zizzy

I doubt there was a prearranged plan between Burnie/Ashley and Tyler/Korey. Based on some of the comments I've read from the cast, I'm pretty sure that Burnie and Ashley were a lot closer to Brodie and Kurt than Tyler and Korey. Heck, Brodie and Kurt seemed pretty certain that Burnie and Ashley wouldn't U-turn them. I just think Burnie and Ashley considered burning it their best option--which it probably was--which I think Tyler and Korey figured as well.

I don't think it was, "Oh, you have to go back because he gave you the answer." I think Matt and Dana went back because they had already submitted their guess, and there was probably a rule that stated you couldn't just keep guessing over and over again without doing the task again--which makes sense. You don't want someone up there just working their way up or down from their initial guess until they get it right. And I don't think Rooster Teeth did it again because they seemed to be able to just take right off after Brodie and Kurt (which is why I question Brodie and Kurt giving them the answer at all), which makes sense if they hadn't submitted their second guess..

I can't help but find it kind of hilarious how many TAR fans are so quick to call the work of this seasons contestants "without value" when we're mainly discussing a reality show--the very definition of "trash TV" for a lot of people. I mean, I love TAR, but it's not "quality TV" for me by any means. It's a fun show that I like to watch after a day at work and get invested in. Which I imagine is similar to the people who watch and follow Tyler's vlogs of the frisbee guys or whatever it is the rest of them do. It's just weird to see so many people insult fun but perhaps not exactly the "smartest" entertainment when that's exactly what TAR is to me. But I admit I enjoy a few of Rooster Teeth's productions, and if you asked me to compare the supposed value or merit of TAR to something like Red vs. Blue, I would have no problem saying that RvB has more "artistic value" than TAR (even if it's not been the best written show). So maybe that comment about the intelligence of their target audience applies to me.

That one didn't bother me too much because it looked like an equalizer. Even if they had let the other team wander around for two hours before finding the chocolate shop, it didn't seem like it would have made much of a difference. They would have still had the other team right behind them at 10:00 the next morning. But I don't get Brodie and Kurt sharing their answer at all.

Great analysis! I do have to question how you dealt with Burnie and Ashley though. You seem willing to give Burnie full credit for Rooster Teeth since he was a co-founder, but you only took into account the company's main YouTube channel. I suppose only the main channel makes sense if you're only looking at Burnie, since that's the channel he appears the most frequently on. But Ashley is a co-host of The Know and The Patch which are only on The Know's YouTube channel (781,664 subscribers), so it seems weird to exclude her/that channel's numbers. And Burnie also is part of the "Podcast Crew" on the company's Let's Play channel (3,519,694 subscribers)--he's not a huge part of the channel but a common enough occurrence that it might be worth noting. Also, if you're more willing to just flat-out give Burnie full credit for all of Rooster Teeth, there's quite a few other channels that are under the company: The Slow Mo Guys (7,412,601 subscribers) Achievement Hunter (900,113 subscribers) Funhaus (868,546 subscribers) GameFails (549,984 subscribers) Red vs. Blue (379,373 subscribers) AH Community (364,921 subscribers) Game Kids (85,032 subscribers) Technically ScrewAttack is also part of RT, but since they merged just recently and developed their own brand and following independently, it seems odd to include them. It's all sort of a mess though. There's probably a good chunk of Slow Mo Guys subscribers who don't know what Rooster Teeth is, let alone who Burnie is. But the main host of the channel, Gavin, is Creative Director at Rooster Teeth and the channel only really sort of exists because he was trying to get a work visa to join RT. So it would be weird to count SMG subscribers, but it would also be sort of weird not to. And then you have to remember that RT has its own site and video player, which is where a lot of their views for Red vs. Blue and RWBY go because they release there anywhere from a week to a year earlier than on YouTube. And you have to realize that there's probably a lot of crossover between subscriber base for most of their channels. I guess what I'm trying to say is that determining "fame" or success on the internet is weird. Burnie and Ashley have a lot of weird facets to consider, which makes me think everyone else on this cast does as well. Still, really interesting, great work. Some of these people have bigger/smaller followings than I thought!

That would explain this cast a little bit--at least for me. I was really sort of baffled when everyone was announced. I thought they'd be able to pull in some more recognizable people--heck, in the case of Rooster Teeth, some more recognizable people from the same company. But the time away was probably a big deterrent to some people. If you have a smaller audience (or a one-hit viral video) you're more likely to risk the time off for some bigger exposure. Makes sense. It also suddenly makes Burnie and Ashley make way more sense. There are bigger personalities at Rooster Teeth that might have been more recognizable, but the two of them are probably more easily replaced in terms of content production (plus, they seem like fans of the show). Ashley has a co-host that covered during her absence (plus the company's LA branch). Burnie is more behind the scenes as CCO, and the only thing he regularly appears in is their weekly podcast, so they just pulled in a few of their other 100+ employees to fill-in for the three weeks.