The first season of King of the Nerds aired on TBS from January 13, 2013 to March 7, 2013. Inspired by the Revenge of the Nerds films, the season was hosted by actors and executive producers Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong, known for their roles as Lewis Skolnick and Dudley "Booger" Dawson, respectively, in Revenge of the Nerds.
^Note 1 : Alana received individual immunity from being sent to the Nerd-Off. ^Note 2 : Teams were dissolved and Nerd Wars became individual challenges. ^Note 3 : The final Nerd War was separated into two phases; in each phase, the loser was automatically eliminated.
Key
(WINNER) The contestant won the competition and was crowned "King of the Nerds".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the competition.
(WIN) The contestant won the Nerd War and received immunity from elimination.
(IN) The contestant lost the Nerd War, but was not selected to compete in the Nerd-Off.
(RISK) The contestant won the Nerd-Off and escaped elimination.
(OUT) The contestant lost the Nerd-Off and was eliminated from the competition.
Teams
The contestant was a member of Team Blextrophy.
The contestant was a member of Team Servants of the Forsaken Orb.
Nerd War: Two players are randomly selected as captains to initiate a schoolyard pick to separate the remaining players into teams, with one player left over. As "nothing is nerdier than getting picked last", this player is considered the winner, gaining immunity from the Nerd-Off, selecting the winning team, and subsequently joining the losing team.
Nerd-Off: Two players face off in a chess match on a life-size board, with the loser being sent home.
Nerd War: The teams are challenged to a cosplay competition, requiring them to develop a coherent mythology and appearance for the given themes (villains from a fantasy setting, and heroes from a science fiction setting). The teams are judged by actor and author George Takei, costume designer and professional cosplayer Yaya Han, and actor Adam Busch.
Reward: The winners train with a world-renowned swords-mistress and are given a Little Caesars pizza lunch.
Nerd-Off: Two contestants compete in a trivia challenge involving fictional settings. Each correct answer earns the player the chance to roll an oversized die down a hill towards a series of targets worth various point values, with points being awarded for each target knocked over. The player with the lowest score is eliminated.
Nerd War: The teams are tasked with navigating tablet-controlled quadcopters through an obstacle course, with various obstacles worth varying point values. While one team attempts to fly the quadcopter, the opposing team has the opportunity to shoot it down with Nerf guns, which counts against the controlling team. After both teams complete the timed run, the team with the highest score is declared the winner.
Nerd-Off: Two nerds steer remote-controlled golf carts to push exercise balls into marked goals. The player that successfully scores two goals first is declared the winner.
Nerd-Off: Two contestants battle in a trivia contest about superheroes. Each correct answer allows them to break through one of four walls. The first player to answer four questions correctly and subsequently break all four walls is safe from elimination.
Nerd War: The teams assemble a giant Rubik's Cube puzzle with numbers on various faces. Once the puzzle is complete, they must transfer the numbers to specific spaces in a Sudoku puzzle. The first team to complete the Sudoku puzzle is declared the winner.
Reward: The winning team earns an afternoon in an advanced flight simulator, engaging in a virtual dogfight.
Nerd-Off: Two players compete in a variation of the memory game Concentration, matching pairs of objects until no more pairs are possible. The player with the most matches wins.
Nerd War: The players are given several examples of how many panes of glass are broken by various falling objects in a vertical array, and are told to use math and physics to estimate how many panes of glass will be broken in several other configurations given data like object weight and glass thickness. Each of these tests are then performed, and players are penalized for the difference in the actual panes broken versus their estimate. The player with the lowest overall penalty is declared the winner.
Nerd-Off: Two players are given a large number of nerd-related objects, such as books, video game consoles, and Rubik's Cubes, and challenged to build the tallest free-standing tower in a fixed amount of time. Each player is given a Nerf gun with limited ammo to attempt to knock over the other player's tower. In the end, the player with the tallest structure is safe from elimination.
Nerd War: In the first phase, the four remaining nerds race on Segways through a maze. The last player to finish is eliminated from the competition.
Nerd War: In the second phase, the final three players compete in a quiz bowl based on various nerd topics. The first two contestants to answer five questions correctly move on to the final Nerd-Off.
Nerd-Off: The eliminated contestants return to vote on which of the final two competitors should be crowned "King of the Nerds". The two finalists are given the opportunity, overnight, to convince the others to vote for them. The results are revealed after all votes had been placed, and the winner is named.
