The Tester 3 Slowly Unfolds
by sadvaultboy, HSM guest contributor
This season of The Tester has blown the previous two out of the water. The series received a pretty clear cash injection this season, with a significant leap in production value, including more elaborate challenges and extravagant prizes (a new car, anyone?).
Like most viewers I’ve spoken to, I already had my picks in mind by the end of the season premiere, and, like most of you, as each episode unfolded week after week, my allegiances shifted dramatically.
I could tell fairly early on most of the female contestants weren’t going to make it to the end, due to constant bickering, drama, and infighting, mostly unified against Suzkaiden.
Suzkaiden was in fact pretty low on my list, based solely on her first impression, but after watching Burn, Asuka, Kristi, and Kwaja all treat her with such open disdain, I began feeling sorry for her, regardless of her irritating qualities, and empathized with her isolation. I began to ask myself if this cruel, malicious, and downright negative behavior was earned; from what I’ve seen, Suzkaiden did not necessarily come off as a bad person — I felt the other female contestants ganging up and bullying her said more about their personalities than hers.
Suzkaiden didn’t have much of a chance to shine until her theatrical Street Fighter X Tekken performance. She showed grace, poise, creativity, and just about everything all assumed she lacked up until this point in the competition. Not to mention, J-Tight might still be around if her ideas weren’t outright dismissed based on her team’s personal feelings. Team Captain J-Tight demanded carte blanche control of his team, and what could have been smooth sailing was a rocky dismissal, with no one but himself to blame.
I’ll admit Suzkaiden is overly excitable, and it can be exhausting, maybe even a little annoying, to watch her, but she has proven herself very capable of putting her mind to a challenge and channeling that otherwise ubiquitous energy towards the task at hand.
Of the other female contestants, I would really only classify Kwajamonster as kindhearted, despite being immature and a bit misguided. She had her heart turned to ice against Suzkaiden, which I chalked up to peer pressure. She consistently performed well and genuinely owned her feelings, but seemed easily manipulated and emotionally overwhelmed. In a competition, these may be signs of passion, but also of weakness. Despite handing in her badge, she proved stronger than she thought, cracking, but never breaking.
In episode one, RealityPalez impressed with his industry knowledge and confidence — I felt he had a significant leg up against the rest of the competitors, and even had him pegged as the winner. With each passing episode I’ve noticed he’s socially lacking, and hasn’t been very adept at making friends. There is no question Reality is a nerd — he knows his stuff — however memorizing facts and numbers doesn’t necessarily make somebody unique or intelligent. He seems to be a bit of a cold fish, proven uninteresting and shallow on a human level. Personality-wise, there’s simply not much there and at this point I truly doubt he’ll be one of the final three.
So far, Ninajanomyx was the Tester I was most saddened to see return his badge. Not only was he flat out hilarious, but also an extremely unique character. When I first saw him I judged him by his cover — I saw a fat guy with long hair — a nerdy gamer, who I was expecting to be shy and bashful. When he opened his mouth and I first heard him speak I was shocked. I realized how overdrawn my misconceptions were, and the utter wrongness of my shallow judgment. From that point on he was in my top three for what would have been the long haul.
Another of my top picks was Skyd1ddy, for many of the same reasons I found Ninja’s character appealing — they’re both clownish and fun to watch, they say witty things, are full of bombastic energy, and could arguably be a creative force at the game-making table. It was sad to see Ninja go, because he was well liked on a human level, however I’ve since accepted he wasn’t one of the strongest competitors, and wouldn’t have made it to the end against the other contestants.
My top pick right now is Akilleez, as of the episode where the two teams ran the obstacle course and catapulted cantaloupes at the targets. Ninja put together an excellent team, but when his size made simultaneously running the course and lugging his cantaloupes impossible, Akilleez, without even a modicum of hostility, coolly and calmly reassured and encouraged his teammate, before taking both Ninjas and his own load of fruit across the beam. From that point on, I knew I was looking at somebody special. Akilleez has been consistently level-headed, practical, and mature. He doesn’t ever seem to be caught off guard, he’s confident without being cocky, and unlike many of the contestants that have been “Game Overed,” he seems to be a genuinely empathetic and sincere person.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this season unfolds.
March 19th, 2012 by Arthur Shkolnik | 0 comments
When he's not out wandering the wasteland, sadvaultboy can be found lounging in his Hollywood Hills home with a Nuka-Cola.