BrainSurge (found Nickelodeon game show; 2009-2014)

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The show's promotional logo.

Status: Found

Date found: 14 Aug 2024

Found by: Various users

BrainSurge is a game show that aired on Nickelodeon from September 28th, 2009, to May 13th, 2011, and was reprised for a final family season on July 18th to November 17th, 2011, on Nick at Nite, which finished from April 28th to May 9th, 2014 on Nicktoons. Hosted by Jeff Sutphen[1] and created by Scott Stone, who made other game shows such as Legends of the Hidden Temple, Fun House, and The Mole. The show ran for three seasons before being cancelled.

Format

The show involved six contestants known as the brainiacs who competed in 3 levels of brain games. The first level involved watching six visual puzzles, and the contestants had 10 seconds to lock in their answers on a numbered keypad. Each puzzle was worth a different point value (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100), with the max score being 250 points. After all six puzzles, the 4 with the highest scores would move on to level 2, while the other two were eliminated and went down the Brain Drain (a slide filled with orange-colored foam) but were given a consultation prize.

Level 2 involved the contestants answering questions from a story Jeff told from his Big Book of Truth, known as "Jeff's Big Book of Super Fantastic True Chronicles of Truth That Are Absolutely True." There were two types of stories, questions and lists. The question stories were the usual who, what, where, when, why, and how, while the list stories involved the contestants listing up to 20 items in a specific category. When the contestants were asked a question, they were asked to sit down on the orange chairs. If they heard a ding, they were right. If they listened to a fart, they were eliminated and sent backward through the set of Jeff's mouth leading to the Brain Drain. The round went on until there were only two contestants left. Contestants would also be eliminated if they ran out of time or repeated an answer. The two remaining contestants would move to the Knockout Round, where they had to match images from the story in a 4x4 grid. If a contestant made a wrong match, sudden death would happen, and the person who made the next correct match would move on while the other was eliminated.

The final contestant would move to Level 3:The Final Stage, where they had to memorize and complete three paths on three grids in 90 seconds. The three paths were a 4x4 grid with a path of 6 squares (5 in one episode), a 5x5 grid with eight squares (9 in one episode, 10 in two episodes), and a 6x6 grid with 10 squares. Each time they completed a path, they would win a prize, with the final prize being a vacation. If the contestant finished all three paths in 90 seconds, they would win all three prizes and get slimed. However, if they ran out of time, they were allowed to keep the prizes they won but were sent down the Brain Drain. In special Nick Stars episodes, the winner would win prizes for a randomly chosen audience member.

Broadcast History

The first season premiered on September 28th, 2009, and ended on April 9th, 2010, with the final episode airing on July 1st, 2010, during the beginning of season 2. Some differences compared to later seasons included the stories in level 2 were still photographs instead of the animated ones shown in other seasons. In the first few episodes, if a contestant got a question wrong in Level 2, Jeff would skip the question and reveal the correct answers, while in later episodes, he would throw out the question but not say the answer. Another minor change is that Jeff allowed the contestants to throw the 90 seconds on the board, which happened a few times in Season 2.

Season 2 premiered on June 21st, 2010, with the final episode airing on May 13th, 2011. A few changes were made to the show, including omitting the 40-point puzzle and making the max score in Level 1 210 points. The stories in Level 2 were now animated, and the list of stories had a max of 16 items instead of the usual 20. The last change was that the Brain Drain ran down straight to the audience instead of the original exit sign. This season featured four special weeks, each with five episodes. The four special weeks were; Girls vs. Boys, Stars of Nickelodeon, Co-hosts, and Family Week.

During the final season, the show was later changed to Family BrainSurge, which premiered on July 18, 2011, to November 17, 2011. More changes were made to the show. Instead of 6 contestants competing, five teams of 2(a kid and an older family member) would compete. All the levels were renamed, Level 1 being called Brain Tease, Level 2 was called Brain Fart, and Level 3 was called Brain Trip. Level 1 only featured four puzzles (10, 25, 50, and 100), with the max score being 185, and the only team would go down the Brain Drain. Level 2 introduced a new mechanic called the Brain Fart, where if the family got stumped, they could yell Brain Fart, and their Brain Trust consisting of 2 other family members, could help them with a question, but there were two catches. First, if they were wrong, the team would be eliminated, and second, the family could only use them once. The list of stories were changed from 16 items to 12, and if the families named all the items, Jeff would ask other questions about the story, but the remaining families could not use their brain farts. For Level 3, the kid would complete the 4x4 and 6x6, while the parent would complete the 5x5. In celebrity episodes, the celebrity families would compete for prizes and to win money for their selected charity ($1,000 for losing Level 1, $1,500 for losing the story part of Level 2, $3,000 for losing the Knockout Round, and $5,000 for winning the show).

