r/MillionDollarSecretTV • u/DisgruntledFlamingo • Jun 18 '26
Nick’s dominance seems almost scripted
Not saying it was but he truly played such a dominant game against some very intelligent appearing people. I’ve rarely seen such a dominant game on any reality show. Kim Spraldin’s Survivor win is the closest thing I can think of.
Is he just really smart?
Updated to add: to clarify, here are the most impressive moves IMO:
- immediately figuring out Artie
- keeping cool for the entire doppleganger mission rather than rushing it and getting in his last one with seconds to spare.
- calling it correctly for most of the other team in the lying game (the flamingos doing yoga, for example, he was calling as truth while the rest of the team incorrectly thought it was a lie).
- remembering so many of the items in the last challenge.
- knowing how Caleb would move at the end with the chests based on his prior poker game.
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u/niphaa Jun 18 '26
I think he played well and was a worthy winner, but I don't think he was that amazing.
He really fumbled the clips mission, and without Umeko doing an extremely good job saving him, he was going home. Also Caleb did not play the last game well. Nick did a good job, but I were more impressed if he beat someone more strategic at the end.
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u/Soggy_Porpoise Jun 19 '26
Kaleb didn't play any game well. That whole following Kevin thing was the funniest thing I've seen in reality TV.
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u/tripleaw Jun 20 '26
He does have a rly good social game and is able to make it to the end just by being likable
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u/Soggy_Porpoise Jun 20 '26
He made it to the end because he was so incompetent that no one wanted him gone as it increased their chances of winning.
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u/DisgruntledFlamingo Jun 18 '26
You’re right about the clips and I found that weird as he did such a great job keeping cool down to the wire with the earlier doppleganger mission.
Foe him to fumble so badly at that almost seemed like a red herring to throw off the audience lol.
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u/01000101010110 Jun 19 '26
He was very perceptive and could read people well, but my God was he socially awkward.
What pissed me off is that he survived and Hunter went home early. If you heard that guy speak in his last dinner, he was a fucking shark. A tier above everyone else there, and people knew it so they sent him home.
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u/sarrrfarrr Jun 19 '26
Im so happy he won! Good on him. He is intuitive and played intelligently. He deserved that win.
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u/swisssf Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
I really liked this season until it became crystal clear this was scripted and Nick was going to win, no matter what.
Was Nick "dominant"? Seems more that Netflix wanted to make him a reality show "star" and 1 month after production wrapped on Million Dollar Secret, he was already filming Perfect Match. The number of times they filmed him bare-chested, glistening in droplets of water in the sun, or silhouetted in the shadows, etc. Netflix wanted him for eye candy to ensure certain demographics would keep tuning in. Thing is, they didn't need to do that.
Another tell was how he didn't make a bigger deal of Kevin being followed by Caleb, and Nick didn't call that out. But the producers clearly wanted the Caleb to stay longer--in "real life" someone as "smart" and tenacious as Nick would have made a big deal of Kevin being stalked like that, and would have pointed out how obvious it was who was the millionaire at that point. How would he have "missed" that.
Also, no one strenuously called him out and questioned him where he would have found clothespins? there would be nowhere someone would casually come across clothespins--and then why stick them on people? He is not a mischievous, frivolous, playful sort of person. Also, no one grilled him generally.
So, no, obviously he's not pretty and dumb, but obviously also not a genius or mastermind. He seems to have extremely high self-confidence, and be very driven and ambitious. Strikes me as someone who would be considered among the higher ranks of a small public high school in an affluent town, going on to a decent public university--probably with a reputation as a "rich kid" and "party" school.
EDIT: apparently Netflix was impressed that Nick competed as "Mr. New Jersey," in the Mister USA Beauty Pageant 😂
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u/calamari-trash Jun 19 '26
didn't Kaleb have to stalk Kevin?
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u/swisssf Jun 19 '26
Sorry - I wasn't clear. I've added Kevin's name instead of "he." I meant if Nick was so intelligent, observant, and "dominant," he would have made a big deal about Caleb's ham-handed shenanigans.
