Holy Moly, what a dumb Jeopardy contestant...

[Yorikke]

So the lady today (Weds., June 8) got the last two clues all to herself, as daily doubles. Instead of going for the throat on the last clue, making it a runaway, she bet only $1000. Even if wrong, a runaway bet would STILL have had her in first going into final. She got it right, but the puss-out bid left the door open, and she blew an EASY final question to lose...

Joe

[Munch]

What were the players' totals at each of those points?

[Yorikke]

What were the players' totals at each of those points?

IIRC, the lady in the lead could have bet $4201. Right, and It'd be a runaway going into final. Wrong, she'd still be in first going into final. Instead, she bet a grand, and answered correctly, which helped her exactly zero. Then she blew the final question to lose.

Joe

[Munch]

$3200 is still real money. Might not have been a strong category for her, and $1000 itself was a gamble.

[Yorikke]

Perhaps.

Joe

[Scuba_Ben]

What was the category that she wagered only $1k on, and what was the clue?
Ditto for Final Jeopardy!.

[Justin_Bailey]

THEY GIVE US GAS (all about gas companies)
The "Our History" section of this gas giant's site shows its path from an "Anglo-Persian oil company to global energy group"

BP

Just before that she got this Daily Double in AROUND THE BODY
When an injury like a cut is sustained, these blood cells change shape, become sticky, build up on the wound and form a plug

platelets

Maybe I was just having a good day playing along, but I found both of these (and Final Jeopardy) really easy. I was shocked at her wagers too.

[Omniscient]

$3200 is still real money. Might not have been a strong category for her, and $1000 itself was a gamble.

What was the category that she wagered only $1k on, and what was the clue?
Ditto for Final Jeopardy!.

Neither should matter. You only get money if you win the game with the highest total. You aren't losing $3200 when you get a question wrong, you're losing 3200 points that are valueless until you win Final Jeopardy. If you have a Daily Double with the last question you have 2 goals, ensure that you go into Final Jeopardy with the most money and to try and make it a runaway so Final Jeopardy is moot, in that order. It doesn't matter if you go into Final Jeopardy with a 1 point lead, you still have the leverage. Most Final Jeopardy questions are gotten by either everyone or no one. Daily Double questions are almost always easier than Final Jeopardy questions and they provide far more context for the answer, if you can bet all your money on a Daily Double heading into Final Jeopardy you're probably standing a better chance of getting that one right than the Final.

[Ogre]

Grrrr. Platelets aren't true cells. They're cell fragments, derived from a precursor cell.

[Gangster Octopus]

THEY GIVE US GAS (all about gas companies)
The "Our History" section of this gas giant's site shows its path from an "Anglo-Persian oil company to global energy group"

BP

Just before that she got this Daily Double in AROUND THE BODY
When an injury like a cut is sustained, these blood cells change shape, become sticky, build up on the wound and form a plug

platelets

Maybe I was just having a good day playing along, but I found both of these (and Final Jeopardy) really easy. I was shocked at her wagers too.

Of course for Daily Double they don't know the question, just the category before their wager.

[Asimovian]

I thought jsgoddess was going to choke me because I gave the exact same rant, emphatically, when the contestant made that bet, and I said I'd laugh at her if she ended up losing because of it. In the end, though, I just felt really badly for her.

And during the closing credits, when the contestants were all talking to Alex, she made a "gun to the head" gesture at herself that I can only assume was in reference to her belated realization of her mistake.

[Jackknifed Juggernaut]

I notice that bad betting seems to be a pretty frequent occurrence on Jeopardy. Are the scores easily visible to the contestants? The reason I ask is that if I was deciding on what to bet for a Daily Double, my eyes would be focused on the scores quickly doing math. It doesn't seem like the contestants do that.

[Justin_Bailey]

Of course for Daily Double they don't know the question, just the category before their wager.

Right, but for the gas one it was well established that all the questions related to oil/gas companies. And the questions made the answers really obvious. It's possible the Daily Double would be a bit harder, but not necessarily.

And it wasn't. The "anglo" wording in the clue pointed directly at BP.

[Scuba_Ben]

I notice that bad betting seems to be a pretty frequent occurrence on Jeopardy. Are the scores easily visible to the contestants? The reason I ask is that if I was deciding on what to bet for a Daily Double, my eyes would be focused on the scores quickly doing math. It doesn't seem like the contestants do that.

