I don't know what any of these people expected to see in a formal debate with a 30 - 40 point IQ differential. My brother says the topic could literally have been anything at all, gardening, race cars, baseball... and the results would have been the same. Or they could have asked for a topic from the audience and taken the first one suggested, and results would have been the same.
This is what happens when a totally unvetted guy runs into real opposition for the first time ever in life.