Cancellation/Reruns

The show was cancelled in late 2011 due to Sutphen hosting the revival of Figure it Out in 2012. However, the last ten episodes of season 3 aired on Nicktoons from April 28th, 2014, to May 9th, 2014, with reruns airing until July 2014. Also, season 2 reruns lasted until about June of the following year. Some episodes also aired on Nickelodeon's sister channel Nicktoons aside from the final season with the ten withheld episodes.

Episode Guide

Season 1

# Air Date Contestants Status
102 Jan 28, 2010 Alexis, Aly, Lindsey, Jessi, Justin, & Drew Found
103 Nov 13, 2009 Siera, Alex, Kylie, Madison-Kate, Sebastian, & Bennett Found
104 Oct 9, 2009 Sabyr, Celine, Carson, Noah, Jourdan, & Nick Found
105 Oct 13, 2009 Patrick, Shelby, Camerin, Maria, Amber, & Nick Found
106 Nov 9, 2009 Jessie, Sam, Daphne, Tyler, Camille, & T.J. Found
107 Oct 8, 2009 Ken, Ciana, Scotty, V.J., Remy, & Cheyenne Found
108 Nov 10, 2009 Tommy, Daniel, Kiki, Hayden, Skylar, & Justin Found
109 Oct 1, 2009 Wave, Jacquelyne, Boo, Susie, Jordan, & Lilly Found
110 Dec 4, 2009 Chase, Shelby, Monica, Alex, Shawntel, & Andy Found
111 Oct 6, 2009 Sara, Ariah, Chase, Mario, Brian, & Kirsten Found
112 Mar 29, 2010 Dalton, Ally, Pat, Jennifer, Ruby, & Chase Found
113 Apr 1, 2010 Brandon, Kendyl, Kailey, Reese, Rikki, & Bronson Found
114 Sep 30, 2009 Cody, Sydney, Liam, Alec, Maya, & Kellie Found
115 Oct 2, 2009 Madison, Keegan, Lilah, Mason, Spiro, & Sarah Found
116 Dec 2, 2009 Elijah, Francesca, Jocelyn, Chase, Ryan, & Sarah Found
117 Oct 16, 2009 Adam, Zoya, Priscilla, Christian, Josh, & Alana Found
118 Oct 14, 2009 Oscar, Victoria, Caylie, Patch, Joey, & Vanessa Found
119 Nov 12, 2009 Epiphany, William, Madison, Ariel, Ray, & Isaiah Found
120 Oct 7, 2009 Danny, Nick, Eryn, Athena, Zee, & Timmy Found
121 Apr 5, 2010 Yuki, Sydney, Erin, Brian, J.P., & Kristina Found
122 Sep 28, 2009 Xavier, Jessica, Megan, James Taylor, Nahil, & Nancy Found
123 Apr 8, 2010 Ryan, Reign, Caitlin, Drew, Eric, & Rebecca Found
124 Dec 1, 2009 Jordan, Cristian, Tianna, Natalie, Marco, & Hailee Found
125 Apr 9, 2010 Zoe, Dylan, Carl, Jazzy, Adam, & Kenzie Found
126 Apr 6, 2010 Garek, Sarah, Kalen, Heather, Alec, & Earl Found
127 Jan 26, 2010 Alia, Kenny, Tyler, Hyla, Ally, & David Found
128 Dec 3, 2009 Hannah, Evan, Tyler, Zoelle, Alai, & Randy Found
129 Jan 27, 2010 Nathaniel, Kanoe, Claire, Giovanni, Matt, & Allison Found
130 Apr 2, 2010 Julez, Josh, Taylor, Valerie, Gio, & Tara Found
131 Nov 30, 2009 Stars of Nickelodeon: Jerry Trainor, Ashley Argota, Miranda Cosgrove, Lil' JJ, Nat Wolff, & Victoria Justice Found
132 Stars of Nickelodeon: Matt Shively, Nathan Kress, Keke Palmer, Jennette McCurdy, Lily Collins, & Alex Wolff Found
133 Mar 30, 2010 Sierra, Shawn, Hunter, Sydney, J.T., & Natalie Found
134 Oct 15, 2009 Antonio, Morgan, Kassie, Darnell, Zak, & Syd Found
135 Jan 25, 2010 Corrina, Charlie, Megan, Crystal, D.J., & Jared Found
136 Mar 31, 2010 Brandon, Paige, Madison, Blake, Sal, & Ebony Found
137 Apr 7, 2010 Skyler, Austyn, Philip, Mayah, Mike, & Alyssa Found
138 Oct 5, 2009 Matt, Kennedy, Nicole, Vincent, Noah, & Ashley Found
139 Sep 29, 2009 Samantha, Nate, Jenna, Spencer, Gabe, & Priscilla Found
140 Jan 29, 2010 Siera, Pattriana, Fernando, Chanel, Travis, & Arthur Found
141 Jul 1, 2010 Hannah, Coleman, Jonathan, Spencer, Taylor, & Brianna Found

