Apples vs. Bananas

MAN: From the brains behind Brains On, it's Smash Boom Best.

WOMAN: The show for people with big opinions.

MOLLY BLOOM: Hi, I'm Molly Bloom, and this is Smash Boom Best, the show where we take two things, smash them together, and ask you to decide which one is best. Today's fruity free-for-all is bananas. I mean, apples. I mean, apples versus bananas.

Which fruit will peel their way to victory, bodacious bananas or awesome apples? There's no telling with this bunch. Luckily, we've got Irene from Saint Paul, Minnesota here to help us decide. Hi, Irene.

IRENE: Hello.

MOLLY BLOOM: Irene, I know you like to sing, so I'm wondering, maybe you could improvise a song about apples and bananas to get us pumped for the debate.

IRENE: Oh. OK, I'll do my best. All right.

(SINGING) Rosy and red, give one to your teacher. Portable, it grows its own container. Smash Boom Best, apples versus bananas. Which one will win?

MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, very nice. We basically just made you do a sneak attack round, and you killed it.

IRENE: Sneak attack.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES] Nice work. So I just want to know a little bit about how you feel about those fruits you were just singing about. Do you like apples?

IRENE: I do. I love apple. I ate an apple today. I eat like four a day.

It's a problem.

MOLLY BLOOM: Whoa.

IRENE: It's wild.

MOLLY BLOOM: So what are your association with apples besides eating lots of them?

IRENE: When I think of a fruit, that's just what I think. It's like the signature-- I think of the alphabet, really.

MOLLY BLOOM: Mm. A for apple, the first one. OK, so what about bananas?

IRENE: Bananas?

MOLLY BLOOM: Do you like bananas?

IRENE: I love bananas too. I used to not like bananas plain, only like a banana bread, a banana this, and that. Banana bread is really good.

But now, I think they're the greatest, and I eat those all the time too. Like, I also had a banana today. Whoa.

MOLLY BLOOM: Wow.

IRENE: It's--

MOLLY BLOOM: Wow. OK.

IRENE: This is--

MOLLY BLOOM: This is amazing.

IRENE: Yeah.

MOLLY BLOOM: So we know you like bananas. You ate one today. Incredible. What associations do you have with bananas?

IRENE: I mostly think of my nana because she has a lot of bananas. And also now that I just said it, also that word also sounds like bananas. So maybe that's why that goes to there.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, well, let's meet our debaters here to defend A-plus apples. It's comedian Tommy McNamara. Hey, Tommy.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Hello. I'm so excited to be here.

MOLLY BLOOM: So in a single sentence, why are apples the Smash Boom Best?

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Well, there is nothing as fun as apple picking, and there's nothing as logical as picking apples.

MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, very nice. And here to represent those yellow fruits in a suit, it's comedian and writer Saurin Choksi. Hi, Choksi.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Hi, Molly. Hi, Irene.

IRENE: Hello.

MOLLY BLOOM: Choksi, in one sentence, why are bananas the coolest?

SAURIN CHOKSI: Well, let me put it this way. If someone told you they went to a party and said, oh, that party was bananas, you know that was a good party.

MOLLY BLOOM: Mm. Very good point. Well, let's review the show format.

We've got four rounds of debate. Round one is the Declaration of Greatness, where our debaters present a fact-filled argument in favor of their side, followed by a 30-second rebuttal from their opponent. Next, we've got the Micro Round, where each team will respond to a creative assignment they received in advance. Round three is the Sneak Attack, where we'll surprise debaters with a challenge they need to respond to on the spot.

And to wrap it all up, we've got the Final 6, where each team will have just six words to drive home the awesomeness of their side. Our judge, Irene, will award two points in the first round, one for her favorite rebuttal, one for the Declaration she likes best. Then she'll award one point in each round after that, but she'll keep her decision secret until the end of the debate.

Listeners, we want you to judge too. Mark down your points as you listen. And at the end of the show, head to our website, smashboom.org, and vote for whichever team you think won. OK, Irene, debaters, are you ready?

