguars. And she went against a guy, not a girl. But yeah, it was a sketchy call, same with the other ones above.

[The Silver Monkey]

The "Attack Philadelphia" game was definitely one of the more glaring temple game rulings the show had.  I just went back to listen to Olmec's explanation for that game, and there was nothing mentioned about the pieces needing to be oriented the right way to count. I definitely think that the Silver Snakes got screwed out of the full two pendants because of that.

Also, the Codebook of Mata Hari.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Also in Melted Head, didn't Jennifer throw her last head in there violently, causing it to bounce right out? If that wasn't supposed to count, shouldn't the temple game have been 3-3 tie, forcing a tiebreaker?

[The Red Jaguars]

I have to say the call on Paula at the end of the team game in Butch Cassidy was very close too. In the team game, the Purple Parrots and Orange Iguanas had to ride the spinning horse. One of the Purple Parrot players already fell off the horse before the temple game was over. But during the last second of the temple game, Paula also falls off the horse too. But I think she beat the timer though before falling off. I think the spotters got the right call. But still, it was a very close call and if she had been called out for that, then the Purple Parrots would've tied the team game but gone to the temple with 2 pendants. But then we wouldn't have the best solo win ever.  

And Mata Hari though is by far the worst when it came to bad temple games officiating. First off, the team game should've been a tie since both teams only had one secret document a piece. I am not sure on what basis Kirk thought the Silver Snakes were further along. And Rinette was also not further along in her temple game either. That should've been a tie too. But both teams were pretty pathetic anyways, so I guess the Silver Snakes winning wasn't so bad.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Also in Melted Head, didn't Jennifer throw her last head in there violently, causing it to bounce right out? If that wasn't supposed to count, shouldn't the temple game have been 3-3 tie, forcing a tiebreaker?

Yes, Jennifer's last head bounced out of the basket, so the final count (if we are going off of Kirk's count) would have been 3-3. But I'm pretty sure that the Purple Parrots put their fourth head (which Kirk counted as their third) in the basket before Jennifer bounced her fourth one out, so the final score should have been 4-3 Parrots, anyways.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

I watched the Silver Horseshoe third game and I used an up close view on Paula and what I saw in the closing seconds that Paula was letting go of the horse but she was not touching the ground. So the call was right.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Also in Melted Head, didn't Jennifer throw her last head in there violently, causing it to bounce right out? If that wasn't supposed to count, shouldn't the temple game have been 3-3 tie, forcing a tiebreaker?

Yes, Jennifer's last head bounced out of the basket, so the final count (if we are going off of Kirk's count) would have been 3-3. But I'm pretty sure that the Purple Parrots put their fourth head (which Kirk counted as their third) in the basket before Jennifer bounced her fourth one out, so the final score should have been 4-3 Parrots, anyways.

So I guess Jennifer's bounced out head still counted? If so, then the score should've been 4-4, if the Purple Parrots' fourth head was really never counted.

[The Red Jaguars]

I don't think it was possible for there to be a 4-4 tie in the team game in Madame Tussaud because the team that got all 4 heads into their basket would've automatically won. If the Purple Parrots truly got 4 in their team bin first, they would've definitely won. And watching the temple game again, both teams had no heads left after Jennifer put her final head into the bin. But at some point during the temple game too, Brooke fumbled one of her heads off the stage before reaching the bin. Perhaps that is the reason why the Purple Parrots had only 3 in the end? Because they definitely didn't have any heads left once Jennifer got her final one...

I always thought that the temple games where it required Kirk's judgment were pretty bad too. Like in Silver Saddle Horn, Kirk said that Damien was further along than Lee in the belly sliding game. But it honestly looked like both him and Lee were pretty even. Maybe Damien was like a centimeter ahead, but still it was a very close call.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I don't think it was possible for there to be a 4-4 tie in the team game in Madame Tussaud because the team that got all 4 heads into their basket would've automatically won. If the Purple Parrots truly got 4 in their team bin first, they would've definitely won. And watching the temple game again, both teams had no heads left after Jennifer put her final head into the bin. But at some point during the temple game too, Brooke fumbled one of her heads off the stage before reaching the bin. Perhaps that is the reason why the Purple Parrots had only 3 in the end? Because they definitely didn't have any heads left once Jennifer got her final one...

It would have been impossible for the score to be 4-4, since the first team to reach 4 would have won. Brooke did fumble one of the busts, but I'm pretty sure the Purple Parrots scored four (actually five) before the Orange Iguanas got their last bust. To quote my original post:

They scored at 0:54, 0:47, and 0:44. At the 0:44 score, Kirk says, "Purple Parrots only have one left!" but then says that they got two and would have to bring one back. Then the Purple Parrot boy scored their third at 0:23 and fourth at 0:06. (None of these times represent Brooke's fumbling of the bust.) The Orange Iguanas got their fourth bust with 0:03 seconds to go.

[PurpleParrot319]

Here's the team temple game from Melted Head:



Go to 13:49 where it starts. With :51 left, it looked like maybe Brook got hit and that's why the second one didn't count. I don't see them scoring with :47 left though. They got the first one in like three seconds, another one with :44 left, and one with :23 left. I'm not too sure, but I think the Orange Iguanas won fair and square. It's hard to say though, and I watched it twice.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Here's the team temple game from Melted Head:



Go to 13:49 where it starts. With :51 left, it looked like maybe Brook got hit and that's why the second one didn't count. I don't see them scoring with :47 left though. They got the first one in like three seconds, another one with :44 left, and one with :23 left. I'm not too sure, but I think the Orange Iguanas won fair and square. It's hard to say though, and I watched it twice.

We agree that the Purple Parrots scored at 0:57, 0:44, and 0:23, yet Kirk said that it was 3-2 Orange in the last 10 seconds of the game. I'm almost positive that the final bust (0:06) also counted, which by our count would have been their fourth. That would have been enough to give them the full pendant and send them to the temple.

[The Red Jaguars]

Did anyone ever figure out if Jason cheated in this temple game in Smashed Printing Plate? In his temple game, he and his opponent had to toss newspapers into a bin while riding one of the "bucking horses". Well, while the Purple Parrot boy fell off the horse, some people say that Jason shouldn't have been allowed to throw the newspapers into the bin until the PP boy was back on the horse. Yet, he continued to do so anyways. Is there any official ruling whether Jason was allowed to do this or not? Because I don't recall other episodes that use this temple game like Jason's game.

I know Poseidon and Empress Eugenie had the bucking horse game, but those ones had the players holding onto it without falling off. If the player did fall off in that temple game though, the horse was stopped until the fallen player got back on.