# I can't believe this on Jeopardy... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297 "2009-12-15T02:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/21 "2009-12-15T14:49:37Z")
The one in the OP is a bad example, but sometimes Jeopardy does have very easy clues that contestants inexplicably get wrong. Two examples: 1. On October 30, 2008 Playbill changed its logo colour to green for a special edition marking this show’s 5th anniversary on Broadway. 2. Because of the requirements in pumping blood to its brain, it has the highest blood pressure of any living animal. Neither of these actually require you to know the answer beforehand. The clues themselves basically give you the answers. Yet contestants missed both. Perhaps they have too much knowledge, so they don’t notice “gimme” clues like these? If you don’t know much, you choose the obvious (and correct) answer in these cases, but if you know more it isn’t as easy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/22 "2009-12-15T15:32:37Z")
I saw 2. and did get “giraffe” but I just had to google to see what 1. was all about because Broadway isn’t something I pay close attention to. The only thing I could think of was green -\> money -\> Rent but 2003 is too late for that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/23 "2009-12-15T15:34:25Z")
I have absolutely no idea what (1) might be, unless there’s a musical called _Money_. (2) could easily have been a blue whale or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/24 "2009-12-15T15:35:01Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > The one in the OP is a bad example, but sometimes Jeopardy does have very easy clues that contestants inexplicably get wrong. > > Two examples: > > 1. On October 30, 2008 Playbill changed its logo colour to green for a special edition marking this show’s 5th anniversary on Broadway. > 2. Because of the requirements in pumping blood to its brain, it has the highest blood pressure of any living animal. > Neither of these actually require you to know the answer beforehand. The clues themselves basically give you the answers. > > Yet contestants missed both. Perhaps they have too much knowledge, so they don’t notice “gimme” clues like these? If you don’t know much, you choose the obvious (and correct) answer in these cases, but if you know more it isn’t as easy. I don’t have the faintest idea of the first question (and not the remotest idea of how I could figure it out), and would guess ‘man’ or ‘giraffe’ for the second, depending on whether I thought size of brain relative to body size, or elevation of brain relative to body was the more important factor. In short, I would almost certainly miss both questions, and like most people on the Dope, I have a pretty good assortment of useless knowledge parked in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/25 "2009-12-15T15:38:10Z")
I don’t have the slightest idea what the first one is either. Not everybody follows Broadway. I can’t even name a current Broadway show. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/26 "2009-12-15T15:40:34Z")
I would go far as to say that I look down on people who enjoy musical theater. Yes, you heard me, losers! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/27 "2009-12-15T15:41:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I haven’t been on the show (I think we have two regular posters who’ve been called to audition, one of whom was on) but I’ve taken the online application test thingy a couple of times and gotten qualifying scores. Jayjay and I were at the same audition in D.C. in May, though we didn’t know it at the time. I’m still waiting for the phone call, and I think he is too. I play trivia every Tuesday night to keep up my chops, but haven’t been studying like I should. What I should be doing is memorizing world capitals, cabinet members, major rivers and mountains, and NASA missions. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/28 "2009-12-15T15:42:02Z")
OK, I Googled to get (1). It’s not something I ever would have thought of. I guess I had a vague idea that it was a musical, but I don’t think that’s a gimme to anyone who doesn’t pay some attention to Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/29 "2009-12-15T15:45:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > OK, I Googled to get (1). It’s not something I ever would have thought of. I guess I had a vague idea that it was a musical, but I don’t think that’s a gimme to anyone who doesn’t pay some attention to Broadway. I just googled it to, and I would be surprised if it’s a gimme even to people who do follow Broadway but don’t read Playbill. Hell, I’ve even read the book the musical is based on; still none the wiser. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/30 "2009-12-15T15:59:31Z")
I googled it too; wouldn’t have guessed it. To save everyone else the trouble, it’s _Wicked_. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/31 "2009-12-15T16:17:58Z")
> [@wisernow](#): > > OK, let me ask a question. How does one prepare for a Jeopardy challenge? Are the contestants aware of the answers they give in a general way and know them as part of there day to day life, or do they put themselves thro a specific course of learning to prepare themselves for the Jeopardy challenge? I read everything I could get my hands on in the 36 years between when I played and when I started reading. I didn’t do much in the couple of months between when I found out I was going to be on and the taping date, other than make sure there was always an almanac handy in the can for easy access. ---
**Author:** ![Iridescent\_Orb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@Iridescent\_Orb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iridescent_Orb)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/32 "2009-12-15T16:24:42Z")
Everyone has their own subset of knowledge, and often find it hard to envision how anyone else could not know the same things. This is often referred to as “The Curse of Knowledge”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/33 "2009-12-15T16:35:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > (2) could easily have been a blue whale Yep, that’s what one of the contestants said too. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/34 "2009-12-15T16:44:14Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > I googled it too; wouldn’t have guessed it. To save everyone else the trouble, it’s _Wicked_. Thank you. I was about to join the chorus of folks who had no idea what the first one was. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/35 "2009-12-15T16:44:56Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > I googled it too; wouldn’t have guessed it. To save everyone else the trouble, it’s _Wicked_. Ha! My first thought on reading the question. I should be on Jeopardy.\* - or, possibly, I’m more into the theatre than I, myself ever knew. Crap, I hope I’m not gay, that’s gonna really piss off my gay friends, not mention my wife. Think, damn you, think, do you know any other musicals? Wait, um, the Wizard of Oz!, with, with Judy Garland - oh crap, maybe I am gay. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/36 "2009-12-15T16:56:43Z")
I missed the question in the OP on two points, because I guessed Sudan, which is apparently neither an OPEC nor a Commonwealth nation. I knew giraffe, and missed _Wicked_ (but should have gotten that one). ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/37 "2009-12-15T18:15:40Z")
Which just goes to prove the truism: Any trivia question is perfectly obvious if you know the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/38 "2009-12-15T18:30:08Z")
There’s the occasional triple stump where I wonder, _how the hell did_ none _of these contestants get that?_ These generally balance out with the triple gets where I wonder, _how the hell did_ all three _of these contestants get that?_ ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/39 "2009-12-15T18:39:27Z")
Or, as Will Rogers said, “We’re all ignorant, just on different subjects.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297/40 "2009-12-15T18:42:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I would have presumed that most people would have an easier time figuring out that Nigeria has a population of 150 million than that it is both an OPEC and Commonwealth member. > > Incidentally, it hasn’t been the “British Commonwealth” since 1946. The organization is now called the Commonwealth of Nations. > > ETA: Please say it was actually Nigeria. When I lived in Africa, we ran into an officer of the Nigerian Police who were part of the UN military contingent. The guy was a stereotypical Brit solder, very cool. So I wish my final Jep question had been this easy. As for oil, when you live in California you see the effect of every bit of protest/ rebel action in the Nigerian oil fields at the pump. I didn’t get the musical either. If Finian’s Rainbow had been revived 6 years earlier that would have been a good answer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-this-on-jeopardy/521297.md?page=3)