The Olympics episode of 'The Office' was inspired by a real office Olympics competition
Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch is well known for its annual awards ceremony, The Dundies, but another delightful and highly underrated event that employees took part in was the "Office Olympics."
In Season 2, Episode 3 of The Office, Michael left for the day to sign papers on his new condo. Dwight went with him and they left Jim in charge, who decided to goof off all day and host an office-wide Olympics-style tournament of games.
On the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revisited the "Office Olympics" episode and revealed that the hilarious premise was actually inspired by a real-life office Olympics competition by King of the Hill staffers.
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The Office showrunner Greg Daniels was also one of the creators of King of the Hill, and while working on the animated sitcom his assistant, Tim Croston, set up their very own Office Olympics.
"Tim was the mastermind, the self-appointed commissioner... the Jim," Kinsey said, revealing that the King of the Hill staffers had an entire opening ceremony, a torch, and even wore special shirts to easily distinguish the different team members at the event.
"They marched through the hallways, they had like a banner that each team carried. They had like a full opening ceremony, and you know the doves that you see at the end for our closing ceremonies? They had that. They had doves that went across," she told Fischer.
The King of the Hill Office Olympics, which consisted of several different games — such as mini golf and Kerplunk — reportedly took a day and a half to complete. "Tim said, 'We wasted a full day and a half on this and I won the award for wasting the most time, so overall I’m very proud...'" Kinsey explained.
She said that Croston's favorite game from the King of he Hill competition was "Guess the Elevator," which is when one person goes down to the lobby and their co-workers try to guess which elevator they'll take back up. The game was so good that it actually made it onto the "Office Olympics" episode of The Office.
"They also had a Twinkie eating contest and Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson) came in second, because Paul was working on King of the Hill at the time as well," Kinsey said.
The King of the Hill crew really got into their Olympic games, and so did Chuck Mangione, a famous musician who played a himself as a recurring character on the show.
"[Mangione] flew himself out on his own dime to play at the opening ceremonies — he plays the flugelhorn and the trumpet — because he in fact actually played at the Olympics in Lake Placid," Kinsey shared.
When it came time for the "Office Olympics" episode of The Office, the writers decided on the following games:
Flonkerton: Employees strapped boxes of paper to their shoes and had a foot race. (Phyllis won.)
How many M&M's can you put in your mouth: Kevin was the only participant and therefore, the winner.
Guess the elevator: Inspired by the King of the Hill Office Olympics. (Ryan won.)
Full coffee mug relay: Oscar and Toby competed but Michael and Dwight returned to the office before a winner was declared.
As Fischer explained, they were inspired by King of the Hill staffers, but the "Office Olympics" episode of The Office ended up inspiring offices around the world to hold their own games. "So this got even bigger than just our TV show," she said.
You can stream episodes of The Office on Netflix and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.
Topics The Office
Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