IRENE: Yes.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Yes, let's do it.

SAURIN CHOKSI: I'm ready.

MOLLY BLOOM: Then it's time for the--

MAN: Declaration of Greatness.

MOLLY BLOOM: Our debaters will present the most fascinating facts and awesome arguments in favor of their side. We flipped a coin. And Tommy, you're up first. Tell us why apples are the most fabulous fruit.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I'm so excited we're doing this debate today because I just finished installing my new Apple TV. No, not Apple, the tech company. I'm talking apple the actual fruit. This TV streams bushels of shows about one thing and one thing only, apples. Let's see what's playing.

[STATIC, REPORTER'S VOICE]

Oh, hey, the news. Let's watch.

NEWS ANCHOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Apple News Network. Tonight there are hundreds of different varieties of apples commercially grown today. Why so many? We asked apple scientist Slice Macintosh.

SLICE MACINTOSH: Well, it has to do with something us botanist call extreme heterozygosity.

NEWS ANCHOR: Ah, like extreme sports.

SLICE MACINTOSH: Absolutely not. Basically, extreme heterozygosity means apples have special genes that can lead to a lot of variation. For instance, when you breed two different apple trees, you can make a new kind that's very different from the ones you started with.

Part of it has to do with how many genes apples have. They've got roughly 57,000. Us humans only have about 20 to 25,000.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Fascinating. Let's see what else is on. Ooh, the History channel.

WOMAN: Today, we're peeling back the origin of apples. It all started on the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a famous collection of trade routes that connected China in the Far East to Europe and the Middle East from about 130 BCE to 1450 CE.

Researchers found that traders along the Silk Road spread a specific type of wild apple seed known as Malus sieversii, which is the primary ancestor of most domesticated apples eaten today.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I guess this means this apple has roots that go back thousands of years. [GULPS] Amazing. Ooh, a game show.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

HOST: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Name that Apple. All right. Contestant number one, you have to name as many varieties of apple as possible in just 10 seconds.

CONTESTANT 1: Let's do this.

HOST: All right. Start the timer.

CONTESTANT 1: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Macintosh, Empire, Ambrosia, Pink Lady, SweeTango, Jazz, and Crabapples.

HOST: Incredible. Wow, you've earned a shot at the grand prize. But you're going to have to think quick and name as many apple sayings as you can in 10 seconds. Go.

CONTESTANT 1: The apple of my eye, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

One smart apple, wise apple. How do you like them apples?

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Can't beat that. Speaking of, I wonder if apples are still undefeated in the playoffs. Let's check--

[CROWD CHEERING]

SPORTS ANNOUNCER: --and let's talk about this week's opponent, bananas. I don't know why people are even worried. Bananas aren't even our main rivals.

It's really apples and oranges. And look at the banana. It's got one color, one taste, one flavor. So boring.

We're going to wipe the floor with them, which you shouldn't do since they're so slippery.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I have to agree. Apples are so amazing. They should win some type of award. Oh, they have.

WINNER: [LAUGHS] Oh, my gosh. Wow. I'm applesolutely thrilled. I couldn't have done it without American farmers.

You grow an average of 240 million bushels a year. And each bushel is about 126 medium apples, so you do the math. And you do it for us, for Americans.

After all, we consume over 50 pounds of apples and apple products a year per person.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Woo-hoo. I knew apples would win. I feel like dancing. Let's check out the Music Network.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SINGER: (SINGING) I'll tell you about a man who loved apples till the day he died. Born a farming boy, American as apple pie. And marched across our country. Lived a wild life indeed. A barefooted apple man, Johnny Appleseed.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Yes. Thanks, Johnny. A true hero. Apples are diverse and delicious, not to mention a distinguished part of our history and culture.

I really love them apples.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES] A charming channel surfing Declaration for apples. Irene, what did you think of Tommy's argument there?

IRENE: I think that was a great argument. I liked hearing about a crabapple. That was a reminder for me. I don't even know where that came up, but I wrote down picking crabapples.

It was very exciting. And also, the idea of picking apples is so much fun.

