Is Deanne Bell the next Kari Byron?

blah
#1. January 7th, 2008, at 2:05 AM.

Smash Lab would be a much better show if DEANNE BELL was removed or replaced. As far as comparing her to Kari Byron…she does not come close to matching Kari’s looks, intelligence, and contribution to the show.

Skippy

idk
#2. January 12th, 2008, at 9:49 PM.

i agree blah

yeahright
#3. January 31st, 2008, at 9:43 AM.

Kari Byron’s only purpose on Mythbusters is for eye candy. Her stupid smile and dumb comments are getting old. Most of the tests done are above and beyond her artistic experience, that’s why she just ridesTori and Grant’s coat tails.

E
#4. February 2nd, 2008, at 12:07 PM.

I think Smash Labs has potential – it would be better if the goal was more than just smashing big things together in order to look cool for the camera. I suspect the hosts do have the intelligence and skill (most are degreed engineers) to do much better than the producers allow them to do. Its easy to criticize the show, as everyone is doing online – its a bit tougher to make useful suggestions for improvement. So here goes: Don’t hide the engineering or science work. Emphasize the problem solving aspect. Allow the hosts to talk intelligently – don’t fear that they will be “over the head” of the audience. Let them be real engineers and don’t hide the complexity. Smash Labs would likely be taken more seriously be viewers if the producers let the hosts take it seriously.

janagash
#5. February 13th, 2008, at 11:28 PM.

Deanne Bell has such an airhead, “valley girl” voice that you hear in many
girls that pretend to “not know what their doing”.. Very annoying hearing more than a few sentences of this. These guys don’t seem to have a clue beyond even Physics 101.

Patrick
#6. February 14th, 2008, at 7:50 AM.

Deanne Bell is NOT the next Kari Byron; she’s not pretty enough, her voice is damn irritating and she speaks like stereo instructions read.

I’ll stick to Kari and Mythbusters thank you very much.

Rich
#7. February 17th, 2008, at 11:30 AM.

The next Kari Byron? As if Kari Byron was gone? Why compare the two? They’re both smart, attractive, sexy women and I for one enjoy both of them.

DEANNE BELL HATER
#8. February 17th, 2008, at 5:23 PM.

I can’t stand her, she ruins the show and pretends to know what she is talking about.

dyer
#9. February 23rd, 2008, at 4:20 PM.

Deanne Bell has a degree in mechanical engineering. She has worked in the aerospace industry and has designed new optical technology used in navigation systems for said industry. Kari Byron has a degree in film and sculpture. You do the math. And while I am not discrediting Kari’s purpose on Mythbusters, it is much different and far less scientific than Deanne’s role on Smash Lab. It’s like comparing apples to lettuce. (I’d say oranges, but they’re both fruit.) Anyone that thinks Deanne is not intelligent should do some research before being condescending.

Mark H
#10. February 26th, 2008, at 1:01 PM.

Apples and Oranges. If I had to choose either to be with me in a natural
disaster, I would pick Deanne. She is a great problem solver with an
analytical mind. Kari on the other hand is all about her looks, (don’t
forget she was originally hired after making a cast of her butt!).
And don’t even get me going on Kari’s ”art’.
Looks like she was blindfolded and on prescription medication when she made made them. I can relate to the dilemma here, cause I am married to a
beautiful woman with brains, a science teacher. And even though I don’t think
Deanne is a knockout, she’s not half bad.

Glen
#11. March 2nd, 2008, at 3:10 PM.

I think Deanne Belle is cute but her voice is grating and I don’t think she’s too comfortable on camera. There just seems to be no chemistry between any of them on that show. None of them have dynamic personalities which makes for good tv unlike the MythBusters who are full of personalities.

yeahright
#12. March 12th, 2008, at 7:56 AM.

None of the people on either Mythbusters or Smash Lab are actors, they are scientists or engineers, except for Kari. I have been watching Mythbusters since episode one 5 years ago, Smash Lab has been on what, 2 months. Jaime and Adam did not look comfortable in front of the camera the first year of their show either. As for Kari, I think this might be her last season on the show, all the publicity has made her head swell to huge proportions. She will probably end up posing for Playboy and the fade into obscurity.

