King of the Nerds
Growing up, Ori Perl dreamed of being a warrior like those he saw in action movies.
“I always wanted to be a samurai,” he said.
But it wasn’t until recently that he decided to set his sights on becoming a king.
After a lengthy application process, the senior mechanical engineering major was selected this summer to compete as one of 12 “nerds” vying for the $100,000 prize on the TBS reality show King of the Nerds. The show, which premiered its third season on Friday, pits two teams of competitors against each other in challenges that test the teams’ physical and design skill; in the season premiere, the team members work together to construct Rube Goldberg machines. The show also tests its competitors on both breadth and depth of nerd and geek culture knowledge through trivia challenges.
“KOTN contestants have to go through a lot of different challenges with different skill sets,” Perl said.
Though Perl is a proud geek who indulges in of a variety of nerdy hobbies, including watching anime and acting as a moderator for the Nerf Activity Society on the campus, Perl focused his application for the show on one particular passion: live-action roleplaying, or LARPing.
Though there are many different forms of LARPing, LARPing is people taking on the roles of a variety of characters and acting out scenarios or trying to complete challenges, much like in other board games or tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
However, for Perl, LARPing is the realization of a lifelong passion.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I loved sword fighting,” he said.
Though his experience with fencing didn’t quite meet his expectations, in the middle of high school Perl’s friend introduced him to Dagorhir. Dagorhir, which was invented locally, is a full-contact style of LARPing which involves groups of players engaging in combat with swords and other weapons. Dagorhir groups meet once a week for practices before the group members fight in larger battles, which involve organized scenarios.
Perl describes the fights as similar to those seen in the Lord of the Rings films.
“You really have to work hard and you get quite a workout,” Perl said. “You usually get a lot of bruises.”
When the producers of King of the Nerds contacted multiple LARP groups looking for potential contestants, David Vierling, the media contact for Dagorhir and the organizer of Perl’s unit, sent the email out to all Dagorhir participants nationally.
Though Perl admits he had only heard of the show initially, as he is often too busy with schoolwork to watch television, he was interested in the competition and sent out an application for season two. His application was denied, but Perl was undeterred.
Perl worked on an application again in June for season three. With the help of his friend Alex Tyler, a senior computer science and Japanese major, and his girlfriend, Anya Hammerman, Perl tried to focus his new application on his LARPing experiences.
Tyler, a friend of Perl’s since sophomore year, proofread his application prior to submission and suggested Perl showcase his passion for robotics more prominently.
“All I knew was that they were looking people who were stereotypically nerdy, so I tried to suggest he sounded … more nerdy than the next person,” Tyler said.
Hammerman, likewise, noticed the challenge of making Perl stand out from the other contestants on paper.
“It was like, what makes one nerd any more standout-ish than anyone else?” Hammerman said. “The more involved he became the harder it was.”
“People with a strong background in a specific nerd topic are much more likely to get in, but having strengths in more than one topic is definitely an advantage when trying to win the hundred grand,” Perl said.
Vierling observed that Perl stayed in contact with the producers following his rejection for season two and continued to work on his application at Dagorhir events. Perl went to Ragnarok, the largest annual Dagorhir tournament, to get more information for his application, Vierling said.
Perl’s determination and new application impressed the producers; he was called to California this summer for a final round of interviews before being welcomed into “Nerdvana,” the residence of the competitors of the show.
Though Perl watched past seasons of King of the Nerds following his acceptance onto the show to figure out a strategy, he found that the competition was rather unpredictable.
“You really don’t expect what’s going to happen,” he said. “The strategy changes hugely because you don’t actually know what the producers are going to throw at you.”
Perl warns that between being filmed constantly and trying to focus on winning, the show’s environment is not for the “faint of heart.”
“The show is also a very high-stress environment,” Perl said. “It is a lot of fun, but it can be very intense.”
Though Perl must remain tight-lipped about the results, his friends have full confidence his ability to come out ahead in the competition.
“I think he does have the potential to win,” Hammerman said. “What it really comes down to is how well they get along with their teammates, how strong they appear to everyone else. … It’s a matter of how much their own unique talents make them individuals as the show progresses.”
Though Tyler wouldn’t necessarily say that Perl would be the “king of the nerds” on the campus, he knows his friend has one quality that makes him a powerful contender.
“Ori’s the most driven,” he said. “That’s how he ended up on the show: He wanted it.”
Having seen Perl fight with his Dagorhir unit, Vierling knows how fierce a competitor he can be. Perl is invaluable to his unit in fights for his ability to take out opponents without being seen.
“I think that people would underestimate him,” Vierling said. “He’s a warm, nice gentle soul, and I think that hides his competitive nature. … He’s not a bad loser, but you have to work real hard to beat that guy.”
Despite the competitive nature of the show, Perl enjoyed the experience and became friends with the other nerds.
“It doesn’t matter if I win, as long as I have a good time,” he said.
