The
Funny 115 - version 2.0
#74. That's Jeff Probst!!!
Fans vs. Favorites - episode 12
A few years ago, there was an oddly memorable contestant on Apprentice
3 named Tana Goertz.
Tana (left) - snorting as she laughs
What made Tana so particularly memorable to me was, despite the fact
that she was good at the Apprentice, despite the fact that she almost
won the show and almost took over a wing of the Trump empire, deep down
she was really just kind of a big dork. She wasn't cool and
calm and polished like pretty much every other player who has been
successful in Apprentice history. No, with Tana you had a
woman who snorted when she laughed. You had a woman who made
bizarre and inappropriate comments that most people wouldn't even dream
of making in mixed company. You had a woman who
thought The BeDazzler was the key to turning K-Mart clothes
into high class Manhattan fashion.
Tana tried to win the Apprentice by using The BeDazzler
Why do I bring up Tana in a countdown about Survivor?
Well because when people talked about Tana during Apprentice 3, they
started using a unique word to describe her. This was a word
I had never heard before the spring of 2005. And it
surprised me, because I am usually up to date with all the latest and
greatest slang. Yet with Tana, people kind of invented (or at
least popularized) a word to describe her, and it just seemed to fit.
The word?
Well since Tana was a dork, but was kind of adorable in her snorting
BeDazzling dorky way, the word that just seemed to fit her was
"adorkable."
It is a word I still use to describe people to this day.
Adorkable
Oh, and do you know who else is kind of adorkable?
I'll give you a hint.
He's an ice cream scooper.
Adorkable
Now don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong in life with
being a dork. I mean, I'm a dork. Half the people I
know are dorks. If you don't believe me, you should see all
the Dungeons & Dragons games I created when I was a kid.
I wasn't just your average 12 year old dork when I was in
middle school, I was a 12 year old dork who knew what a THAC0 was.
That is some pretty hardcore "doesn't get out of the house
much" dorkitude.
So anyway, just keep that in mind when I write an entry like this.
I am not condemning a person for being a dork. I
happen to be a pretty huge dork myself.
All I am doing is pointing out, hey, I bet Erik is a lot like me.
And it's kind of cute how dorky he is. Which, vis a
vis, by definition... sort of makes him adorkable.
Adorkable
And what, you might ask, was Erik's most beautifully adorkable moment
in Fans vs. Favorites?
Well I'm glad you asked. Because it is the #74 entry on the
Funny 115.
It's episode 12 of Fans vs. Favorites, and the Dabu Tribe is
competing in a reward challenge
Wanna know what you're playing for?
Come on out, loved ones!
That's right, it is the Survivor loved ones challenge. Here
comes Parvati's mom!
Parvati hugs her mom. How sweet.
And the next loved one? "Erik, here's your brother Kurt!"
"Kurt!"
Kurt!
Kurt comes out to hug his adorkable brother
It's a touching moment. Alexis and Natalie fight back tears.
Even Amanda fights tears
Erik's first words to his brother? "I got a beard!
I got a beard!"
(giddily) "Look at this!!!!!"
Adorkable
And that's when Erik does something that is so off the charts dorky and
geeky that it warms my very own dorky little heart. As a
giant Survivor nerd fan myself, this is the moment
that will forever
endear him to me as being... adorkable.
It suddenly strikes Erik exactly where he is, and exactly what he is
doing right now.
And as the world's biggest hardcore Survivor fan, there is only thing
he can do.
He totally geeks out.
(excitedly, high pitched) "Look Kurt.
That's Jeff
Probst! THAT'S JEFF
PROBST!!!"
Whoomp, there he is
"He's just standing
there!!!!!"
Jeff busts up
"Erik, you're a freak."
So there you go. It's not like the biggest laugh out loud
moment
in Survivor history, it's not one that is going to make you shoot Pepsi
out of your nose or anything, and it sure isn't a stupid 4-year-old
poop joke like my friend Dictatorship is always begging me to include.
But if you are looking for a scene that is cute, funny,
memorable, and... well, I guess I'll just say it, adorkable... you
could do a lot
worse than Erik geeking out when he suddenly realizes he is ten feet
away from his childhood hero.
I guess I will have to say
it one last time. Erik Reichenbach is a huge
hardcore
Survivor nerd. In real life, I'm guessing he is a lot like
me.
And there's no doubt about it that the guy was adorkable.
Adorkable
P.S.
Want even more evidence of Erik being adorkable?
Here's a
great email I got from a reader named Denis Eymann: "I know
this
is a small moment from FvF, but will you be bringing up how Erik picked
the name of the Dabu tribe? I got a good chuckle out of that.
I got an even bigger chuckle when I asked him about the
source of
the name, because I knew the word 'dabu' is from Warcraft (before WoW).
I asked Erik about it, and he confirmed that Warcraft is
where
the name came from. He and his friends back home use
'dabu'
in place of stupid."
