'The Tester' Recap: balls and megaphones

7:00 PM on 02.26.2010   |   Brad Nicholson

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This week's episode of SCEA's "The Tester" reminded me what would happen to another reality show, "Fringe," if it lost its star Michael Cerveris. The writers would be at a loss -- nay, in a crisis! Cerveris' big bald head and creepy child molester stare is the reason the show exists. He's its lifeblood, much like "Barmy" was to "The Tester" before receiving the boot.

What Is This Thing?

"The Tester" is about 11 nerds who want to become a game tester for SCEA. Most are thinking about it as a stepping-stone, ignoring just how difficult and demanding a test job can be. Whisked away from their basements, these folks are living in a "fabulous" lounge provided by the show, outfitted with several PS3s and all sorts of "Real World"-style garbage like multi-colored walls and gaudy decorations.

In each episode of downloadable series the contestants will take part in an event designed to gauge their game-testing mettle. Three judges -- SCEA's Brent Gocke, the 1990's Hal Sparks, and a guest judge -- evaluate the contestants in each competition. They also decide who goes home after performing poorly in a given event.

The Tester Task

This week's competition was about communication. Because chatting doesn't make for good programming, the remaining 9 cast members were split into three teams. Two members of each team were blindfolded and put into large inflatable balls on opposite ends of a field sprinkled with yellow pylons. The remaining person wielded a megaphone and "guided" these ball-people into the pylons, and then and into a circle.

Barraged with eager screaming, the ball-bound contestants struggled with the challenge. Even the megaphone people confused themselves since they had to steer their two other team members at the same time.

The Featured Contestants

Unfortunately, not many contestants were featured in this particular 18-minute episode. In fact, I think the guest judge, David Jaffe, pulled more on-screen time than the majority of the cast. Still, we got to see a bit more of "Naseous," who exclaimed that he wanted to be a "Spartan," and "Amped," who is the subject of much lust in the house.

The Funniest Sad Moments of the Show

As I mentioned, "Amped" has made a few friends. That one guy, "Cyrus," talked about asking her out on a date or something in the most profoundly clumsy way while blushing and smiling to the camera. "Goof" also showed his share ridiculousness while attempting to answer a direct question from Jaffe. Stuttering and near tears, the man just sort of slumped his shoulders and gave up trying to explain his actions during the dumb event.
 
But perhaps the most "Funniest Sad" moment was when "Doc," decided it would be totally kickin' rad to eat cereal drenched in beer. Again -- cereal drenched in beer.

The Finale

Like last week, most people sucked at the game. "Amped" sucked the most. She kept yelling "I'm sorry!" as she struggled with differentiating her left from her right. She cried when cornered by Jaffe about her screw-ups.

"Goof" turned on the tears before he was kicked off the show, and sort of did an angry walk after the fact. He didn't have much to say (no-one did in this episode) but I'd imagine he didn't feel so good about it.

- Next week David Jaffe returns and the roster plays some weirdo football game with a blanket. TUNE IN (or just read this crap).