# 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:** 24
**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:** [May 26, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/461 "2019-05-26T13:04:27Z")
I read on Reddit that James potentially could win 62 games by the end of Season 35. (I’m assuming that’s accurate) The show hiatus will certainly create some drama as Season 36 approaches. The ratings will he incredible. It’s still a long, long way away. We saw a couple days ago that he can be beat by a determined player. Ken Jennings also spanned two seasons during his win streak. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/462 "2019-05-26T21:24:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s the same tune (well, there are a couple variations, where a note here and there is different), but there are at least five different versions. There’s the original tick-tock clock one that is my favorite; there’s a piano one that ran from c. 1997; another one with piano and trumpet also c. 1997; one in 2008 that I guess some people call the “leaky faucet” version, because the tick-tocking sounds like a drippy faucet; and another version from 2008 until now that is similar to the previous one, but not as “drippy faucet” sounding. > > [Here’s a link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYoSPzWB4Hg&t=107s). That also includes other versions of the Think theme from Jeopardy spinoffs I had never heard of. Thanks–a trip down memory lane, for sure. I gather the estate of Merv Griffin is still earning money on that theme, which like the show itself officially includes an exclamation point (_Think!_) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/463 "2019-05-26T23:55:26Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Thanks–a trip down memory lane, for sure. > > I gather the estate of Merv Griffin is still earning money on that theme, which like the show itself officially includes an exclamation point (_Think!_) Yeah, and if anyone is wondering what note changes I’m talking about: if you think of the melody as "LAH DEE DAH lahdee LAH DEE DA, " the “lahdee” part is a repetition of the same note in the original melody. In the original, every time that figure comes around, the “lahdee” is the same note. In the 1997 piano version, the first time that figure is played, it’s the same note; the second time it’s played it’s two different notes (the second a half step up from the first, and the first is also a different note from the original melody.) Then when it changes chord, same thing happens: first time, same note; second time, upward melody line. Same with the other 1997 version. 2008 version, the initial “lahdee” is just a “LAH” (so no repeating notes), and the the second time the figure comes around, it’s the ascending “lahdee” pattern. I’m not sure why it bugs me and sticks out so much, other than I guess I’m used to the original, more percussive version. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/464 "2019-05-27T02:10:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, and if anyone is wondering what note changes I’m talking about: if you think of the melody as "LAH DEE DAH lahdee LAH DEE DA, ” I think of it as more “LAH dee DAH dee LAH dee DAHHH”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/465 "2019-05-27T02:13:24Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I think of it as more “LAH dee DAH dee LAH dee DAHHH”. Well, then you’re missing a syllable in the classic version.It should be “LAH dee DAH dahdah LAH de DAHHH.” That “dahdah” is what I’m missing in some versions. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/466 "2019-05-27T05:37:34Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I DVR Jeopardy! and am often an episode or two behind. I prefer to not be spoiled regarding how Holzhauer had performed each day. > > Because of this, if I am not caught up I simply avoid this thread. > > Seems to me this is the easiest of fixes. As already explained, what if you are all caught up and come to the thread to find people discussing the next episode that you won’t see aired for another 8 hours? Unless you’re in the market that airs Jeopardy at 10am, you can be all caught up and still get spoiled. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/467 "2019-05-27T05:52:06Z")
Not that anyone cares about my opinion, but just not checking the thread until you’ve seen jeopardy air in your market that day seems like the easiest solution. There are occasionally people who wander into TV show threads and say “I’m on the west coast, why are people talking about the show 2 hours before it airs for me without spoiler boxes?!?” and they’re obviously laughed off. Now, it’s trickier with jeopardy because there’s not one air time, but if it’s a big deal to you not to be spoiled, it seems reasonable to just wait until you’ve seen that day’s episode to check the thread. Also, as a practical matter, “James Holzhauer’s streak finally ends!” is going to pop up on your phone or your TV or some other way before you see Jeopardy anyway. It’s going to be really difficult to avoid having that spoiled. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/468 "2019-05-27T06:21:16Z")