Realist
#13. March 21st, 2008, at 8:43 PM.

Deanne is smart and educated, and she’s also thin and pretty. Now I’m not delusional here – I’m sure there are lots of less attractive people with engineering degrees who were passed over for this show during casting. You have to have a hot chick if you want geeks to get hooked.

FWIW I think her voice is cute and unpretentious, and very feminine while still sounding intelligent. Kari Byron’s voice sounds like the Hee-Haw donkey and her constant annoying comments *have* to routinely draw eye-rolls from the smarter Mythbusters (all of them). I half-expect to hear her break into a honking and snorting fit like Chrissy on Three’s Company.

The question isn’t whether Deanne is the next Kari Byron (she’s not)… It’s whether Kari Byron is the next Kate Botello.

Let’s hope Yeahright is right with his/her prediction, that Kari is leaving the show soon. Kari isn’t all bad – she likes dogs so she’s probably an OK person overall. I’ll check out the Playboy spread when it happens – why not? She’s pretty, in a hippie-chick way. But I’d blow my brains out if I had to spend any amount of time listening to her pseudo-intelligent blathering.

matt
#14. March 23rd, 2008, at 9:23 AM.

Wow, there are a lot of bitter people. Personally, I find Deanne’s looks, AND ESPECIALLY, her voice attractive.

That said, the MB’s are dorks who do science and don’t care how they look (except for Kari), so they come across as cool. Whereas the Smash Lab people are “cool” people who ARE worried about their looks, but are pretending to be unpretentious science dorks. See what I mean? They come across badly because they’re trying to emulate the natural chemistry that MB has.

You see, those of us familiar with the scientific community can tell when someone is “One of Us.” The Smash Lab crew are all posers. That is why the show is lame.

Megan
#15. March 25th, 2008, at 8:20 AM.

I agee with those who HAVE done their research, watched the show and agree with those who say the show would be better without her – AND off the air. The science content is questionable, for scientists, they don’t really use the “scientific method” properly, they bend it to their purposes. Mythbusters has taken a similar slide in the past two seasons as it seems they’re dumbing it down for their audience. I speak for my friends and I when I say bring back more of the “Warning: Science Content” disclaimers on Mythbusters.

dyer: “Deanne Bell has a degree in mechanical engineering. She has worked in the aerospace industry and has designed new optical technology used in navigation systems for said industry. Kari Byron has a degree in film and sculpture. You do the math. And while I am not discrediting Kari’s purpose on Mythbusters, it is much different and far less scientific than Deanne’s role on Smash Lab. It’s like comparing apples to lettuce. (I’d say oranges, but they’re both fruit.) Anyone that thinks Deanne is not intelligent should do some research before being condescending.”

Big Nig
#16. April 3rd, 2008, at 7:27 AM.

i found this page because i was lookin to see if i could make up my mind on Deanne being hot. For me she’s just on the line of being hot and just being good lookin. as far as i can tell everyone can agree that she is not the next Keri (i didn’t even know we were lookin for another one) but as far as that goes i think they are both cute in there own way.

i, unlike pretty much everyone else here, love both shows. there one back to back and i just stay and watch them both. i agree that MBs is better but i disagree that SL is lame.

i also agree that for some reason or other they are dumbing Deanne down and i think that most of the other host on the show are lacking in chemistry but Kevin Cook seems to have the most personality out of all of them which gives me some hope.

lastly i hope Kari doesn’t leave the show (she can do playboy thought) as a man i can’t say no to that. but i don’t think that she is playboy material i mean, she just hot for an art geek, not, just hot

ackpat
#17. May 14th, 2008, at 6:59 AM.

I knew Deanne Bell when she worked as a newly graduated engineer at Raytheon in El Segundo, CA. She was basically a step above an “intern” in the short time that she worked there. Very friendly and inquisitive, but I could tell she didn’t fit the standard workforce engineer mold. She had traveled quite extensively on her own as a young female, and I could tell she wouldn’t work long in such a classic engineering environment. It didn’t surprise me that she went on leave of absence so quickly after working for a period of months there.
It amuses me that they call her a “scientist”. Hollywood never changes. But I’m glad she has found something that works for her. I wish her all the luck.
sammy small

i loive
#18. August 2nd, 2008, at 12:04 PM.

i love kari byron, i love such girls, i wish there was lots and lot of them

Chris Williamson
#19. August 5th, 2008, at 9:22 AM.

