Posted on 05/16/2014 11:41:23 PM PDT by ConservativeTeen
Brad Rutter has a lot to be happy about. The "Jeopardy!" Battle of the Decades Tournament contestant ended up defeating Ken Jennings and Roger Craig to take home a $1 million grand prize in an episode that aired on May 16.
When he entered the competition, Los Angeles-based actor and producer Rutter was the top money winner in "Jeopardy!" history with $3,355,102 in career winnings. With this added $1 million, his new total is $4,355,102.
"It's really hard to describe how proud I am, not just that I won, but to be associated with a first-class operation like 'Jeopardy!,'" Rutter says in a press release. "I knew that Ken and Roger were both fantastic players and that it would come down to the end. We would battle it out and see what was left when the smoke cleared."
Jennings and Rutter have been "Jeopardy!" rivals for almost a decade. Both Jennings and Craig didn't go home empty handed, either. Jennings claimed $100,000 in second place, while Craig earned $50,000 in third place.
So what is Rutter going to do with the money? It won't go towards a new Porshe.
"Alex [Trebek] expressly forbade me from buying one at the wrap party, and I know which side my bread is buttered on," Rutter jokes. "I still need a new car, though, and I'll definitely do some traveling. I haven't been to Paris in years and spending a week or so sitting at cafes watching the world go by sounds fantastic right now."
Photo/Video credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment Company
Brad got REALLY lucky that Jennings missed the final question - Brad got the question RIGHT, but bet NOTHING. Ken woulda torched him since he bet a lot of cash. That is, if Ken had gotten it right !!!
The other guy - you had to feel for him. Foolishly bet the farm on the Daily Double the first day and tanked. On the second day, he HAD to bet the farm on the Daily Double again to get back into it - and missed AGAIN !!!
Unfortunately, these were not the three greatest players. Brad and Ken were, but they mentioned in the preliminary rounds that the third best player was not in the tournament since he had previous commitments.
put all three up against the ibm machine and see how they fare. a fourway jeopardy with all of these would be very interesting.
David Madden could not participate due to some technical issue involving his National History Bee and Bowl. Apparently the NHBB uses the same Standard and Practices organization as Jeopardy! and he thought it would be too much of a conflict of interest.
With regards, I do think he is the third best player. He won a stacked Tournament of Champions over solid players like Joon Pahk, Tom Nissley, and Mark Runsvold. He also holds the record for money won in a single game. Madden won the second most amount of gamesm but he lost in the semi-finals of his Tournament of Champions. Going back to Roger, I think he made the correct call on the first day Daily Double. It was a second row DD, which usually means it is going to be an easier clue. Doubling up his 10,200 would have given him a large lead heading into FJ. With such a large lead he would have not had to make a big bet on the second day Double Jeopardy Daily Double.
Ken had some bad luck that prevented him from massing a lot of cash. Namely, he did not find a single Daily Double over the two days. Had he found one or two of those, he might have been able to take it.
We say that Ken and Brad have superhuman reflexes, but Watson truly had superhuman reflexes in his game.
For those interested here are the Watson games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxU1Pg-80as
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smSvr4dfmPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14r0eD2HWbo
Also, crackle has posted one classic episode a piece of all 45 contestants in the tournament:
http://www.crackle.com/c/jeopardy-flashback
There is no such thing as a “Porshe”. /facepalm
I beg to differ. In fact, I traded my Linoln Townar in for a Porshe just the other day.
“So what is Rutter going to do with the money? It won’t go towards a new Porshe.”
Dude, if you want to buy a new “Porshe” with that million dollars, I’ll sell you one, two or even 10 for just 100k.
Yes, this was good stuff. Questions were definitely a good bit harder than standard Jeopardy fare.
I was pulling for Roger. The other two are too cocky, and Roger will go all in, this time it cost him.
I was sure Ken would win. He is amazing. All of them were.
What really got me was the way Ken cruised through the ‘two word , one letter different’ catagory. That took a flash hard drive brain.
Roger blew it on the’Daily Double’, a shame as he came out of obscurity in the game to even up the score.
Indeed, Jennings' ability to rapidly assimilate associations is amazing.
Alex Trebek: Yeah, it was a trick question, Mr. Connery. Why don’t you pick a category?
Sean Connery: I’ve got to ask you about the Penis Mightier.
Alex Trebek: What? No. No, no, that is The Pen is Mightier.
Sean Connery: Gussy it up however you want, Trebek. What matters is does it work? Will it really mighty my penis, man?
Alex Trebek: It’s not a product, Mr. Connery.
Sean Connery: Because I’ve ordered devices like that before - wasted a pretty penny, I don’t mind telling you. And if The Penis Mightier works, I’ll order a dozen.
I never watch Jeopardy but I do admire those folks who have total recall. I think that’s the term for people who seem to never forget what they’ve seen or heard that made an impression on them. It must be nice. I’ll bet that college was a breeze to them.
I, personally, was just so happy to see Jennings lose. Yes, his brain power is amazing, but he is a flaming lefty. I was rooting for Craig just because he seems like such a nice guy.
Interestingly, though, he may well be a jerk, for all I know, because my husband and I never watch the interviews.
Agree. He also advanced the methodology of preparation for unique aspects of the game, describing a scientific, pattern recognition based approach, not simple ad hoc absorption.
Going back to Roger, I think he made the correct call on the first day Daily Double. It was a second row DD, which usually means it is going to be an easier clue. Doubling up his 10,200 would have given him a large lead heading into FJ. With such a large lead he would have not had to make a big bet on the second day Double Jeopardy Daily Double.
Not only that, but even if Roger only nailed the second DD ("Winnipeg" instead of "Manitoba") he would be on a path to winning the tournament with thousands of points to spare. All in all, he lost more than 20,000 instead of winning 20,000 on DDs - that's a turnover / flip of more than 40,000 points.
Nothing wrong with the strategy — as Ken said, somewhat wistfully, "That's what he does" — Arthur Chu has recently done the same, and both Ken and Brad were successful at employing it as well, especially when done early enough in the game, though not as methodically.
It was a game between equals. Amazing tournament!
The one downside to these tournament is the inevitable letdown of watching regular play afterwards. While Julia (the defending champ) has had a great run of 10 wins, she misses a lot of questions that I would think would be common knowledge amongst Jeopardy contestants (let alone one who has won 10 games in a row).
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