He had the nice story about his sister at the beginning though, so I’ll forgive him the wacky neckware.
September?! I can’t wait that long to see Fabio again. 
What a fun read! Stefan comes off as quite smart and witty, which I guess we knew from watching him. I liked the “Steve” smackdown.
What is “DANSWER”? Shorthand for Dumb Answer?
I also would have guessed Whiffenpoof Cheese, believe it or not. For some reason, I was thinking Yale was in New York.
“DANSWER” was a category that the questions were all names of dances.
Given everything else about the guy, I wouldn’t put it past him that he made the story up about his sister. According to the Stefan on the Jeopardy! forums, John was originally going to be a bon vivant, but changed it to gadabout. Stefan said he was originally going to call himself a stay-at-home son. I don’t know if he was joking about that.
Incidentally, I guessed Dolly Parton as the answer. She is the same age as John’s wrong answer of Cher, at 63.
Yep. Same here.
For what it’s worth, there are a few of us who have actually eaten Liederkranz cheese. Not that I actually miss it.
My reading of Stefan’s comment was that the producers of Jeopardy! were the ones who decided to change John’s occupation to “gadabout” rather than “bon vivant.” It sounds to me like John is unemployed, and they just don’t say that on Jeopardy! “An unemployed office worker from Flint, Michigan…”
It also sounds like Stefan is unemployed, which is why he considered being described as “stay-at-home son,” though I’m certain the producers would never go along with that. He stated on the J! forums that he hasn’t been a camp counselor since his audition.
I wonder if figuring out how to describe unemployed contestants is going to be an increasing problem on Jeopardy! due to the terrible economy. Both times I tried out, I didn’t currently have a job.
I knew it! I was just telling my wife the other day that listing two jobs for a contestant is game show code for “I am actually unemployed… but here are the last two jobs I held”.
I hate to be the kind of guy who registers for a forum because there’s a single thread about him in it, but besides that, I have been a fan of The Straight Dope for around 15 years now (my dad had the first book, and I stumbled upon it around age 11 and read the hell out of it).
Anyway, I wanted to pop in here and say that my Sony message board posts have been misread. I actually am testing games and getting paid for it, and I’m a camp counselor as well. I work nights at the game testing gig, which is how I’m able to do the two jobs. It’s crazy and exhausting, but it’s only eight weeks out of the year.
And John’s story about his sister was absolutely true.
Welcome, congratulations, and good luck.
If you are indeed Stefan, I missed today’s show, but do imagine you’ve been invited to the Tournament of Champions.
If or when you attend, I politely, but firmly request that you put a small fan on your podium to blow your hair. The more hidden the fan is from camera view the better. Also, I imagine the J! suits wouldn’t let you do this, so just put your foot down and tell them that you’re putting a fan on your podium.
EDIT: Missing today’s show doesn’t actually mean anything, because I forgot the end of the season was Friday. So nevermind me. 
Stefan, welcome! Stick around! Now you can be in the list of Dopers who’ve won on Jeopardy. We also have a threadfor those of us poor saps who have auditioned and are waiting for the call (that’d be me, jayjay, DrFidelius and a few others).
Welcome, Stefan. I admire your style of play including occasional large bets and humerous questions. I am studying and hope to make it on the show one day. My plan is to bet big or bet it all at every opportunity during the first game and hope to hit it big. Then I would play it more conventionally thereafter. I figure it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to take a chance like that.
Good luck! 
My bad, seaborgium, since I am the one who suggested you might be unemployed and that you weren’t a camp counselor anymore. For the record (and so people don’t think I was just making stuff up!) this was your comment on the J! Forums that I misinterpreted:
As you can see, it sounded like you were saying that you were no longer a counselor, although I guess you meant you weren’t yet a video game tester? At any rate, I’m glad you have a job (or two), though I guess you don’t need one as badly now.
And since you were the reigning champ at the end of the season, does that mean you don’t get to go to the Tournament of Champions until 2010?
I’ll be honest. Part of the reason I started this thread was to check if you were a member (or lurker – Dopes appearing on Jeopardy tend to mention it.)
I believe betting large (i.e. all of it) in the first round is correct. If you lose it all, your opponents are very likely to only have peanuts compared to what you can win in Double Jeopardy. You’ll probably make it up with just two or three correct answers.
Also, if one of your opponents has a large lead, no better way to catch up than to double your winnings.
Speaking of Double Jeopardy, if you’re in the lead, might as well bet all* of your lead minus a hundred bucks or so. This way you’re still leading at least. If you’re behind, bet the amount you’re behind by.
*Unless you’re close to just running away with the whole game.
Fallacy Alert!
If all else fails, appeal to authority. Ken Jennings would bet big in the first round. His second round doesn’t matter though because half way through he’d have more than his opponents combined.
I think if I ever got on Jeopardy! and I had a DD or FJ answer that I could not question correctly, I would say “May I changed my wager to Zero?” or something similar.
Well, at least you phrased it in the form of a question.