MOLLY BLOOM: Well, Choksi, I'm guessing you have some thoughts to share. It's time for your rebuttal. You've got 30 seconds to make Tommy's argument slip and slide all over the place. And your time starts now.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Tommy. I love you, but that was a terrible Declaration of Greatness.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES]

SAURIN CHOKSI: I didn't care for it one bit, or I didn't like the things you said. I thought they were rude and lies.

[LAUGHTER]

First of all, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I'm Indian-American, and that's very rude to a lot of family and friends. Second of all, Johnny Appleseed did not bathe. It's a well-known fact.

That's gross. He's a gross person. Alert-- Tom, you didn't mention that my wife-- anytime she bites into an apple, her mouth gets itchy.

Apples are trying to kill my wife, Tommy. You're OK with that? You think that's a fun thing for apples to do?

MOLLY BLOOM: And time.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I would like to say that I definitely did not know that about your wife. [LAUGHS] I mean, no ill will to you or your family.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: All right. Choksi, it's time for your Declaration. Tell us why bananas are the Smash Boom Best.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Hello out there. I'm Choksi.

BILLY WATSON: And I'm Sliding Billy Watson, inventor of the banana peel pratfall.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Billy's a comedian from around 100 years ago. He claims to have come up with the famous slipping on a banana peel joke.

BILLY WATSON: It was me. Picture the scene. The year is 19-0-something-something, and America's in the mood to laugh. But my career's going nowhere fast.

I'm standing outside the Peloton Theater in New York City when I noticed a man on the street step on a banana peel. I realized seeing someone slip on a banana peel is like seeing a frog in a Silly.

The next time I got on stage, I tried slipping on a banana peel, and the crowd went wild and invented comedy gold.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Thanks, Billy. This is Choksi again. My first reason why bananas are the greatest is that bananas have "a peel."

BILLY WATSON: And they have appeal. Still got it. Ha cha cha.

SAURIN CHOKSI: The banana peel is nature at its best, a cute little suit that protects the banana's delicate yummy insides and makes the whole shebang convenient to carry. And the inside of the peel actually is super slippy. It has a frictional coefficient of 0.066. That's twice as slippy as a lousy apple's lousy apple skin.

BILLY WATSON: Oh, that's nothing funny about an apple. That's a humorless fruit.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Another perk of the peel, it changes color, announcing exactly when it's ready to eat. Green means wait a minute. Brown means you waited too many minutes. And yellow is just ripe.

Well, another reason for the bananas greatness, there's pretty much just one kind that we all know and love. Meanwhile, who can even remember all the different types of apples?

ROBOT: I can. My robot brain knows all.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Oh, everyone it's robot. Hello, robot.

ROBOT: Hello, human. Accessing apple database in 3, 2, 1. Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Sweetango, Red Delicious.

SAURIN CHOKSI: [INAUDIBLE] Red Delicious? Tastes more like sadness wrapped in wax. Know what I mean?

ROBOT: No. I am unable to experience the joy of tasting food. Powering down.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Anyway, hundreds of banana strains exist in nature, but there's really just one kind that makes the banana the most consumed fruit on the planet. Just one kind that Americans eat almost 27 pounds of annually. Just one kind.

CAVENDISH: Me, the Cavendish banana. [LAUGHS]

SAURIN CHOKSI: Hello, Cavendish.

CAVENDISH: 99% of bananas exported worldwide are me. What have you done, child?

SAURIN CHOKSI: I'm a grown-up. It's true, though. The Cavendish has been top banana since the 1960s. But before that, there was a different dominant banana, the Gros Michel.

CAVENDISH: Blech, more like the Gros Michel. See what I did? I said gross instead of Gros. [LAUGHS] I am a funny banana.

SAURIN CHOKSI: The Gros Michel was wiped out by a fungus called Panama disease. The Cavendish was selected to replace it because of its similar size and color and its natural resistance to Panama disease. But well--

CAVENDISH: What? What? Spit it out, boy.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Well, in 2019, a strain of Panama disease was discovered on a Cavendish banana farm in the Caribbean.