I seem to recall that off to the side of the board, tech crew keeps a display with everybody's scores on it. And yes, they are doing the math that fast.

[Mr. Moto]

It's very easy to criticize from your couch.

They don't give you a lot of time to make your bet - you are on the spot there. You have tons of time to figure out a Final Jeopardy bet, down to the nearest buck. But that's it.

I got a taste of this when I was on the show in 2000. I played one game, lost, and took my consolation prize. And I got further than anyone I have ever met, apart from the other people I met that day.

It isn't easy.

So the only contestant I ever call dumb is me - that's the only one I have evidence for. ;)

[Bryan Ekers]

My answers to those questions would have been "British Petroleum" and "red blood cells", which makes me wonder if I'd've been judged wrong.

Or maybe I'd first get one of those silent two-second pauses from Alex while he waited for me to become more specific.

[Autolycus]

Man, she must have felt sooooo bad. That's the feeling I take away from watching all these epic screwups. Every time she watches a game show now, she will feel the burning shame of blunderdom.

[Munch]

What was her name? Because now we can just associate her name with making such a blunder. "Man, I really pulled a Sally!" they'll say...

[BigT]

My answers to those questions would have been "British Petroleum" and "red blood cells", which makes me wonder if I'd've been judged wrong.

Or maybe I'd first get one of those silent two-second pauses from Alex while he waited for me to become more specific.

Platelets are not red blood cells. And British Petroleum is no longer the name of the company. I am almost certain that that these would be counted wrong.

But, then again, the BP question is historical in nature, so maybe.

[Sailboat]

Neither should matter.

Oh sure, it's easy to lecture people about the rules when you're Omniscient. Sheesh.

[Biotop]

I can never understand why the leading contestant in Final Jeopardy always bets so that they can beat the second place contestant by $1.00. It seems like a better strategy would be to bet for a tie, allowing both you (the leader) and the second place contestant to both win, both get money, and both come back the next day. That way you are playing a contestant on the next show that you already know you can beat...and at the same time, should the roles be reversed tomorrow, the other contestant might just do the favor back to you.

[Chronos]

One factor there is that practice helps. Even though you were able to beat that guy before, if he comes back, he'll be better. It's probably safer, overall, to go for a newbie. This is part of why Ken Jennings lasted so long: Once he'd been on for a couple weeks, he was so much more practiced than anyone else that it made him almost unbeatable.

[notfrommensa]

I believe the defending champ wins about 50% of the time (or greater), certainly more than the expected probability of 33.3% of the time. So it would behoove a player to win outright, rather than tying.

[Biotop]

One factor there is that practice helps. Even though you were able to beat that guy before, if he comes back, he'll be better.

I guess. Seems kind of cold to take $5000.00 out of the pocket of the guy/gal next door. Maybe one needs to have a killer instinct to win at Jeopardy.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried the benevolent strategy?

[Munch]

I guess. Seems kind of cold to take $5000.00 out of the pocket of the guy/gal next door. Maybe one needs to have a killer instinct to win at Jeopardy.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried the benevolent strategy?

Back when you maxed out at 5 days, it was more common.

[borschevsky]

I guess. Seems kind of cold to take $5000.00 out of the pocket of the guy/gal next door. Maybe one needs to have a killer instinct to win at Jeopardy.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried the benevolent strategy?This guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72zn2KODSsY) did it to create the first three-way tie in history. He lost on the next show.

[Ambihelical Hexnut]

I can never understand why the leading contestant in Final Jeopardy always bets so that they can beat the second place contestant by $1.00. It seems like a better strategy would be to bet for a tie, allowing both you (the leader) and the second place contestant to both win, both get money, and both come back the next day. That way you are playing a contestant on the next show that you already know you can beat...and at the same time, should the roles be reversed tomorrow, the other contestant might just do the favor back to you.

It seems to me that if the situation of the other contestant returning the favor on the next show by engineering a second consecutive tie was to arise, then an awful lot of suspicion would be generated due to the possibility of collusion between the tied contestants - there's no way that can be good for the show's reputation, so maybe the show's executives discourage contestants from playing like this.