Might have had the equivalent of the Blind Skull on to show off the environments more, too.
I believe they set it so Staten couldn't take damage so that he didn't die in the middle of the playthrough. That's just my perspective, he took a ton of hits in that one bossfight where Jason died.
Great points! I actually thought about it being because Staten's so great he can't simply die, but then again, he wouldn't need immortality to win? ...Right?
Speaking of which, their shooting was really off the mark. Either they did it on purpose (to be more theatrical for the show (which they were, even without the poor shooting)), or it was a carefully planned move for Bungie to put the suckiest players on the stage. But yeah, probably the first one.