text: beach games " beach games " is the twenty - third episode of the third season of the us version of the office , and the 51st of the series . in this episode , the office goes to a nearby lake for some " beach games " . it is revealed that michael ( steve carell ) is being interviewed for a position at corporate and that the winner of the beach games will become regional manager . meanwhile , dwight ( rainn wilson ) and angela ( angela kinsey ) sabotage andy ( ed helms ) , and pam ( jenna fischer ) spends her day taking notes of the office workers ' activities . the episode was written by jennifer celotta and greg daniels and directed by harold ramis . filming took place at a fake beach near hansen dam , as it was " the bleakest lake [ they could ] find . " the crew had to deal with hot temperatures during the day and " frigid " weather at night . one of helms ' scenes involved him being trapped on a lake in a sumo wrestling outfit , forcing him to wear a harness and be pulled by a boat manned by a crew member . for the fire walk , orange and yellow gels and lava rocks were used , and gas lines were installed to produce flames . an estimated 7 . 2 million viewers watched " beach games " on its first american broadcast on may 10 , 2007 , resulting in the episode placing fourth for the night in its timeslot . it received mainly positive reviews from television critics , and many cited the sumo suit scenes as particular highlights . most critics praised pam 's speech at the end of the episode , though one found it out of character . synopsis when michael ( steve carell ) is invited to interview for a position at dunder - mifflin corporate headquarters in new york city , he assumes he will get the job and decides to hold a survivor - like competition at lake scranton to determine his successor . the entire office travels to the lake by bus , except for toby ( paul lieberstein ) , whom michael will not allow to attend , much to toby 's disappointment because he anticipated getting to see pam ( jenna fischer ) wearing her bikini . michael selects the " tribe " captains – jim ( john krasinski ) , dwight ( rainn wilson ) , andy ( ed helms ) and stanley ( leslie david baker ) – and instructs pam to take detailed notes on the events of the day , which include games such as egg and spoon races and hot dog eating contests . initially unaware of the purpose of the exercise , the employees do not all take it seriously . once the job in new york is revealed , andy and dwight step up their efforts , stanley tries to be enthusiastic but gives up , and jim decides to interview for the same position that michael is pursuing . karen ( rashida jones ) also applies for the position . to support her secret lover dwight , angela ( angela kinsey ) sabotages andy , leaving him adrift in the lake in an inflatable sumo wrestling costume . michael 's final event is a walk across hot coals . initially , only pam volunteers , but michael refuses to let her walk across because she is not being considered to replace him . however , michael cannot even bring himself to do it . dwight throws himself on the coals , refusing to leave until he is given the job , and he writhes in agony until he is dragged off . as a last - ditch effort to salvage the day , michael assembles a " tribal council " stand - up comedy competition . jim declines to participate , and reveals that he has applied for the position in new york . separated from the group , a barefoot pam runs across the hot coals and , feeling a new sense of confidence because of the experience , interrupts the tribal council to berate her colleagues for treating her poorly , citing the fact that almost no one attended her art show . she rounds on jim , and tells him that she called off her wedding because of him , that it is " fine " that he is with someone else now , but that she misses the fun that they had as best friends before he transferred . as she runs to cool her feet in the water , the cameraman turns to jim who is now in a blank stare , shaken by the confession . production " beach games " was written by co - executive producer jennifer celotta and series creator greg daniels , and was directed by harold ramis , whose credits include the episodes " a benihana christmas " and " safety training " . celotta and daniels came up with the idea for the opening scene while researching medical symptoms at ; they began considering ideas for the episode 's cold open , and decided to write on what " we 're doing right now , " resulting in michael researching symptoms . michael 's later conversation with david wallace set an important foundation for both the season and the series , as it established that several people would be competing for a corporate job and solidified the cfo as an important character . the actor who plays wallace , guest star andy buckley , was then working at merrill lynch as a stockbroker . originally the crew sought to film at a lake that resembled lake scranton . however , upon arriving at one in the area they found that it was too beautiful , as they had wanted a lake that was the equivalent of the dour office : " the bleakest lake [ they could ] find . " eventually , much of the episode was filmed at a fake beach at the reservoir of hansen dam , where it was " a thousand degrees during the day and minus 40 at night , " celotta remarked in the dvd audio commentary . " we had tents pumping air