CAVENDISH: Whoa. I'm finished.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Wait. The good news is thousands of people from farmers to scientists are working to develop Cavendish strains immune to Panama disease, even using gene editing technology like CRISPR to find a solution.

CAVENDISH: [LAUGHS]

I am immortal. Now, goodbye, child.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Bye, bye. My final reason bananas are the greatest-- they bring humans and animals together because we both love them. Look, you can't talk bananas without talking monkeys. And the world's top chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane Goodall used bananas to learn things about our primate cousins that humans never knew.

Stolen dinner bananas set Dr. Goodall on a path to discovering awesome facts, like how chimpanzees use tools, wage war, and they're ticklish. Come here, little monkey.

[MONKEY SOUNDS]

BILLY WATSON: A monkey? You know what that means.

SAURIN CHOKSI: You again.

BILLY WATSON: It's time to test your knowledge and play Know your Monkey, Banana edition. First question, true or false? Bananas are a staple of the wild monkeys diet.

SAURIN CHOKSI: False. The edible banana is a domesticated plant that wild monkeys only encounter because of humans.

BILLY WATSON: All right. Next question, how do monkeys peel bananas?

SAURIN CHOKSI: Like a regular.

BILLY WATSON: Wrong. From the bottom up. Isn't that silly?

Final question, what happens when a monkey slips on a banana peel? Comedy gold.

I win. Wee.

SAURIN CHOKSI: That's it for Billy, and that's it for me. Bananas are the greatest. Apples are the worst. Goodbye, everybody,

MOLLY BLOOM: A delightful argument for Team Bananas. Irene, what did you like about Choksi's Declaration of Greatness there?

IRENE: Oh, I love getting to think about the comedy element of bananas. That's super important to me, actually. I love slipping on a banana peel.

I mean, I don't love slipping but the element of that.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, Tommy. It's time for your rebuttal. You've got 30 seconds to smush the opposition. And your time starts now.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: OK, first of all, you lead your argument about how good what they are with the fact that they're slippery. That's dangerous. That's not funny. That's scary, OK?

And you spend so much time talking about the peel, the part that's inedible. That's part of the argument for why they're a great fruit. I don't know about all that. You think it's good that there's only one kind of banana? I think that's boring.

I also think that the Cavendish was evil, and that-- so that was scary. And also, yes, monkeys like bananas, and it's cute. But you know who likes apples? Goats.

And you know what goat stands for? Greatest of all time, just like apples. Peace.

MOLLY BLOOM: And time. Wow. Way to hit the time post there.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: [LAUGHS]

MOLLY BLOOM: Choksi, anything you'd like to say?

SAURIN CHOKSI: Tommy, you brought up a lot of good points. But I didn't care for your tone one bit.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: All right. Irene, it's time to award your first two points. Remember, it's your job to decide which side made the cooler argument.

Use whatever criteria makes sense to you. Was one fruit defender funnier? Did the other make a more fact-filled presentation?

So award one point for the best declaration and one point for the best rebuttal. Then go to two different people, the same person. It's up to you.

Award your points. Mark them down. But don't tell us who's getting them.

IRENE: I won't tell you. I have made them.

MOLLY BLOOM: Excellent. Choksi and Tommy, how are you feeling about this fruit dispute?

SAURIN CHOKSI: I'm shaky. [LAUGHS] I'm shaky. Look, I'm going against the juggernaut right now.

I tell you, Tommy is a funny man. He has his facts ready. He gets his humor on hand, Whoo.

But I'm going at it as hard as I can. I'm hoping Irene sees the truth and is going to be on my side.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I think Choksi you're a great opponent. I think you've been great so far, but I think this is going to be easy as pie, apple pie.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: Ooh. All right, well, it's time for a quick break. on some apple slices or spoon up some of that banana cream pie.

IRENE: And we'll be right back with more Smash Boom Best.

MAN: You're watching State of Debate, home to rage in rhetoric and awe-inspiring argumentation.