Season 2

# Air Date Contestants Status
201 Jun 29, 2010 Jakobe, Marley, Ethan, Elena, Inga, & Kevin Found
202 Jun 28, 2010 Jojo, Athena, Lucy, Audrey, Mike, & Michael Found
203 Jun 30, 2010 Willow, Logan, Emily, Shay Shay, Zac, & Aaron Found
204 Oct 4, 2010 Isaac, Da'Jah, Kathy, Aaron, P.J., & Emma Found
205 Jul 6, 2010 Katie, Michael, Danyal, Kyla P., Zayd, & Caitlin Found
206 Oct 5, 2010 Ashley, Tyler, Ada-Nicole, Karine, Isaac, & Danny Found
207 Jul 9, 2010 Malik, Abigail, Paxton, Nathan, Zaq, & Ariel Found
208 Jul 2, 2010 Paige, Jonathan, Madison, Justin, Josh, & Zariya Found
209 Oct 7, 2010 Summer, Ally, Darius, Daniel, Art, & Makenna Found
210 Jul 7, 2010 Zack, Keith, Gabby, Alena, Jack, & Jennie Found
211 Jul 12, 2010 Aidan, Rhudi, Ashley, Gretchin, Jake, & Shaylie Found
212 Jul 8, 2010 Justin, Ashley, Davion, Jessi, Roxy, & Brenton Found
213 Jul 13, 2010 Chelsey, Justin, Josephine, Mia, Ty D., & Lorenzo Found
214 Jun 22, 2010 Girls vs. Boys: Clara, Brendan, Hallie Lou, Elliott, Nury, & Michael Found
215 Jun 25, 2010 Girls vs. Boys: Kyle, Tiffany, Dante, Ashley, Ben, & Angelica Found
216 Jun 21, 2010 Girls vs. Boys: Brittany, Reese, Katrina, Sam, Mazey, & Benjamin Found
217 Oct 12, 2010 Colton, Chanell, Reysita, Axon, Matt, & Lexi Found
218 Jul 14, 2010 C.J., Summer, Emma, Ryan, Ruby, & Darius Found
219 Oct 14, 2010 Megan, Niall, Rebecca, Shaniah, Logan, & Aneesh Found
220 Jul 15, 2010 Tori, Isaac, Leann, Corday, Jacob, & Megan Found
221 May 9, 2011 Siblings: Nicole, James, Madison, Mason, Amber, & Zack Found
222 Oct 13, 2010 Rachelle, Kamron, Khalil, T.J., Avery, & Claire Found
223 Apr 27, 2011 Tom Kenny: Garrett, Erika, Mariza, Jameson, Ema, & Nick Found
224 Apr 22, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: Logan Henderson, Victoria Justice, Stephen Glickman, Leon Thomas III, James Maslow, & Daniella Monet Found
225 Apr 21, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: Kendall Schmidt, Liz Gillies, Ciara Bravo, Ariana Grande, Carlos Pena, & Matt Bennett Found
226 Apr 19, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: Avan Jogia, Victoria Justice, Nathan Kress, Noah Munck, Gage Golightly, & Nick Purcell Found
227 Apr 18, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: Matt Shively, Nathan Kress, Ashley Argota, Jennette McCurdy, Keke Palmer, & Reed Alexander Found
228 May 10, 2011 Siblings: Daquan, Zakiya, Bridger, Brecken, Jenna, & Nikki Found
229 Apr 20, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: Nathan Kress, Jennette McCurdy, Gage Golightly, Nick Purcell, Matt Shively, & Ashley Argota Found
230 Jun 24, 2010 Girls vs. Boys: Danny, Quiara, Justin, Emily, Shane, & Reese Found
231 Jun 23, 2010 Girls vs. Boys: Santeon, Tony, Danielle, Gino, Jessa, & Michael Found
232 May 11, 2011 Twins: Cailin, Hannah, Connor, Brian, Jade, & Jasmine Found
233 Oct 6, 2010 Ben, Ashley, Jake, Brynne, Zoe, & Kellen Found
234 Apr 28, 2011 Misty May-Treanor: Jazymne, Raymond, Sydney, Madeline, Ryan, & Daniel Found
235 Apr 25, 2011 Jordin Sparks: Caleb, Katrina, Lauryn, Alain, Hope, & Ben Found
236 Oct 15, 2010 Natalie, Terry, Scott, Cyncere, Brooke, & James Found
237 May 12, 2011 Parents and Kids: Isaiah & Mike, Charlotte & Barbara, Brooke & Anne, Crystal & Tony, Myles & Michelle, & Skyler & Sean Found
238 May 13, 2011 Twins: Andy, Kyle, Madison, Mallory, Max, & Mason Found
239 Apr 29, 2011 Natalie Coughlin: Andrew, Chantel, Bordeaux, Brandon, April, & David Found
240 Apr 26, 2011 Tony Hawk: Preston, Rachel, Dreu, Noah, Ryan, & Blesst Found

