I imagine they're keeping track of the fishbucks outside of the paper itself, but they want to give the contestants the option of paying one another or pooling their resources together. It's easier for the contestants and the audience to understand that if they're physical pieces of paper rather than just a digital counter or something.
It's really just a quick-fix to incentivize the contestants to stay.
I actually agree with Sam's thought process on TTS, assuming they let it get more antagonizing as time goes on. You don't want to make half of them drop out in the first week over insults, but you do want it to get really bad near the end for drama. At the end of the day, I bet they're less concerned about the Nigger word or landwhale jokes and more concerned about safety.
I don't really understand why it's taking them so long to set up. Maybe they're trying to automate it, but it'd be smarter to just have a few guys moderate it to keep out dox, threats, etc.
The lateness just comes across as unprofessional to me. Stick to a fucking schedule if you're streaming live. I actually cut a workout a short just to see the essay section, and it still hadn't started 45 minutes after I got home.