"Even bad publicity is publicity" I think this may apply. Although the comment may have seemed slanderous, it is also intriguing.
Considering the people who watch it..
hearing "Look up to nerds" then thinking either:
1) I am a nerd.. people looking up to me? hmm.
a)
www.usfirst.org Searching for information on what are people doing in FIRST
2) Why would they want to do that.
a)
www.usfirst.org Searching for why are people being inspired in this program.
For people in the program (such as thread starter) I see how at can be taken as mean words or a joke about something serious, but refer to the above