# 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:** 34
**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:** [June 18, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/661 "2019-06-18T03:49:17Z")
Yeah, and I agree with those who have made the point that the strategy is wildly risky unless you have extremely strong trivia knowledge like James does. If you are closer to average (in Jeopardy terms), I don’t think it’s the optimal way to play. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/662 "2019-06-21T01:18:20Z")
Today’s news said James Holzhauer made a [pancreatic cancer donation](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/jeopardy-champ-james-holzhauer-makes-pancreatic-cancer-donation-alex-trebek-n1019971) in Alex Trebek’s name. It was $1,109.14, an amount he used during the show. Surely he could have donated more, but it was a nice gesture. I imagine he’s getting lots of similar requests from now on. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/663 "2019-06-21T07:56:51Z")
That amount is his daughter’s birthday. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/664 "2019-06-26T22:25:50Z")
Jackson on today’s show really has panache. Kentucky must be a different place than I imagine it to be, if a teen like him can thrive there. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/665 "2019-06-26T23:29:06Z")
Some “interesting” answers/questions in the Teen Tournament. For instance, when the question was supposed to be “What is the Lotus position?” the guy said “What is Crisscross Applesauce?” I don’t remember what it was, but a girl gave a similarly–uh–“quirky” answer to something last night. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/666 "2019-06-26T23:44:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Some “interesting” answers/questions in the Teen Tournament. For instance, when the question was supposed to be “What is the Lotus position?” the guy said “What is Crisscross Applesauce?” I don’t remember what it was, but a girl gave a similarly–uh–“quirky” answer to something last night. I remember one girl got away with “ankylosaurus” when she should have said “stegosaurus.” (She didn’t win.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/667 "2019-06-27T00:14:31Z")
Ankylosaurus isn’t a bad answer - they definitely have plates on their back, and the tail clubs on some specimens are arguably spiked. The really weird answers came in Final, where two of them guessed that the first three Presidents of Canada were US born. (Granted one changed it to the Philippines, which was also wrong, but…Jesus. I don’t even know where to start on where that goes wrong.) ---
**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:** [June 27, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/668 "2019-06-27T04:37:26Z")
Agonizing tiebreaker today. All about the signaling, boo. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/669 "2019-06-27T16:04:49Z")
I guess the clue was “This country’s first three Presidents were born in the US”? I don’t know for sure, but my first two guesses would be Israel and Liberia. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/670 "2019-06-27T16:11:57Z")
First _eight_ presidents. From the J! Archive, “This nation’s 1st 8 presidents were all born in the U.S.; the 1st local-born president came in 1884, 37 years after independence.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/671 "2019-06-27T17:20:23Z")
OK, in that case, my answer would definitely have been Liberia. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/672 "2019-06-27T22:47:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Agonizing tiebreaker today. All about the signaling, boo. I feel really bad for the kid that lost the tiebreaker. I was watching the show recorded on my DVR, and when it got to the end of the recording the freeze frame on my screen was Alex shaking the other kid’s hand and the kid that lost was hunched over with his hands in his hair and a look of “Why?!” on his face. And, yeah, it was a ‘gimme’ clue so whichever one timed their signal press best was going to win. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/673 "2019-06-29T07:06:19Z")
Pretty good finals for the Teen Tournament. I saw some of the contestants from this week posting in the Jeopardy subreddit and they seemed to be having a lot of fun and were excited about that tiebreaker game from the semifinals. I was very impressed by the performance of the contestant that was only in 8th grade. Speaking of, I think the following post was in reference to him: > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Tournament Teen just gave question where the answer is “vague” as “What is vaag?” Must be a word he has only encountered in print? I noticed in one of the final games, he similarly pronounced the word “plague” with a ‘short a’ sound, like ‘flag’ but with a p. It made me think of Britta from _Community_: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwSej13LRpE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwSej13LRpE) ---
**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:** [June 29, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/674 "2019-06-29T07:41:21Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I feel really bad for the kid that lost the tiebreaker. I was watching the show recorded on my DVR, and when it got to the end of the recording the freeze frame on my screen was Alex shaking the other kid’s hand and the kid that lost was hunched over with his hands in his hair and a look of “Why?!” on his face. > > And, yeah, it was a ‘gimme’ clue so whichever one timed their signal press best was going to win. Yup ☹ And he was so delightfully jaunty. Couldn’t they offer a tougher clue at least? ---
**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:** [June 29, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/675 "2019-06-29T22:31:34Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yup ☹ And he was so delightfully jaunty. > > Couldn’t they offer a tougher clue at least? Yes; for a tiebreaker question, there should be _some_ “knowledge factor.” It shouldn’t have been pure muscle-fiber twitch speed, as it was with this one. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/676 "2019-07-01T11:45:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Some “interesting” answers/questions in the Teen Tournament. For instance, when the question was supposed to be “What is the Lotus position?” the guy said “What is Crisscross Applesauce?” I don’t remember what it was, but a girl gave a similarly–uh–“quirky” answer to something last night. My daughter just turned 16. When she was in elementary school, any time there was some sort of presentation and they wanted the kids to sit, cross-legged and quietly, on the floor, the teachers would announce “Criss cross applesauce.” I assume the teachers in his school did that, too. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/677 "2019-07-01T13:36:49Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes; for a tiebreaker question, there should be _some_ “knowledge factor.” It shouldn’t have been pure muscle-fiber twitch speed, as it was with this one. I look at the tie breaker as a random coin flip. They have an allotted amount of time for the show’s content and don’t want to exceed it since exceeding it means sacrificing ad revenue. They don’t want to take the risk that both contestants miss the tie breaker. People complain similarly about unfairness in the NFL’s overtime rules, but my opinion is that you had your chance to win outright during the rest of the game. Now the game needs to be over in a short time. Same for Jeopardy. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/678 "2019-07-01T14:01:00Z")
Was the kid who mispronounced vague and plague the same one who said he watched Walker: Texas Ranger with his father? I wonder if he was home schooled? ---
**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:** [July 1, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/679 "2019-07-01T23:59:41Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > They don’t want to take the risk that both contestants miss the tie breaker. … That does make sense. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/680 "2019-08-14T22:38:04Z")
Why does Francois look so familiar? This is a teacher tournament, not a TOC. Does he just have “one of those faces”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=35)