Season 3: Family BrainSurge

# Air Date Families Status
301 Nov 17, 2011 Fenton, Munoz, Augustine, DeJoy, & Kohno Found
302 Apr 28, 2014 Holloway, Mansel, Sebastian, Marshall, & Bessler Found
303 Apr 29, 2014 Bennion, Pakula, Cardena, Redfearn, & Danesh Found
304 Aug 10, 2011 Daruvala, Ayala, Gilmore, Johnson, & Lancaster Found
305 Apr 30, 2014 Fernandez, Reno, Kennerly, Smith, & Bentley Found
306 Jul 20, 2011 Haynes, Ark, Jenkins, Herren, & Torrey Found
307 Jul 19, 2011 Silvia, O'Day, Villa, O'Brien, & Smith Found
308 Oct 12, 2011 All-Stars: Shaughnessy, Crews, Eggert, Gould, & Garth Found
309 Oct 10, 2011 Stars of Nickelodeon: VICTORiOUS, iCarly, House of Anubis, Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures, & Supah Ninjas Found
310 Aug 8, 2011 Guerrero, Jinadu, Corcoran, Houlihan, & Bramson Found
311 Aug 3, 2011 Cruzata, Ardon, Kokason, Orriss, & Sellers Found
312 Jul 25, 2011 Martinez, Rowe, Gillcrist, McLurkin, & Oliverio Found
313 Nov 14, 2011 Abboud, Kulp, Pena, Lebeda, & Nickles Found
314 Oct 13, 2011 WWE: John Morrison & Martilliano, Eve & Dayna, Gail Kim & Michael, The Miz & Ali, & Kofi Kingston & Collins Found
315 Aug 9, 2011 Ocampo, Smith, Conneen, Wright, Gannuscio Found
316 Jul 18, 2011 Guthzeit, Haro, Maddox, Hancock, & Williams Found
317 Nov 15, 2011 Randazzo, Bell, Sample, Terry, & Vargas Found
318 Oct 18, 2011 Sankofa, Levine, Gonzalez, Menotti, & Arroyo Found
319 May 1, 2014 Solberg, Fox, Gutierrrez, MacKinnon, & Brown Found
320 Nov 3, 2011 Stewart, Eng, Jacobs, Friedman, & Krieger Found
321 Nov 1, 2011 Monick, Ott, Parker, Barnes, & Alvare Found
322 Aug 2, 2011 Bradbury, Gray, Anand, Tramel, & Denard Found
323 Aug 4, 2011 Aguilera, Nolan, Garcia, Steele, & Baxter Found
324 Nov 16, 2011 Radaker, Shou, Bowen, Palmer, & Landon Found
325 May 2, 2014 Menard, Gibson, Gonzalez, Hilbert, Burrill Found
326 May 5, 2014 Moultrie, Muniz, Smith-Harris, Pieper, & Torres Found
327 Aug 11, 2011 Sarem, Vera, McLaurin, Butler, & HoltWarren Found
328 May 6, 2014 Crawford, Meza, Galdamez, Kling, & Loucks Found
329 May 7, 2014 Deloach, Haag, Lentz, Liddle, & Green Found
330 Nov 2, 2011 Sanchez, Beres, Castro, Cazares, & Atkins Found
331 Oct 11, 2011 All-Stars: Anderson, King, Cameron Bure, Fatone, & Williams Found
332 Jul 27, 2011 Ashton, Umans, Jones, Barrett, & Dowell Found
333 Jul 21, 2011 Sargent, Woods, German, Vargas, & Schoonover Found
334 Jul 26, 2011 Cintron, Cook, Bustamante, Price, & Rodarte Found
335 Oct 19, 2011 Seaman, Cook, Rodriguez, Meyer, & Herjavec Found
336 Jul 28, 2011 Valeriano, Glass, Holmes, McCulty, & Lopez Found
337 May 8, 2014 Pilapil, O'Neal, Edjhuryan, Hinojosa, & Hilbig Found
338 May 9, 2014 Carberry, Fleck, Binford, Bryan, & Aguirre Found
339 Oct 17, 2011 Atteberry, Ek, Jens, Panganiban, & Johnson Found
340 Oct 20, 2011 Haltrecht, Webber, Musquiz, Crawley, & Molnar Found

Availability

