# The Jeopardy thread \[was James Holzhauer\]\[contains spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696 "2019-04-17T21:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 139
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2764 "2021-09-22T20:00:32Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Do none of you watch movies? I watch a couple movies a year. Miss a lot of “big” ones. Forget most of them within a month. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2765 "2021-09-22T20:28:39Z")
Not to get all conspiratorial but do we honestly believe Jennings was stumped by this FJ? **Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.** ” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2766 "2021-09-22T21:06:50Z")
You think he took a dive? (Intentionally got the question wrong, in other words.) Perhaps. But I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2767 "2021-09-22T21:25:29Z")
His response was “What is Fed Ex?” so he clearly missed the “white collar” hint, at the very least. Maybe he was just tired that day. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2768 "2021-09-23T02:47:01Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > So obviously the producers can’t/won’t change any rules….but maybe start bumping up a few promising contestants to maybe give Matt a run for his money? Do you honestly think the producers can tell how well a contestant is going to fare in a live match against other contestants, based off of their audition? > [@terentii](#): > > Who else could it have been? Babbage? Wouldn’t have been a terrible guess, I suppose. Matt guessed Berners-Lee, who is himself a Turing Award recipient. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > It’s interesting to see what irritates some people versus other people. You’re not the first person I’ve heard say this, and I have to admit that I feel exactly the opposite. What bothers me is the way that the phrase “True Daily Double” seems to have become something like a mantra, to the point that the guest hosts would often supply it (“Ah, a True Daily Double!”) if the contestant didn’t. > > In my mind, there is no required phrasing when making your bet, so long as it’s clear how much you’re betting. I’ve found Matt giving the dollar amount to be a refreshing change from the rote “I’ll make it a True Daily Double!” that you hear from so many other contestants. I’m not saying “I’ll make it a True Daily Double™” is some kind of sacred mantra all contestants must repeat lest they be struck down by the Jeopardy gods. It actually annoys me too when people ham it up too much with that phrase. I just think the contestant should say something that acknowledges they’re betting it all, because that fact is significant to the game (if they get it wrong, they go back to zero) and their score is not displayed on screen when they’re stating their wager. When Matt says “fifty-six hundred,” the host’s saying “all right, a true Daily Double” is the only way I know he’s betting it all. I mean, come on, man. Just say “everything,” or “I’ll bet it all.” > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There’s nothing that can or should be done about extended winning streaks, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. And eventually the little things that aren’t important begin to grate. Three days of “What…is…Biden?” isn’t bad; 25 days is starting to get there. And too much of “I’ll…wager…two thousand seven hundred” and you start to long for Holzhauer’s “all in” motion (and I don’t miss it!). That’s “_what’s_ Biden.” He wouldn’t want to waste any time uttering the word “is.” 🙄 That reminds me, another thing I find annoying about Matt is that he seems to try to be as terse as possible, presumably in an effort to save time, but it winds up backfiring. He always answers in as few words or syllables as possible, always giving only the last name of a person, or the missing word in a phrase rather than the whole phrase. For example, tonight’s “Simon” and “relativity.” A fan of the show should have a sense of when the host is just going to elaborate on the response anyway when you do that. He says “what’s Simon?” And Mayim says “Paul Simon, yes.” If he had just said “what’s [yuck] Paul Simon” to begin with, Mayim probably would have just said “yes” or “correct” and the whole exchange would actually have taken _less_ time. > [@](#): > > But to me, the worst is the lopsided games, This isn’t like LeBron beating experienced players - it’s like LeBron beating high schoolers, They aren’t even in the game. I swear, if I were on it, and Matt has 35K and I have 2000, and he just got all three DDs, I’d just drop the signaling device, tear off my mic, and walk out. > > eta: Were Ken Jennings’ game this lopsided? According to [this page](https://thejeopardyfan.com/statistics/ken-jennings-final-statistics), Ken had 86.7%, or 65 of his 75 games, locked. > [@Stephe96](#): > > Not to get all conspiratorial but do we honestly believe Jennings was stumped by this FJ? > > **Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.** ” Yes. Sometimes, when you’re under pressure, once your mind starts going in a certain direction, it can be hard to change directions in a limited time. It happens to the best of us. I could easily see “seasonal” sparking thoughts of the Christmas season, and then being unable to think of any other season within 30 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2769 "2021-09-23T02:48:08Z")
Matt lost 8,000 on the first daily double. Didn’t recognize elf cosmetics as eyes,lips, face. He made the money back on the DJ dB. He can be beaten. It probably won’t be an exceptional player. Just like it happened to James and Ken. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2770 "2021-09-23T02:50:03Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > I don’t think it would be seen as fair to do that to Matt in the middle of his run. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I don’t know if they _could_ just change the rules in the middle of his run like that. That would seem highly unethical to me. And they wouldn’t want to anyway. Long runs bring in _more_ viewers. Sorry, I was speaking in the general sense, if (theoretically) they were concerned about long runs hurting the show. I was not suggesting that they could or would do so to quash Matt specifically. Personally, I think @Stephe96 is in a distinct minority in feeling that Matt’s run is boring. I certainly don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2771 "2021-09-23T02:51:32Z")
