What was the Final Jeopardy question? Don’t tell me the answer, as I’m mentally betting it all and want to see if I win. 
From J! Archive:
Category: Vocabulary.
What is ‘invalid’, Alex
I could understand his reluctance. Sometimes the categories that appear the easiest in final jeopardy are the ones that are the killers. So put yourself in his place.
$29,200 in my pocket, its my money…or risk partially or all of it on a question that is known to sometimes be a killer. Again, everybody else went home. It’s MY money.
No way I would wager all of it. I’d wager just enough to feel a little pain or pleasure
from the outcome.
$1200 - if I lose it that knocks the navigation package off of that car I wanted to buy. If I win it then the I’m adding the sun roof.
I did put myself in his place. That’s why I headdesked when he bet almost nothing.
‘Can’t lose’ makes ‘betting almost nothing’ an absolutely stupid move. And I’m really a highly risk-adverse type.
OK, maybe he didn’t need to bet almost all of it, but 5 grand is the absolute minimum I could…respect isn’t the word, but not disrespect.
A loss == don’t get 29 grand, but get to come back for more. A win == get almost 60 grand.
There was literally nothing to lose. If you’re so attached to your virtual money (and until he finishes his run, that’s all it is - virtual money) that you’re not going to risk losing some to get some (he doesn’t seem to be, though - 1/3 of his score was from Daily Doubles), you shouldn’t be on a game show that involves wagering.
Being the OCD person that I am, I would wagered $800 (and got it wrong). Or if I was a defending champ, I would have wagered something that would have brought my total winnings ending in ‘000’.
As found as Ken Jennings was in wanting to win in $5000 increments, I cannot believe he never wagered (IIRC) to get his total winnings to a $5000 increment. When he a had a runaway win
I didn’t get it. 
I didn’t get it either, but word recall isn’t my thing.
If I were to wimp out on Jeopardy, I’d bet zero and then get the answer wrong whether I knew the answer or not.
In a situation like this, you should either wager as much as you can (if you think your likelihood of getting it right is greater than 50%) or as little as you can (if you think your likelihood is less than 50%). Things change if you’re wagering money you actually need, but game show winnings will almost never fall into that category.
I consider myself quite good at all things words, but I would not have got it. Suck it, Trebek.
While I understand the arguments regarding the wagering of virtual money, I know how often I don’t get Final Jeopardy even when I consider it a sure thing, so I would have played it safe and just wagered enough to make me a little extra happy if I got it or slightly dismayed if I lost, something akin to about 5000$ I’d say. I will say that wagering absolutely nothing reeks with the air of cowardice and lame-dom.
I would have got it, as demonstrated above … but I would have needed about 10 minutes to come up with it.
Jeopardy and pre-Trebek days… Am I THAT old? I do remember Wheel of Fortune when it was Chuck Woolery and some woman named Susie. In the early afternoons!
I have a knack for remembering nearly every face I’ve ever seen. The problem is that I have NO clue where from. And you learn REAL fast never to use the phrase, “Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
So one day, I happened to be in NYC doing a small job at the Museum of Broadcasting. In the Director’s office, I saw a young lady who looked familiar, but I just couldn’t place her. So I did ask her, “You look familiar. Are you on a TV show?” To which she gave a disdainful look and ignored me. It wasn’t until a couple months later when I happened to see Wheel of Fortune that I realized it was Vanna White.
If he was alone and knew the answer, couldn’t he just say it before the music started?