TODD DOUGLAS: Howdy-do, debate heads? Todd Douglas here with the peanut butter to my jelly, the girl boss of debate--

TAYLOR LINCOLN: Taylor Lincoln. And we just caught someone making a hasty generalization.

TODD DOUGLAS: Yikes.

TAYLOR LINCOLN: A hasty generalization is when someone makes a bold, generalized claim about a group or phenomenon all based on insufficient evidence.

TODD DOUGLAS: Why do people insist on using these logical fallacies? They may be easy to make, but they make your argument easier to defeat.

TAYLOR LINCOLN: Let's take a closer look.

DAMIEN: Hey, Stella. Do you want to come over and meet my new kitten?

STELLA: Thanks but no thanks, Damien. I hate to break it to you, but all cats are evil. My cousin's cat tried to scratch my face off last weekend, so I don't trust any cat.

DAMIEN: That's awful. But Sir Snuggles's different. He's really sweet, actually.

STELLA: Nope. I've learned my lesson.

DAMIEN: But Stella--

STELLA: No. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, all cats are evil.

[BUZZER SOUND]

TODD DOUGLAS: Uff da. That was a hasty generalization.

TAYLOR LINCOLN: Just because Stella had one bad experience doesn't mean all cats are bad.

TODD DOUGLAS: Totally. So remember, bold claims are no good--

TAYLOR LINCOLN: Especially when you have insufficient evidence. You've got to back those claims up.

TODD DOUGLAS: Well, that was another faulty fallacy, debaterinos. We'll catch you next time on--

TODD AND TAYLOR: State of Debate.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[VOICES SAYING SMASH BOOM BEST]

MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Smash Boom Best. I'm your host, Molly Bloom.

IRENE: And I'm your judge, Irene.

MOLLY BLOOM: One of my favorite things about this show is all the amazing debate ideas we get from listeners like you. Check out this awesome debate suggestion from Ellie in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

ELLIE: My debate idea is Harry Potter versus Percy Jackson.

MOLLY BLOOM: We'll check back with Ellie at the end of this episode to see which side she thinks should win.

IRENE: And now it's back to our debate of the day, apples versus bananas.

MOLLY BLOOM: That's right. And it's time for round two, the--

WOMAN: Micro Round.

MOLLY BLOOM: Our Micro Round is monster movie trailer. For this challenge, Tommy and Choksi had to write a scary movie trailer starring a monstrous version of their fruit. So Tommy went first last time. So Choksi, you're up. Let's hear your terrifying movie trailer for bananas.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Ethel was an ordinary small town grandma--

ETHEL: Who wants cookies.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Until one day, after underwater aerobics class, she bit into a cursed banana.

ETHEL: That tasted funny.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Now she's part granny, part demon, and a whole lot of potassium.

MAN: Meemaw, is that you? Why are you yellow? Why are you yellow?

SAURIN CHOKSI: And neither she or her town will ever be the same.

SHERIFF: Never seen anything like it, Mayor. We got folks comatose inside banana peels all over the county.

MAYOR: Dear, God.

SHERIFF: She leaves you on a kitchen counter for six or seven days. By that point you're just brown and mushy.

MAYOR: Then what, Sheriff? She eats you?

SHERIFF: Worse. She bakes you into banana bread. Yeah, then she eats you.

MAYOR: No.

SAURIN CHOKSI: The only one who can stop her is her granddaughter.

GRANDDAUGHTER: Evil spirit, leave my nana alone. I command you to make like a banana and split.

[THUNDER ROARING]

SAURIN CHOKSI: This fall, peel back a new kind of evil and meet Banana Nana.

ETHEL: You'll scream--

LOW SCARY VOICE: In bunches.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, my. That was scary. All right. Tommy, it's your turn. Scare our skins off with your freaky fruit trailer.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: There's nowhere to run. There's nowhere to hide. This Halloween, meet your new nightmare, the Bad Apple.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

WOMAN: Not the Bad Apple.

MAN 1: Not the Bad Apple.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: If it rolls through your town, it'll turn it into applesauce.

