[Semper Paratus]

"Not H&R Block! Anything but H&R Block!
That's my favorite company!"

[theFIRMbss]

>...name the firm whose 70,000 white-collar employees were mostly seasonal, working only four months of the year ... Jennings ... answered "FedEx", for courier company Federal Express, which prides itself on its 24-hour, 365-days-of-the-year service ...

You've got to admit
that answer is very strange.
But all TV's strange . . .

[sevry]

I believe Jennings day job was to work as a quizmaster for those student trivia contests. Not only did he blow the last question on his 75th show, but he blew both of his 'doubles', as well. And he had been one who was known for literally guessing among the group of a few possibilities for an answer. Yet he got the three big questions wrong, that day. It really doesn't take a genuis to suspect that he threw the match. But the question is whether it was because he wanted to get paid, finally, or because he was subtlely instructed to do so, or maybe both.

Personally, I never really liked Jeopardy. People thought that 'genius' followed someone like Jennings who could answer out of context trivia questions like some sort of 'human calculator'. It was a freak show. And I won't watch it now. But I did tune in a few times to watch Jennings. And web had given everyone the scoop that he was going to lose on Tuesday's episode. So I made sure to watch.

[crv16]

Of all the questions to get wrong -- H&R Block???? Come on KenJen - you threw the game.... :(

[Blzbba]

What is "I'm tired of this and want to go home", Alex?

[Plutarch]

Questions asked over the defeat of trivia titan.

I thought is was answers provided and we must guess the question.

[yarddog]

I always liked "Jeopardy" although I haven't seen it in a couple of years.

When reading the article, the first thing which came to mind after seeing that question was "UPS". Of course when I saw the correct answer it was obvious.

Still I can see "Fed Ex" as a legitimate answer.

[kevkrom]

To be fair, I'm pretty good at playing the game from the comfort from my own home, and even there, with no pressure at all, it took me the entire 30 seconds to come up with the answer... and I have a brother-in-law who is an accountant and my father worked for H&R Block one year as a tax preparer...

[Who dat?]

When I heard it initially described on the radio, I was sort of leaning with him. All I heard was “70,000… seasonal… employees.” When I asked my wife to repeat what was said, she added “white collar” and “works only four months.” That’s when I knew it was H&R Block.

Because about a week ago there was a news clip I read about a company hiring 70,000 seasonal workers – but that was UPS, not FedEx.

So initially I was ready to pop up with the “UPS” answer, but the “white collar” and “four months” part ruled that out.

You can see what caused the confusion on my part (other than only hearing select parts of the question) here: UPS to Hire 70,000 Workers for Holidays

[beckett]

Jennings played a very odd game. It's hard to dispute that. Not only did he answer FedEx when he must have known the company in no way met the criteria of the question (who ever thought of FedEx as a "white collar" company with "seasonal" employees?), he also failed to answer an easy DailyDouble about the Battle of the Bulge. Given the extraordinary breadth of his knowledge, it's very puzzling he didn't know that Bastogne was the crucial fulcrum of the battle. He also got an additional DailyDouble wrong for a total of two, an unprecented fumble in his long reign.

I think it's quite possible Ken figured 2.5 M and 75 games were enough, and he tanked the game. I don't really fault him for it. If he tanked, he did it, as he's done everything else during his long moment in the sun, with a lot of class.