Like the woman from the other night who didn’t know Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I think the guy on the right tonight, Christopher, could have done it with a little luck. At least he seemed to realize he had to go Daily Double-hunting to stop Matt. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2772 "2021-09-23T03:08:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > He can be beaten. It probably won’t be an exceptional player. Just like it happened to James and Ken. That’s my thought. Matt will trip up on something, big time, and an unexceptional contestant will beat him somehow. He tends to be rather conservative in his FJ wagers when he has a clear victory, but a little more of a risk-taker when there is somebody within winning distance. He showed something interesting tonight (well, he has all along, but it was quite noticeable tonight), which may play into the above: I doubt he knows the question immediately, but by buzzing in before anybody else, he buys himself a little time to think about it, without worrying about anybody else buzzing in. A couple of his questions tonight stood out: “What’s … [long pause] … Kurtz?” “What’s … [long pause] … inertia?” Anybody else noticing this habit of his? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2773 "2021-09-23T03:19:28Z")
I guess “boring” isn’t quite the correct word, it’s just that the only suspense during Matt’s run is to see if another contestant can get the DD. Once Matt hits them, the game is essentially over. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2774 "2021-09-23T03:35:05Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Anybody else noticing this habit of his? The great players all do that…Matt just…draws it out. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2775 "2021-09-23T04:30:32Z")
Anybody remember that Indian-American guy who won a few games last season, who would always (incredibly annoyingly) ring in, and then just stare blankly and silently for 3-4 seconds before responding? Turned out he was rereading the clue. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2776 "2021-09-23T05:12:45Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Not to get all conspiratorial but do we honestly believe Jennings was stumped by this FJ? > > **Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.** ” My first thought just now reading that clue was “Fed Ex.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2777 "2021-09-23T05:15:54Z")
Jesus. Before, I dreamed of winning on Jeopardy for fame and fortune. Now I dream of winning on Jeopardy so I can thumb my nose at all the snarky remarks. ---
**Author:** ![BigDfromLA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@BigDfromLA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDfromLA)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2778 "2021-09-23T06:10:06Z")
So the shows airing this week are the ones immediately after Richards was let go as host, but was still continuing as Executive Producer. His name is still on the credits. I wonder if it was a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere during this time with Richards dumped, but still there playing a huge role as EP. I don’t remember how long it took before he was eventually let go completely. I wonder if it was tough for Mayim during this time, or if things went fairly normal with the elephant in the room. Think of this amazing run by Matt occurring while all of this was going on. He has played with SIX different guest hosts. Robin Roberts, LeVar Burton, David Faber, Joe Buck, Richards and Mayim Bialik. That is something pretty unprecidented in the past and future history of the show. I much prefer these shows with Mayim Bialik compared to the ones with Richards last week. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2779 "2021-09-23T07:14:35Z")
> [@BigDfromLA](#): > > I much prefer these shows with Mayim Bialik compared to the ones with Richards last week. I like Mayim Bialik also, but I did have to smile on Monday. The Green Bay Packers played the Detroit Lions for Monday Night Football, and of course, Aaron Rodgers was quarterbacking the Packers. I heard him calling the signals (“Blue, thirty-three! Blue, thirty-three! Hup!”), and all I could think was, “This guy hosted Jeopardy?” He did a good job, though, at both football and Jeopardy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2780 "2021-09-23T09:23:21Z")
I, for one, think Mayim Bialik is doing a fantastic job as host. She’s much more relaxed than she was previously. (though I still prefer Buzzy) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2781 "2021-09-23T10:52:45Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Not just Roger Rabbit - everyone missed a lot of movie questions last night. I’m not sure they got a single one. That’s just throwing money away, especially if Matt doesn’t get it. Do none of you watch movies? Way back in the Art Fleming days, my mom was on Jeopardy. She’d led for most of the game, but lost in Final on a movie question. She hadn’t seen or heard of the particular one in question. If they’d asked about movies from the 40s, she’d have probably nailed it. That’s how it goes. I’d be the same way if faced with questions about current singers/groups and/or their songs or the glut of comic book hero movies. Things that seem to be obvious to some may not even be on the radar of others. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2782 "2021-09-23T12:57:29Z")
I believe that Matt has talked about this. The pause is part of his strategy. He always takes a moment to go over the answer a couple of times in his head, just to be absolutely sure he’s got it right, doesn’t mis-speak, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2783 "2021-09-23T16:42:58Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’d be the same way if faced with questions about current singers/groups and/or their songs or the glut of comic book hero movies. Things that seem to be obvious to some may not even be on the radar of others. Let me clarify: it’s not that they missed one movie question, IIRC they all missed them all. Like the time when they famously had one game with a football category and no one got a single answer. They made a joke out of it. I’d think the general category of movies is something most people pick up just from osmosis, just from going, so that it wouldn’t be a total stumper. (for the record, I think I only got three that game) There are a lot of categories I would bomb - modern music, British kings, ancient greek, but usually one of the three knows those to fill in the gaps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=138) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=140)