I am not sure this is the most appropriate forum for this
discussion, but I will start here.
I am going to be on Win Ben Stein’s Money. There does not seem to be as much strategy involved as say, the wagering in Final Jeopardy!, but one thing I thought about is going 1st or 2nd/last on the final round. I think it is better to go second. If you are told Ben got a low number right, it might indicate that the questions are hard and that you should be more ready to pass rather than waste a lot of time pondering a hard answer. Comments?
Does anyone have a pointer to a fan site or something where the types of category that Stein does well on/poorly on is listed?
No, go first- it appears to me that Ben cuts some slack for those who have given a good performance, and get a good score (say, 7), but he can do 8, easy- it looks like he will do 6 or 7 to cut some slack, and give up the prize. If you get only 3 or 4, you’re screwed anyway, and if you get 10, well…
Ben wouldn’t “cut any slack” for anyone. Go second. This will tell you exactly what you need to get for a score. This could come in handy. For example, you need 8, and you have 6 with two questions left. Obviously, you cannot afford to pass, and you only know that if you go second.
What I don’t understand is why anyone would ‘pass’ to begin with. I mean, the first time I saw this show I assumed they would go back and ask it again in the time remaining. But nope, they never did. Strange. So, I’d answer every question with something, anything. It can’t hurt anything.
I forget who the poster was… ::correction:: actually I do. I just did a search (I’m in a good mood) for ya and found her here. She was one the show not too long ago.
My anecdotal observations have been as follows (and I watch the show a lot):
Alice goes first. Bob goes second. If Alice has done well, Bob might need 6, 7, or 8 (or more) correct responses to win. Bob feels a certain degree of psychological pressure, because he knows he has to beat Alice’s not-insignificant number. Conversely though, I don’t think that Bob knowing that Alice did really poorly (say 2 or 3 right) is going to have much of an effect. If you go first, there is no added pressure.
In the specific case of Ben and guest, Ben has played the show a lot, so he probably has better nerves about this, on average, than his guests. The guests however may well start freaking out when they know Ben got 8 right beforehand.
Basically,
guest goes first => minor or no advantage to guest
Ben goes first => no advantage to significant disadvantage to guest.
personally, i’d go second. who knows how sound proof those booths are? i mean, any advantage (even a small chance like being able to hear muffled questions) is still an advantage. and you might be able to gauge responses or the ease of the questions from studio audience’s reactions.
And you have the benefit of coming out, hearing Ben’s score and saying, with a hearty laugh, “I can do better than that.” And even if you get reamed, it’ll still get a good laugh or two out of the audience.
You might get more useful info on alt.tv.game-shows, where this has been discussed several times. The consensus is that it’s better to go first - Ben gets flustered if he knows a contestant has a high score, and he takes this seriously. If you get easily flustered yourself, it’s better not to worry about having to reach a particular score, and it’s easier to put a question out of your mind when it’s time for the next one.
Yes, if you don’t know an answer and don’t have a good guess, then pass. You won’t get all 10 questions if you pause more than a second on any given one.
I’ve been on Jeopardy and Millionaire, but never Stein, though, so take it for what it’s worth. I can point you to others who have been there, though.
I would consider which would be best for you emotionally. If you went second, are you the type of person who could use that time to focus, calm your nerves and prepare yourself mentally? If so, going second might give you an advantage. If, on the other hand, sitting there in the quiet is likely to make you more nervous, you might choose to go first, in the interest of “getting it over with.”
I doubt seriously whether it makes any difference at all to the way Ben Stein answers.
Another point to consider is that the woman who reads the questions sometimes stumbles over a word or two. I wonder if she might read the questions just slightly faster the second time around? That could possibly give you an advantage if it came down to one last-possible-second answer.
I would say go first, but for a different reason than everyone else.
When you are in the booth, don’t keep score. Answer each question individually without regard to how you did on the question before or worrying about how you will do on the next question. You just don’t have the time or the brain power to waste on worrying about it. There will be plenty of time to contemplate your score after the 60 seconds is up. You should be in pure information retrieval mode. If you go second and know Ben’s score, it will be harder to focus on just answering the questions. Focus! That’s the key.