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The girl in the finale, who had already won nearly 40 grand, totally blew it. The answer was MYTHOLOGY. She actually said “Mytholog…uuuh,” like she couldn’t figure it out. Then the buzzer sounded. Then she said “Mythology.”
Painful.
Joe
I can’t remember who first said it (it might have been George Carlin, I’m not sure), but there’s a reason why Wheel of Fortune is on after Jeopardy: after coming to grips with your own stupidity compared to the contestants on Jeopardy, you can at least rest assured knowing that there are still many people out there who are MUCH stupider than you.
The last episode of WoF that I saw was one of the “college edition” shows. You’d assume that at least these people would have half a clue, but oh no. Most of the puzzles went unanswered until there were only 2 or 3 spaces left, and even then it looked like the contestants were really struggling. “College Edition”, indeed. Clown College, maybe. Nah, clowns would be smarter, at least they know how to juggle and ride unicycles and stuff.
Huh. I thought they held off on solving the puzzles so that they could win more money.
Well, that is unless they’re really struggling anyway.
I think it’s generally a better bet to solve as soon as you know it unless you have a free spin or are well behind in money since there are bad wedges you can hit.
Perhaps, except that people were getting almost to the point of solving the puzzles and still missing letters.
I think that’s the thing with a lot of game shows, though: with a few exceptions (Jeopardy being one), the contestants are probably not selected based on who’s the smartest. It makes for much more entertaining television (well, at least in the producers’ minds) if you have someone of average to slightly-less-than-average intelligence playing, because you get to watch them really sweat over each decision. I mean, take the guy who won a couple million dollars on Jeopardy a few years back: I can’t imagine him being selected to be on a show like Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, because there would be very little doubt that he would win, and thus, no drama to play up.
Eh. Sorry, but I’ve long passed the point where mundane game show slipups elicit any kind of stunned and/or ROTFL reaction from me. Lots of smart, savvy players just aren’t good at dealing with real-time pressure or being consistently right within unforgiving time limits.
And sometimes, they just plain choke. I remember a contestant on the old Jackpot show who got about as softball a question imaginable, something like “I’m the breakfast item that pops up in the morning.” He hemmed, hawed, and fumbled hopelessly before blurting out “Snapcracklepopcereal!” Yeah, he must’ve been kicking himself for that for days afterward…much like Richard Hatch did when he went on Who Wants To Be a Millionarire, got “What’s 11 times 12?”, immediately committed to a wrong answer, and then leisurely worked through the question to get the right answer, which would’ve been great if he did it when the freak he was supposed to.
Whaddya gonna do?
Intravenus - I wouldn’t be so sure. Remember, knowing the right answer is useless if the contestant cannot buzz in before the other two contestants without buzzing in too fast. It’s a high-noon showdown as much as a battle of wits. That’s was Ken Jennings’ big edge, his almost superhuman timing. Don’t forget, too, that 5th Grader forces anyone who wants the million to take a huge gamble. So while he’d go a long was (as would most of us), the ultimate prize would hardly be a lock.
Here, Wheel comes on before Jeopardy.
Jeopardy had an answer displayed “7.2 trillion zillion gajllion miles” (slight poetic license - it was something to do with the universe)
The young, smart college girl clicked in and said “What is the diameter of the Earth?”.
I laughed so hard, so loud and so long, I never did hear the correct answer.
You mean the correct question? “What is a light-year?”
Do you live in Soviet Russia? I hear they do everything backwards there.
Wheel comes on before Jeopardy here too, has for a looong time.
I’m terrible at Wheel of Fortune. I can never figure it out. I rock at Jeopardy.
I wasn’t listening during the question, but when the contestants answered “What is The Diameter of Earth?” and Something else by another contestant, then Alex said, no, What is a Light Year, I had to do a triple take. How does one not… never mind.
Joe
No, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
Yeah, but there aren’t as many buzzer-beater shows as there used to be. On WoF, they take turns more or less. 5th Grader and Don’t Forget the Lyrics (which is, admittedly, a much harder show) pretty much deal with only one or two contestants per ep, one at a time. Who Wants to be a Millionaire had a buzzer-beater at the beginning, IIRC, but after that it was all about who was on the hot seat. I think game shows now are trending towards ones that can squeeze as much drama and tension possible out of someone anxiously awaiting their fate, which IMO can get very irritating. “The correct answer is…something I will tell you after this commercial break.” Grrrrr, I hate that.
And yeah, when the contestants go for the top prize, there’s a lot of risk and the questions are typically very hard…but how many of them actually get to that point?
I’ve never watched a whole episode of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth-grade. How is there a huge gamble? I thought you just had to answer the general-knowledge questions.
Jeopardy is before Wheel in all God-fearing areas.
StG
I would love to see McCain, Clinton, and Obama go against each other in a game of Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune (or both)!
The gamble is on the last question. Every question leading up to the final question you can look at and then decide to answer or quit and take the money you have won so far. When you get to the last question you have to decide whether to answer it without seeing the question or knowing what category it is, math, history etc.
I have not seen an episode yet where someone got that far.
Also here in southern California Wheel comes on before Jeopardy the way god intended it to be. 
GA has Wheel before Jeopardy.
Except for the HORRIBLE period where Jeopardy came on at 4:30, and Wheel came on at 7:30.
Yes. Anything to keep Georgians dumb and stupid.
Also, Wheel did NOT need a buzz in round. :smack:
Remember the old prize shopping showcase WOF used to have at the end of a round? They showed the contestant in a little circle in the upper corner of the screen and slowly panned through a room full of prizes with price tags, they person would say something like “Oh, I’ll take the TV for $500, the Colorado vacation for $1,200, the blender for $60, and I’ll take the rest in a gift certificate.”