MAN 2: So I told the guy, don't worry. The building construction is going great. And then-- wait, hold on a second.

Is that a giant apple? It's rolling over the building. [SCREAMING]

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Keep the doctor away. You're going to want to keep everyone away when you see the size of this thing.

MAN 3: I am going to create the biggest apple in history, and nothing will go wrong. [MANIACAL LAUGHS]

[THUNDER ROARING]

Oh, no. It has been struck by the lightning. It is getting out of control. Oh.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I mean, seriously. Whatever you're picturing, this apple is bigger and better than that. Now it's rolling all across America.

Don't try to put peanut butter on it. Don't try to slice it. Don't even think about using it for the world's biggest apple pie.

The only thing you can do is hope this apple doesn't turn rotted.

MOLLY BLOOM: Whoo. Another scary trailer for a thriller. Whoo, Irene, what stood out to you in our debaters Micro Rounds there?

IRENE: Those are intense. Oh, my goodness. I liked the banana, and I liked how it was about her nana. That was cool.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES]

IRENE: And also, they brought up a mention of a banana split, and I remembered I really like banana splits. And then the apple one-- also, I remembered about applesauce.

I'm getting excited about the versatility of these things.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, it's time to award a point. Tommy and Choksi are not making this easy for you. You're going to have to choose one.

IRENE: It's chosen.

MOLLY BLOOM: Excellent. Then it's time for our third round, the super stealthy--

MEN: Haha, hoo-ha.

MOLLY BLOOM: --Sneak Attack. Your sneak attack is haiku for you. A haiku is a traditional Japanese poem that's three lines long.

It has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third. And the lines usually don't rhyme. So here's an example.

Fruit, nature's candy. Chop it, peel it, munch it. Yum. Perfect for dessert.

So Choksi, Tommy, please take a moment to write a haiku about how great your side is and another haiku about how terrible the other side is. Does that make sense?

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Yeah.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Yeah.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right. We're going to give you a few minutes to brainstorm. While you work, let's listen to some sweet, sweet music.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

WOMAN: (SINGING) Applesolutely, give them a try. Sweet to the core, great in pie. Pink Lady, you're the apple of my eye.

Banana peel, banana split. These yellow fruit just won't quit. Top banana, number one. This fruit is it.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, we're back. Tommy, you're up. Rock us to the core with your haiku for apples.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: All right. Apples are the best fruit. Whether red or green, they are always delicious.

MOLLY BLOOM: Lovely. All right. Choksi, your turn to toot that banana. Give us what you got.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Banana, my love, like a yellow crescent moon. A curved, dreamy friend.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: Very nice. All right. Now Tommy, deliver your poem on banana badness.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: When I'm in a store and I see a banana. Makes me want to split.

MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS]

All right, Choksi, wax poetic about the failings of apples?

SAURIN CHOKSI: Hey, apple so bad. Hurt my wife's mouth.

[LAUGHTER]

Bad fruit. Worms live in you. No, worms living in you.

MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] There you go.

SAURIN CHOKSI: So sorry.

MOLLY BLOOM: Nice work both of you. Irene, which poems impressed you the most? Give that team a point. But don't tell us who's getting it. Have you made your decision?

IRENE: I have.

MOLLY BLOOM: OK, great. Then it's time for our last round.

MAN: The Final 6.

MOLLY BLOOM: Choksi, you're up. You've got just six words left to make us go bananas for bananas.

SAURIN CHOKSI: No banana ever poisoned a princess.

MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS]

IRENE: Oh, it's true.

MOLLY BLOOM: Waited till the end to pull that one out. All right. Tommy, your turn. Give us six words to make apples the apple of all of our eyes.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Apple a day, I want more.

[LAUGHTER]

MOLLY BLOOM: Very good. All right. Today's fruity fracas is coming to an end. We've heard bunches from the top banana. And the biggest apple has cut us to the core.

Now it's Irene's turn to award the final point and crown one of these fruits the Smash Boom Best. So Irene, have you awarded the final point for the Final 6?

IRENE: I have. There's a winner.

