Office Olympics

"Office Olympics" is the third episode of the second season of the television series The Office and the show's ninth episode overall. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Paul Feig. It originally aired on October 4, 2005 on NBC. The episode guest starred Nancy Carell, the real-life wife of series star Steve Carell, as Carol Stills. The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) leave the office to buy a condo. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), along with Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), organizes office games and gets his co-workers to play them. "Office Olympics" was inspired by The King of the Hill Office Olympics, which were created and run by members of the television show King of the Hill. After the episode aired, other "Office Olympics" were organized in actual offices across the country. The episode marks the first appearance of Mose, Dwight's Amish cousin, played by writer Mike Schur. Mose was based on an actual person, with the same name, on the UPN reality show Amish in the City. The episode contained several cultural references, with many alluding to the actual Olympic games. "Office Olympics" received largely positive reviews from critics. The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 3.9 in the 18–49 demographic and was viewed by 8.3 million viewers. Plot While Michael Scott (Steve Carell) leaves with Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) to sign closing papers for his new condominium, the staff fills out their expense reports. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) "dies" of boredom, and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) revives him by calling him to the reception desk and throwing objects into Dwight's coffee mug. Jim discovers that his co-workers have their own office games, such as Toby Flenderson's (Paul Lieberstein) "Dunderball", and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) and Oscar Martinez's (Oscar Nunez) "paper football flicking and hitting" game, "Hateball" (named because of Angela's dislike for the game). Jim and Pam organize the Games of the First Dunder Mifflin Olympiad, competing for hand-made medals constructed from yogurt lids and paper clips. Some of the games include Flonkerton, a game where people race with cartons of paper strapped to their feet, and seeing who can stuff the most M&M's into their mouth.