conditioning that didn 't work all day long , " according to one crew member . and at night , the production crew set up heaters everywhere because the weather became " frigid " . actress kate flannery later said that the days of filming were extremely " hot " , and she became sick of hot dogs after eating many of them in the contest seen in the episode . many cast members spit out the hot dogs after putting them in their mouths , an act that sometimes activated ed helms ' gag reflex . the cast members found the sumo suits uncomfortable , both due to the hot weather and the inability to sit down . actress angela kinsey previewed before the episode broadcast that she would " forever look at john krasinski differently , because he looked so hilarious to me " wearing his sumo suit . for the scenes of helms floating in the lake in his sumo suit , the actor wore a harness and a fishing line that snaked out through his sleeve , the purpose being to drag him farther out on the lake . a crew member pulled him in a row boat ; the crew would film a take of the scene , and then would have to wait fifteen minutes to do it again . to create a safe enough fire pit to allow the actors to walk on it , the crew used a " light box buried in the ground with orange and yellow gels on it , with lava rocks on top , " according to ramis . gas lines were also buried in the sand to supply a steady stream of flames . many of the scenes and lines of dialogue were improvised , such as andy throwing a rock at a duck and jim guiding an unsuspecting karen into the water . for pam 's speech , daniels and celotta knew it was important , and discussed with ramis for about 45 minutes about how best to shoot it . many different takes were shot , and celotta thought fischer " was so amazing , take after take after take . " ramis believed the past 28 episodes had contained a slow build - up to this scene . daniels wrote most of the speech , though celotta did contribute some parts . the third season dvd contains a number of deleted scenes . notable cut scenes included jim receiving a call informing him of the job opening , michael annoying pam when she 's preparing the hot dogs by telling her to grill faster , dwight sumo wrestling with stanley , ryan asking to participate in the fire walk , and andy failing to flag down a passing car . cultural references on the bus , the cast sing songs such as the kenny rogers song " the gambler " and the flintstones theme song . ramis encouraged them to sing , as he had never ridden on a bus where people did not sing . also in the episode , michael wears sandals gear and a beaded necklace , a reference to his jamaican vacation in " back from vacation " . according to helms and the episode 's writers , the plot references the reality television series survivor and the bachelor , and the apprentice . before their work on the office , the camera men used in this episode shot survivor for four years . several media outlets noted similarities between michael and jeff probst , the host of survivor . reception the episode first aired in the u.s. on may 10 , 2007 , attracting 7 . 2 million viewers and a 3 . 9 / 11 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49 . it ranked fourth in its timeslot behind episodes of survivor : fiji , ugly betty , and are you smarter than a 5th grader ? . it was a special 28 - minute " supersized " episode . entertainment weekly columnist abby west considered pam 's speech to be " a terrific payoff for those of us invested ( some might say too much ) in the jim - pam - karen love triangle . " west also praised other aspects of the episode , such as the fire walk and the sequences with stanley ' to her , " everyone brought his or her a game ( in hilarity , if not in effort ) to the race to succeed michael . " ign 's travis fickett rated " beach games " 8 . 5 / 10 , an indication of a " great " episode . like west , he highlighted stanley for praise , and also liked helms being trapped on the lake . fickett concluded that " while this episode 's closing scene doesn 't have the impact of jim telling pam he was in love with her at the end of season 2 , it is one of those long awaited moments that we knew was coming . and jenna fischer , as pam , handles it perfectly . once again the scranton branch is facing some big changes , and the show has us eagerly awaiting the season finale . " give me my remote writer kath skerry liked the cast 's scenes with the sumo suits , but saved most of her praise for pam 's speech . she declared that it " was . jenna fischer blew me away with that speech . it ’ s what i have been hoping for since the first episode of this season . it didn ’ t end with jim swooping in and kissing pam but there ’ s still one episode left in the season . so that ’ s what we have to ponder over the next week . " jay black of aoltv also enjoyed the episode . he wrote , " i thought that it was a bit more low key than some of the previous episodes ( hilarious sumo outfits not withstanding ) and that suited me just fine . i thought that michael 's ridiculousness , always a difficult balancing act , was reigned - in to just this side of believable where it belongs . i thought that it was filled with a great assortment of gags , both character - based and farcical . " however , black was critical of pam 's speech because it felt both " forced " and out of character for pam to publicly state her feelings .