May 7 Final Jeopardy was interesting - the clue made guessing the play pretty easy, but if you didn’t know the playwright you were still SOL.
I didn’t get the Final Jeopardy! on May 7. (“The first version of a 1960s play by this man had a slightly different title, ending with ‘Meet King Lear’”)
Me neither, because
Oh, I know the playwright and the play but it didn’t occur to me at the time.
Exactly. My point is that a lot of people (like you and I) got as far as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, at least as a guess, but didn’t know who wrote it.
Ha ha.
I mean, filter the already selected contestants so the worst of the lot go against multi day champions. And get creamed.
He made headlines last November for dying .
That’s not very impressive; anyone can do that.
And it happened peacefully at home, not even something notable like unwittingly delivering your own execution order.
Or miraculously recovering in time to win a prestigious award:
It’s necessary to go through many levels of selection to get on the show. First, you need to be a U.S. or Canadian resident. You have to do an online selection process. You have to go somewhere to be interviewed in person and to compete with other prospective contestants. The people who get selected are on average considerable better at doing this than the people who you compete with at your local bar’s trivia contest.
Contestants for each game are chosen at random from the group who are there. There are people from the legal department present to make sure it happens this way.
And how would they know who “the worst of the lot” are, anyway? Every contestant present has gone through the same screening process, passed the same tests, and so forth. You never know how people will perform until they play the actual game.
Why are so many people so sure that Jeopardy! is rigged?
BTW, I just performed in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead a few months ago, so FJ was super-easy for me.
And you have to not totally fuck it up. Ask me how I know.
In Friday’s game, they had a category “21st century tv theme song lyrics.” 3 out of 5 were triple stumpers.
There’s just too much TV! Who can keep up?
I love that play. Which role did you perform?
I played Polonius. It’s a weird play, but interesting.
I knew two of them (What We Do in the Shadows and Adventure Time), but only one was a show I’ve ever watched (the former).
Am I the only one who actually enjoys them? I like to pick someone to root for, and hearing a little bit about them helps me do so.
Jeopardy, Tuesday, June 9, 2026:
Two contestants, including the defending champ, had 5 figures: $11,400 and $10,400. 3rd place guy had $2,200.
All 3 missed. 3rd place bet only $7 and finished with $2,193, while the other two bet big and finished with $1,999 and $1,801. 3rd place guy wins the game, while winning less money than the 2nd place finisher, who won $3000.
I was glad to see the champ go down. He was so smug.
I’m not a fan, either. But we will see him again in the Tournament of Champions.
Kind of nice to have an upset in Final once in a while (regardless of how charming the champ may or may not be).