Out of all 120 episodes, 106 episodes can be found in full. All 40 episodes of Season 1, 37 from Season 2, and 29 from Season 3. While many episodes from all three seasons aired on reruns, a few episodes only aired once. These include the family episodes from Season 2 and the final episode of Season 3, which never aired on Nicktoons despite every other episode airing. No episodes were released onto iTunes or DVD, making the only possible way to redeem episodes is via recordings of premieres or reruns.

Episode 101

It is known to fans that the first-taped episode, Episode 101, went unaired. The only footage from the episode is the dancing puzzle seen in the Season 1 intro, the clip of the 6x6 with 27 seconds left in said intro, and a screenshot shown in the story of Episode 108.

When asked about her time on BrainSurge, Alyssa Waldrip from Episode 137 revealed on her Twitter that all the contestants from her episode, except for Skyler, were in the episode but had the shirts swapped[2]. Mayah was purple, she was still red, Philip was green, Mike was pink, Austin was yellow, and an unknown contestant was blue who didn't return for the reshooting. She also revealed that in the episode, she lost in level 1, and Mayah actually won the show, which explains why she said Mayah was mad when she lost to Alyssa in the Knockout Round in 137. She also mentioned in her tweet with an audience member that filming took 13 hours due to technical and mechanical issues, also the audience wasn't allowed to get up for food and water. She stated that Philip was crying the entire time during the episode, speculating that Philip was also eliminated in level 1. Unfortunately, Alyssa and the other contestants weren't given a copy of the episode, so the episode is still lost. It's unknown if any of the puzzles or the level 2 story are the same as 102 aside from the dancing puzzle. Also, fellow competitor Austin said that she got injured when she got eliminated in Level 2 and was told that changes were being made to the format, so five of the contestants came back for a re-film (Episode 137).[3]

Director Steve Grant said that the Knockout Round in the episode was matching funny faces on the board. However, the round went longer than expected, so it was thrown out and switched to the Knockout Round we know today.[4]

Contact Attempts

Jeff Sutphen himself claimed to a Twitter user that he had no episodes despite fans' requests, and the studio behind the show, Sunset Las Palmas Studios, had no recordings of any episodes in their library. In fact, they had not even heard of the show, so it must have been a new employee responding to the call. In addition, a producer of the show Derek Bartholomaus was asked if he had episodes, and he responded with,

No. I'm sorry, but due to conflicting rights issues, the episodes are not available on any streaming service. Hopefully, that will change in the future.

