This interview is set up in a question and answer format. Our questions are in bold, Katie's answers are in plain text. Question contributors have also been listed in italics.
Katie, Temple Games Victor, The Mystical Spellbook of the Imperial Wizard, Season 3
Were you a fan of the show when you tried out? If not, what made you audition? If you were, was there anything from the show that was very different than how it looked on TV?
--Olmec
I'd actually never even heard of it, sad as that is. Where we lived you couldn't get cable. I read about the auditions in the newspaper--the Tampa Tribune, I believe, and my mom drove us up to the Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando to try out, just for fun really. :)
How did you and your partner Jared end up on the same team, and how did you get chosen to be on the Green Monkeys?
--Jake
It was all at random. After trying out, they mailed me a packet saying I had made it, and when/where i needed to be. I went there on that day, and they basically said, "Here's your partner, this is your team."
Do you remember how Jared was as a partner?
--Jake
He was nice, not very talkative though; I had more fun with the girl from the Silver Snakes! And I'll probably get in trouble for this, but one thing that irritates me still about Jared... The whole show he kept telling me that I should go first on the challenges--"Oh, you can go first," "Why don't you go first on this one"--and then we get to the Temple and he says, "Well, since you got to go first on everything today, I'm going to go first at the Temple." Ugh!
What can you remember of the Moat, Steps of Knowledge, and Temple Games rounds?
--Ed
The Moat wasn't as deep as I thought it would be. And it was warm like a bathtub.
Steps of Knowledge: Before we taped that section, a lady took the remaining kids to the green room and she told us the entire story that Olmec would tell us, because when he told it, it was quick, and it was just that one time. So we got prepped for it in a way. I remember thinking that I wish our buzzer would have gone off quicker; if you watch the tape, I was like, stomping on it, because I knew those answers and didn't want to lose!
Temple Games: During my bamboo thingy, at one point, I had gone down, so I was running full-speed back to the start and tried to jump back on the ledge, but tripped, only to hit my shins instead, hard, and they hurt the rest of the show! And I freaked because I thought the other guy had just won, but lucky me--he fell on the very last step, so I knew which one to take at the end to win! And the maze thing was really fun, kinda awkward being attached to someone I barely knew, but fun.
What was it like running through the Temple?
--The Silver Monkey
Well, by the time it was my turn to go we barely had any time left, so all I was thinking was "speed!!!" It happened so fast, and I didn't get to do any challenges myself other than just run through where my partner had, so it wasn't that great for me.
Was there anything particularly funny or interesting that happened backstage or was edited out?
--The Ancient Warrior
My partner had a crush on the Purple Parrots girl. He was flirting like crazy with her all day, and when she got cut, you would have thought his world ended. lol--woes of a 13-year-old boy, ya know?
The guy who does the voice of Olmec is the little person who was in those Christmas long john silver commercials ages ago.
We got to keep our shirts and sneakers afterwards.
The trip we were offered was the very first time they had done a Hawaii trip, and the producers seemed really excited about it.
I never saw Kirk Fogg "turn off." He was seriously that nice and smiley the entire time, he was good with all us kids.
We actually had a lot of downtime in-between the different stages. I believe there were four shows filming at a time; each one would do the Moat (which had to be set up four different ways), then the Steps, etc., so while the other three shows were set up and performed, all us kids just hung out in the green room backstage. They had Nick on TV, and pizza and soda, and couches to relax on, and a room where we could change into the different clothes and stuff. They were really good to us.
What were you and Kirk talking about after the Temple Run?
--outer space
All I can remember is him telling us that we did a good job and we tried hard, and like, mentioning something to Jared about him getting stuck in a certain spot. Just jabber, like how you see reporters chatting at the end of a newscast--basically the same thing--just random stuff to keep you from standing still and quiet like you're not interested.
Do you think, in retrospect, that you and Jared might have won had you gone first instead of second?
--The Ancient Warrior
I'm not arrogant enough to assume that the stakes could have changed THAT dramatically, but I do think we would have done better if I started. He didn't seem to pay a lot of attention during our walk-through of the temple (a staff member walked us through showing us the rooms and what you had to do to get through each one prior to taping that section) and if you watch the tape, you can see that in, I think, two of the different rooms, he had no clue where to go or what to do for a bit, and that wasted precious time! I was two years younger than him, so I hadn't reached the stage where I cared if I looked cool (Did you see my hair? C'mon!) or that I cared what the opposite sex was thinking about me, so I actually payed attention to everything everyone said and really wanted to do my best.
Have you seen or talked to Jared since your time on the show?
--The Ancient Warrior
No, actually, I haven't talked to him since we lost the final Temple Game! After we were done taping, they walked us back to our changing area (different for the boys/girls) and then after we changed, I saw him in the hallway where our parents met us, and he didn't say a word. I think he was irritated that I hadn't done better on the final challenge or something. No contact info--I didn't even know his last name! And he only lived in Port Charlotte, which is about 90 minutes from Tampa, so I thought it was weird. Never to be seen again, lol....
About when did it start being cool again to tell people you were on Legends?
--Renegade Pancake
Oh please, it's always been fun! And actually, when I first did it, I was more reluctant to tell people (I was in sixth grade) because I didn't want to sound like I was bragging. Then kids in school came in one day telling me they thought they saw me on TV, and I didn't lie about it, so then word got around school that i had been on Nick. It was pretty neat. Now, its super fun to tell people, because they remember the show with such fond memories. My best friend actually Tivo'd the show every day for almost a year so he could see the episode and it was finally on!
Is there anything else worth mentioning about the show?
--Ed
The try-out process was so strange. Like I said we saw an ad in the paper and showed up in Orlando one day. They had us do the weirdest things, like run around a track with a rubber chicken--all kinds of offbeat obstacles. And we also took a written test, from which I still don't know how I got on the show afterwards--my sixth grade brain didn't know that Egypt was in Africa, so I answered that the Nile was in Europe! The mountain bike we won as a consolation prize was awesome! I had that thing for like 10 years and it worked great! Hawaii would have been better, but hey, I'll take what I can get ya know? :)