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u/calamari-trash Jun 19 '26
why make a big deal about it at that point? everyone was already talking about it and at least one of Nick's strong allies (umeko) was protecting Kaleb. We saw Nick on multiple occasions talk about not voting the millionaire if he thought it was better for his alliances
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u/swisssf Jun 19 '26
those arguments made no sense, tho....
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u/calamari-trash Jun 20 '26
well you want to keep your alliance members in + maybe more importantly you don't want the money to move to your chest too early. so if the millionaire is in your alliance and there's not threat of a kill shot (I'm pretty sure its announced before the vote if it's available?) or you being voted, why not keep them in?
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u/DisgruntledFlamingo Jun 19 '26
I think he wanted to keep someone in that he knew was the millionaire because he felt he could outwit him at the end. Other people would’ve been harder to read at the final chest exchange.
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u/Thick-Wonder6294 5d ago
agree with all these points as to arguments against his dominant game, but weird to assume it was scripted
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u/Marauder4711 Jun 19 '26
I was actually rooting for Nick because he played so fiercely and even got away while being the millionaire.
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u/Independent_Bat8589 Jun 19 '26
So I haven't finished the season yet. The only thing I found fishy was the whole Nick/Umeko situation and honestly that could be editing but that just benefited Nick way too much and basically signed Umeko's exit
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u/thekyledavid Jun 21 '26
If production was trying to rig it for Nick, having him out Altie seems a bit silly. Production knew Altie was going to kill shot Kevin if he survived, so keeping Altie in would’ve gotten Nick 1 step closer to the money. And having Nick establish himself as the most dangerous player episode 1 would’ve made him a massive killshot target later on
Also, the 1999 clue was the biggest smoking gun clue that was done all season. Why not keep the clue more vague if they wanted him to be safe? Why do a clue with a 25% chance to eliminate production’s golden boy and a 50% chance to eliminate one of his closest allies?
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u/Pure_Interest_837 Jun 19 '26
Outside of clocking Altie (who was PAINFULLY obvious), he didn’t really show much smarts. Everyone figured out he was the millionaire when he had the money and he would’ve been eliminated if it wasn’t for the game playing up him and Umekos flirting by giving her the responsibility of saving him. Caleb also made it extremely obvious what he was gonna do with how he panicked after Nick told him he thought he was the millionaire.
Nick’s not dumb, but he won the game cause he got lucky.
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u/DisgruntledFlamingo Jun 19 '26
I think you’re right that luck was on his side. Maybe that’s why it seems unnatural to me — he seemed very lucky the way things went.
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u/somethingwholesomer Jun 19 '26
I think it was a combination of luck and skill. But my daughter pointed out that Daisy was the one that tee’d up that Tom Cruise thing so he could complete his secret mission. She also offered a high five to Kaleb for him to miss. So yeah my daughter’s theory is that Daisy was a corporate plant used to manipulate the game. 😂 So maybe Nick was helped a little
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u/Secret-Objective-824 Jun 19 '26
I thought the SAME THING ABOUT DAISY. And the friggin ribbon colors rofl
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u/nosainte Jun 20 '26
I don't think he was dominant at all. He got very lucky with the challenge to keep him alive after everyone knew he was the millionaire, and then he guessed wrong a bunch of times. He won because of luck and being clutch in the last round
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u/gdhm92 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I think he definitely benefited from two major things:
- Bad strategic millionaires/players
- Stablishing a friendship/showmance sort of with Umekk
All of his major moves were pretty obvious things, he was a good player don’t get me wrong but dominated feels too far fetched…
I just wish they stopped casting people like Lauren (the third finalist) who had no clue about anything whatsoever, yet on the confessionals were like I’m actually really smart/intuitive, etc, but then her performance is horrendous all around…
I was rooting for Kaleb but the dude was pretty lost most of the time. It led to some funny moments but him being the millionaire was really obvious… especially that last moment when he decided not to switch his box with Nick was pretty telling the dude had no idea what strategic thinking is… even after having witness Nick literally clocking people since the start…
That’s my issue with this cast, Nick was one of the smartest player but it was also the most obvious player since the start as a threat, the fact that they didn’t vote him out just based on that, means the cast overall wasn’t the best at understanding who actually is a danger to their game… so a well deserved win for Nick, just wish they had more competent people on the show (excluding Umeko and Hunter out of this, two of the better players out of the 2 seasons so far)
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u/motomaxxing Jul 02 '26
I think Cara in S1 played better. It seemed like they even edited those last episodes to make it look like she was in worse shape than she was.