I know Deanne Bell. She is very very pretty, even more so in real life, when you can see how tall she is…she’s truly a stauesque beauty. She is also one of the nicest people you will meet. She is very kind to my daughters, who also want to be engineers and TV stars.

Comparisons to Kari are obviously going to happen. They are both smart, beautiful women on cool Discovery shows, but that’s about as far as it goes. If you want to know who is the hottest smart chick, maybe that will be on Spike TV or in Maxim one day, but I humbly suggest that the argument is silly and certainly beneath these two fascinating women.

I hope that everyone is patient with Smash Lab. It is definitely more scientifically honest than Myth Busters, but both are enjoyable TV, on a higher plane than most of the garbage that’s on. Every show has its growing pains, and they will get better as they go.

Nick
#20. September 2nd, 2008, at 7:35 PM.

She may not be the next Kari Byron, but she’s pretty much next to her
Kari rock

Doc Eggerton’s ghost
#21. September 5th, 2008, at 5:49 PM.

To all her detractors, I think Deanna is Super Fantastic! She’s smart, sweet and drop dead gorgeous. What’s more sexy than a pretty girl with brains?

Midgets With Hats
#22. September 18th, 2008, at 8:22 PM.

I messed my pants

Shirro
#23. October 5th, 2008, at 7:14 AM.

Both got their own qualities, I guess, but if you’re getting annoyed by a voice or you can quote all the lines of a person, you might be watching tv a bit to much or you are just little bit obsessed.

Lets just put them together in a big bowl of custard and watch that

Elvin C
#24. November 14th, 2008, at 11:41 AM.

“holy cow, it just got way hotter” – Deanne’s quote used to publicise the show…

Cran
#25. March 6th, 2009, at 2:18 PM.

Smash Lab was a pitiful show. It was so boring and depressing. Kari is much better.

George
#26. March 13th, 2009, at 6:30 AM.

Really there is no comparison between the shows. The main difference boils down to chemistry and presence. The cast of Mythbusters have a wonderful on-screen chemistry which makes the show special even if you have little interest in the science content. The people in the show have that tenuous but unmistakeable quality that makes you enjoy their company. By contrast the Smash Lab cast are bland, boring and unmemorable. Undoubtedly the weakest link is Deanne Bell whose presence goes beyond bland to irritating. Smart she clearly is, but her voice is like nails on a chalkboard and she has a startling gracelessness and awkwardness. Kari Byron is a natural on-screen and has been from the start. She has an imperfect beauty and offers a thrilling sense of fun and joy. Inevitably some people will find this hard to take, but they are, I’m sure, in a minority.

Kevin
#27. May 14th, 2009, at 2:00 PM.

I used to know Deanne years ago, and I’ve got say she catches an underserved reputation on this show. She’s always been a person of class and intelligence who had the highest respect for community and society in general. Before anyone asks: No, we weren’t close, no I’m not related, and yes- we’re the same age. I’m just unhappy that people bash her without actually knowing who she is, that’s all.

My Name is
#28. November 5th, 2009, at 5:52 PM.

Smash lab sucks. it stopped airing long time ago.

dooby
#29. November 14th, 2009, at 12:41 AM.

The two shows deserve respect as they. As for which show is better, Mythbusters is truly the winner, reasons are listed above. Another reason why Smash Lab is below in the ranks, is the fact that it has a slower pace than most successful shows on Discovery.

burchin
#30. December 13th, 2009, at 8:20 AM.

Deanne BELL rulaz

I love you Deanne!!!

JunkboxJim
#31. April 15th, 2011, at 9:23 AM.

I have to say that I’m perplexed by all the comments championing Kari Byron over Deanne Bell. I think they’re right about one being substance and the other fluff, but it’s Deanne who actually contributes on an intellectual level. And, as one who thinks smart is hot, Deanne wins the prize for that as well. Which leads me to ask, Why even compare the two? Kari is a personality. Deanne is a scientist. Apples and oranges my friends.