This is a common concept with shows that had to deal with music rights. In the case of BrainSurge, these conflicting rights were initially speculated to be from the parodies of name brands in several of the stories in level 2 (Indiana Jones, Willy Wonka, Transformers, etc). However, it is actually due to the production companies fighting for distribution rights on this show, hence its absence from streaming, including the newly made Paramount+ and even iTunes and DVD.

Recovery of Episodes

On January 14th, 2019, YouTuber Originalsboy uploaded 15 Season 1 episodes (four of which had already been posted, 110, 131, 132, 139) to the Internet Archive, which were then re-uploaded to YouTube by another user appropriately named BrainsurgeGuy, including the premiere episode of 122 from Dailymotion around this time; the original archive has been removed, however.

Six months later, 2 Season 2 episodes (217 & 219) were uploaded by TelevisionArchives. Following three months, Episode 229 was recovered from its deletion in 2012, only to disappear on March 16th, 2020, but recovered once more on September 22nd of that same year.

On February 6th, 2021, contestant Natalie Martinez uploaded her episode (236). One month later, 115 was finally publicized, having been originally privatized on December 29th, 2015.

The next month, 104, 125, & 114 were uploaded from a Microsoft OneDrive by George Ortuño, a screen recording from Nick.com in 2010, and a file from Google Drive, respectively.

Most surprisingly, on May 3rd, all of Season 1 and about the first half of Season 2 were uploaded to a Google Drive folder by Halofan. These episodes were originally obtained from Usenet and a private tracker.

On July 9th, 8 more episodes (204, 232, 235, 308, 309, 314, 322, & 331) were uploaded from another Google Drive Folder by Lost Media Wiki user Racelympics.

Three weeks later, another episode (317) was found through another trade done with Racelympics. Later, on August 31st, he uploaded Episode 324.

A year later, on September 4th, 2022, Racelympics released part of Episode 238 onto the Internet Archive. According to him, he was sent the file by an anonymous user.

On November 16th, Rexkip etc uploaded Episode 335, and a mere four days later, Episode 339 was uploaded in one piece by encodestvdotcom. On November 19th, Regular Guy uploaded Episode 302. Also, on November 24th, RealRTOT uploaded Episode 320. Also, on November 26th and November 29th, Dexter and Regular Guy uploaded Episodes 305 and 313. On November 30th and December 1st, Some Random Gamer Animator uploaded Episode 319, and Phanpy Ken uploaded Episode 329. Also, on December 2nd, Nickel Mickel uploaded Episode 338.

Later, on April 26th, 2023, BluWolf uploaded Episode 340, making this the first time the episode has been seen on YouTube since its original broadcast. On November 27th, Some Random Gamer Animator uploaded Episode 325. On December 3, Episode 211 was uploaded by RealRTOT via the Nicktoons airing.

On June 15th, 2024, James Quintero uploaded his own episode, Episode 221, onto YouTube.

Finally, on August 14th, 2024, various users uploaded the remaining lost episodes online after being taken from Nickelodeon archives.

Gallery

The intro to BrainSurge.

Behind the Scenes footage of Episode 238

Blameitonjorge's video, which mentions BrainSurge (04:38-07:15).

See Also

Anthology and Short Series

Bumpers and Promos

Films

Game Shows

Inaugural Series

Live Action

Pilots

Other

External Links

References

  1. ↑ A review article on the show's premiere. Retrieved 19 Sep '20
  2. ↑ Alyssa's tweet disclosing info on Episode 101. Retrieved 13 Aug '22
  3. ↑ Austin's message on Episode 101. Retrieved 14 Aug '22
  4. ↑ Steve Grant's message that states the Knockout Round being different. Retrieved 14 Aug '22


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