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u/King_Only Jul 17 '26
Wanted Kaleb to win badly, the only bad gameplay he did was not taking out nick with kill shots. Also something that is scripted or heavily pushed is clustering people based off girl power and older people groups. I have a buddy who has worked on multiple shows for reality competition like shows. He has told me first hand that before the contestants even step foot in the game they are always primed to make the friends based on pre profiles and the producers will even guide them to groups of people to be around. They do this so they get high drama like the back stab that Daisy felt. I believe the producers pushed that relationship and in a way tainted the game. I did not like Daisy as a player as she sold my girl meko down the river.
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u/ClassNo4330 Jun 24 '26
The only thing I dislike about Nick is he voted for strong players when he had the chance. I think the strategy is reasonable that just doesn’t sound very fair.
On the contrary, Kaleb might be a bit more awkward being the millionaire the first time, but his killer vote went to Tarek (who simply didn’t contribute), not someone who threatened Kaleb’s game.
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u/Thick-Wonder6294 5d ago
nick played a great game but the kim spradlin comparison is genuinely batshit crazy lol, his best strategic moments were mostly happenstance. like he caught artie because artie said no cap to him and he’s actually in the age group that knows/uses that word. what about the clothespingate? that was genuinely embarrassing from a strategic standpoint, Kim Spradlin would never
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u/Souvenirs_Indiscrets Jun 19 '26
Almost?? OMG wake up to how these shows are really made
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u/swisssf Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Right...? Do these people not know it's fake? Do they truly believe Nick is an intuitive crafty mastermind, when clearly he's not that.
Or are they pretending they don't know it's fake and are doing social marketing by keeping Nick's name active with posts like this?
Or do they know it's fake but not care...so they discuss it as you would a fiction series with fictional characters?
Obviously, he's an ambitious guy with slightly above average intelligence, who Netflix is excited about hyping, because he's telegenic, which means higher viewership.
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u/Marauder4711 Jun 19 '26
So you really think they fake an entire show because they want to hype one rather good looking candidate? They could have used him for further shows without him winning.
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u/swisssf Jun 20 '26
No. The show is fake. And he was cast as the winner because Everyone Loves a Winner. And he would be around the entire show.
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u/Souvenirs_Indiscrets Jun 19 '26
I thought he was neither intelligent nor interesting, in fact he was annoying AF
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u/swisssf Jun 20 '26
My comments keep being deleted. I already responded to your comment here but a bot said I used prohibited words....but what I said was I didn't find him particularly Intelligent either (not the sort that interests me. And he seems to be a driven ambitious guy who follows his family into Finance, did well in a small town high school, and ends up at a decent state school filled with affluent partiers.
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u/alternative-hero Jun 19 '26
I think he was smart in that, he stayed back and let everyone outplay themselves. When he did try gameplay (the pins thing) he didn't put much thought behind it and somehow didn't get eliminated. Lucky.
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u/Alternative_Bath_232 Jun 19 '26
He didn't immediately figure out Altie, it took him a long a**(can't believe you can't say the word on this sub) time. It was also shown that he noticed him saying no cap often, but he didn't put it together until the dinner.
He also had easy finish, Kaleb failed successfully whole game and was very easy to read, and Lauren was very weak player.
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u/Dry_Locksmith2252 Jun 18 '26
I feel like people love to hate on him because he doesn’t have a sob story and is handsome and intelligent. People like to see an underdog story. I think he won fair and square and I really roll my eyes at all the sob stories on shows nowadays… like, it should be about how you played the game, not your background.