That will really suck if that happens to me. I’m still bummed that in the first season of “Game of Thrones” I (watching on Blu-ray) somehow started the season finale before seeing the penultimate episode, and therefore didn’t get to enjoy the shock of Ned’s surprise beheading as it happened. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/469 "2019-05-28T02:13:35Z")
He did win today, with over $130, 000 dollars. It was win #28, and if he keeps winning at the same average rate per day, it will take him only four more days to beat Jennings total. And that will be without tournament earnings. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/470 "2019-05-28T02:23:21Z")
Did he purposely try not to beat his own record? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/471 "2019-05-28T03:22:48Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > On an iPhone, with its teensy keys and my fat fingers, it takes significantly longer than two seconds to delete anything longer than a couple of words. > [@Spud](#): > > Well, I expect you to change over to an Android. 😛 I have experienced the same thing when I used an Android platform. It’s really not worth the trouble to me unless I’m on my desktop. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/472 "2019-05-28T03:29:06Z")
ETA: Oh, sorry, have we stopped talking about that? My apologies; carry on. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/473 "2019-05-28T15:00:43Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Did he purposely try not to beat his own record? If he had bet enough to beat his past record, it would have put him in danger of losing if he got it wrong. He bet almost as much as possible could while staying safe. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/474 "2019-05-28T15:02:31Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Not that anyone cares about my opinion, but just not checking the thread until you’ve seen jeopardy air in your market that day seems like the easiest solution. There are occasionally people who wander into TV show threads and say “I’m on the west coast, why are people talking about the show 2 hours before it airs for me without spoiler boxes?!?” and they’re obviously laughed off. Now, it’s trickier with jeopardy because there’s not one air time, but if it’s a big deal to you not to be spoiled, it seems reasonable to just wait until you’ve seen that day’s episode to check the thread. It’s hard because given the wide range of times that the show airs, the doesn’t give much room for discussion before the next one starts if you’re in a late market. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/475 "2019-05-28T16:40:42Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > If he had bet enough to beat his past record, it would have put him in danger of losing if he got it wrong. He bet almost as much as possible could while staying safe. That’s right. The most he could have bet safely was $58,821 which would have given him a total of $130,843. His record is $131,127. Strictly speaking, Alex wasn’t wrong when he said that James had a chance at breaking the record but it would have been a dumb move on James’s part to go for it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/476 "2019-05-28T22:29:21Z")
On today’s show, [spoiler]I really liked both opponents, but especially Sara. She’s a pistol! What was the first part of that James story with the oven mitts? I missed it. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/477 "2019-05-29T00:41:00Z")
Does anyone know what the earnings/appearances record for a female contestant is? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/478 "2019-05-29T00:58:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > On today’s show, Okay, I’m not going to spoiler this since it has literally nothing to do with the outcome of the game. James tried to jump his wife’s car battery, screwed up the connections, saw smoke, and ran inside to get oven mitts to disconnect the cables. By the time he came back, the cables had melted the paint on his wife’s car. He’s actually really lucky one or both of the batteries didn’t explode. Seriously folks, + goes to + and - goes to -\*. How freaking hard is it? \*Or the car body, but on modern cars it can be a pain the ass to find an unpainted part that isn’t inside the engine compartment where there are lots of moving parts. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/479 "2019-05-29T02:31:46Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Does anyone know what the earnings/appearances record for a female contestant is? You can find a whole lot of information about past champions [here](https://www.jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/hall-of-fame). According to the above link, a woman named Julia Collins won 20 games in 2014. That is the third-most all time, behind Jennings and James. She won $428,100, which is the fourth-highest total regular-season winnings. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/480 "2019-05-29T18:30:21Z")
I just read a cool fact. Prior to James, there have been only two confirmed regular play games where a player gave no incorrect answers. James has done it four out of the last ten games. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=25)