I was also happy Ike won. He had something to prove!
Honestly, I think Ike was just faster on the buzzer and in general, the pulchritudinous contestants knew the answer to most - each in the five digits.
Speaking of, I knew the word, except my understanding of the meaning was wrong. 45 years wrong: I thought it was a five dollar word for big boobs. Never had any reason to check. It’s not like it comes up in conversation all that much (as proved on J!).
Ran some errands, disappointed I missed Ben Chan’s performance – I did see Final Jeopardy! and guessed the correct response.
Looks like another negative score – not usual with the old ToC – not sure how much the wider net is responsible.
Brian
I’ll agree with the seriousness. At the top of the show, when they announced a celebrity, I expected that Ike would behave like all celebrities do on Celebrity Jeopardy: plenty of quips, comments, wisecracks, and other asides during the game. But that didn’t happen. Ike took it just as seriously as the other contestants, and perhaps as a result, the game moved along nicely. Well done, Ike!
Uh, why was Troy tilted in a chair?
Looked to me as if he had a very bad backache, or perhaps a condition that makes it difficult for him to straighten up. Seemed to us like his posture worsened as he got deeper into the intense concentration of the two extended play periods.
Or maybe just be an odd habit.
J! Archive does say
Troy played seated in a tall chair in his sixth and seventh games of his original run and in the Tournament of Champions
Brian
In all likelihood he has some medical condition that makes it difficult for him to stand for long periods. They don’t call attention to it, but you will occasionally notice those types of accommodations.
Does anyone remember the blind guy they had on a few years ago? He was pretty sharp. I think they had Braille clues for him to read.
Ike was above the magic 2/3 ratio (to the leader) and one option was to bet nothing which would have paid off. Ouch.
It’s been nice to see Yogesh being likable in his tournament games so far; doubly so since he’s made it to the finals. I’ve still been rooting against him, of course, but I do like a good redemption story.
Agreed. He has made much progress.
Eddie Timanus. At the start of every round, he was given a card with the category titles printed in Braille, but he never got any clue texts in Braille. They also provided him with a keyboard to write his Final Jeopardy wager and response. He did remarkably well, winning five games in a row (the limit at that time), despite playing under the disadvantage of not being able to read ahead on the clues. Naturally, being able to read ahead is something that gives sighted players an advantage of a few extra seconds to think of the correct response (if they can read reasonably fast). Eddie has been invited back several times for various tournaments. I hope to see him back again in late March or early April in the Invitational Tournament whose lineup has not yet been announced as far as I know.
We saw his games at the time. He was amazing.
Eddie Timanus was also the impetus for the change to having contestants already at their podiums during the introduction, rather than walking to the podium from off-stage. Us older folk will remember when Johnny Gilbert used to say “Now entering the studio are today’s contestants…”
Interesting game today (Ides of March) — with these contestants who finds the daily doubles is a BIG factor .
Brian
Go Ben!
The gameplay so far in this last tournament has been exceptional.
Interesting FJ wagers as well.
Troy had $33,200
Yogesh had $20,400
Ben had $12,800
Ben bet $12,800, got it right, finished with $25,600.
Yogesh bet $5200, got it wrong, finished with $15,200.
Troy bet $7601, which, if he answered correctly, would have been one dollar more than Yogesh’s score, doubled. (This was the correct bet, BTW). But when he missed, he finished with $25,599, losing by one dollar to Ben.
Notice that going into FJ, Ben’s score + Yogesh’s score exactly equaled Troy’s score. I believe these were all the correct bets, although Yogesh possibly should have bet either $5201, or go all in.
And now, the tournament is over. And a new one begins. The “Invitational” tournamant. Is there going to be an NIT (not in tournament) tournament, too?
It’s tournaments now and forever!
Make it stop!