MOLLY BLOOM: All right. Drumroll, please. And the winner is--

IRENE: Bananas.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Oh, my God.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Oh, come on.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Oh, my God. Hooray.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Bananas? Apples are the signature fruit. You said it yourself.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Tommy, bananas won.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I'm happy. No, I'm happy for you. I love bananas.

SAURIN CHOKSI: I can't say anything bad to tell you because I love them so much.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: I'm so happy, though. Irene, I'm really glad that you chose bananas.

MOLLY BLOOM: So Irene, can you walk us through a little bit about your decision-making process?

IRENE: It did put me over the edge, the idea of the princess. It's true. A banana never did anything to a princess. An apple, though-- come on, man. Am I going to get poisoned this Halloween with an apple?

Like, what is this? But I do like apples a lot. So I'm actually shooketh a little. I thought that I would be picking apples, but here I am, so.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Well, I just really enjoyed Tommy's debate. I thought he had a lot of great facts. And his song was amazing. I thought it was beautiful and his movie trailer.

I really want to see big Bad Apple.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: [CHUCKLES]

Choksi, it was so great debating you. You earned the win. Your stuff was so good. The Declaration of Greatness was amazing. It was super funny and well-informed.

And your movie trailer, having the grandma character really, really spiced it up. And yeah, that's six words you came out, pulling in the princess at the end, just a great move. So I have to give it to you. Well done.

MOLLY BLOOM: Well, that's it for today's fruity face-off. Irene crowned bananas the Smash Boom Best. But what about you?

IRENE: Head to smashboom.org and vote to tell us who you think should win.

MOLLY BLOOM: Smash Boom Best is brought to you by Brains On and APM Studios.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: It's produced by Rosie duPont, Ruby Guthrie, Sanden Totten, and Molly Bloom.

SAURIN CHOKSI: We had engineering help from Louis Fisher and Levi Weinhagen.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: And we had production help from Trisha Bobita, Dan Latu, Marc Sanchez, and Menaka Wilhelm.

MOLLY BLOOM: Our executive producer is Beth Pearlman, and APM Studios executives in charge are Lily Kim, Alex Schaffert, and Joanne Griffith. Rosie duPont is the voice of our hold music, and our announcer is Marley Feuerwerker-Otto. We want to give a special thanks to Austin Cross, Taylor Coffman, Sam duPont, George duPont, George [INAUDIBLE], and Coco. Choksi, is there anyone you want to thank today?

SAURIN CHOKSI: Oh, I got to thank Dr. Caitlin Shure, my wife, for doing all the voices in my Declaration of Greatness. And also, I used her for jokes whenever I needed to.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES] How about you, Tommy? Any special shout-outs?

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Well, since I'm doing apples and you put an apple on the teacher's desk, so I would just say all the teachers in America. I will give a shout-out to them.

MOLLY BLOOM: That's very nice. And Irene, anyone you want to give special thanks to?

IRENE: Well, I guess I should thank my nana because it sounds like banana.

MOLLY BLOOM: [CHUCKLES] Thank you, nana. Before we go, let's hear who Ellie thinks should win in her Harry Potter versus Percy Jackson debate.

ELLIE: Even though I'm a huge fan of both, I honestly think Harry Potter would win, being one of the most famous books in the world.

MOLLY BLOOM: Do you have an idea for a knock-down, drag-out debate? Head to smashboom.org and tell us about it. We'll be back with a new debate battle next week.

IRENE: Bye.

WOMAN: See you.

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Au revoir.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Bye-bye, everyone.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SINGERS: Oooh, you're the Smash Boom Best. Oooh, puts you through the test. Oooh, you're the Smash Boom Best.

Oooh, better than the rest. It's a Smash Boom Best. It's Smash Boom Best.

SAURIN CHOKSI: Irene, please just remember this six-word sentence. Why do they put all this in front of it? You can cut all that, right?

TOMMY MCNAMARA: Those were your first three words?

[LAUGHTER]

SAURIN CHOKSI: Guys, this is falling apart.