Yes that was entertainingly close!
That was producers fucking with him putting a daily double in the bottom row, yes? I laughed when it was the first clue selected.
I would assume that for the sake of fairness a lot of stuff is randomized. They might come up with a few hundred categories for each season and then randomize their ordering during each episode, and the DD locations should be randomized with weighting. You’d want to do that to appear to be avoiding bias (like if a legal category appeared when a lawyer was on the show) saying that it’s all up to randomization anyway. But I’m just guessing.
Very early in the game, James Holzhauer was in the red at -$1,000 and one other player had +$1,000.
It didn’t last very long, though.
Both players seemed to realize that the only way to beat James will be to play by his strategy. I hope everyone who plays him from now on gets that.
Is James hamming it up in Final Jeopardy? He was making faces as if he didn’t know the answer and then as if he hadn’t bet enough to win.
These latest players are the first ones to see him in action. The first few games they were shell shocked.
He has now been on long enough that current players have watched his first shows?
No, these were all taped before. But they taped five episodes a day so if you’re on say, an episode that airs Friday, you get to see James play 4 times. The runner-up yesterday said he actually got bumped from Fridays episode, so he got to see James play 5 times before playing him.
Wait, if you’re playing later in the taping day, are you allowed to sit there and watch earlier tapings? Or is this like one of those gameshows where you’re in a soundproof booth?
Not only are you allowed to, you’re pretty much required to. Contestants aren’t permitted to go anywhere in the studio unaccompanied, so you go where they tell you to go. Contestants have their own section in the studio audience. It’s on the far right side of the stands, in front of the contestant podiums.
After you’ve lost your game, you can stay and continue to watch the rest of the games if you want to. But you can’t sit with the contestants anymore, because you’re no longer one of them. 
Does it help to see the game being taped?
Was yesterday’s game the first one James did not win in a runaway?
The 53,999 earned by the 2nd place contestant had to be close to a record for someone who didn’t win the game.
He had a non-runaway early one (maybe game 2?) but not that close. And this was indeed the record for a runner-up score.
According to the Washington Post, it was the highest losing score on Jeopardy ever.
Really? He’s missed a TOTAL of like 30 questions in 18 games!!! Doesn’t seem like a lot of mind drift to me!
Me neither, but I wonder if he allows opponents to earn a little bit as a humane approach. I think that might be the case, instead of always crushing them all.
Which I think he could easily do. If that’s what he’s doing (and that’s a big if), it almost bit him in the ass last night.
Is Jeopardy legally streamed somewhere? I’d like to watch this guys run from the beginning.
Most cable networks like History, Discovery, Bravo offer the shows online.
Not sure which network owns Jeopardy?
He’s earning about $400,000 a day playing. Your “humane approach” increases his risk of losing that opportunity. I’m guessing he is doing everything in his power to maximize his earnings without any particular consideration for how it makes his competitors feel.
As it should be:
If you can’t stand the heat, don’t bitch about turning down the thermostat. Get out of the kitchen.
Also, they don’t get to keep what they earn. They get $2000 or $1000 dollars.