Posted on 11/22/2004 9:32:36 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
Leo Durocher got a bad rap. He didn’t quite say, “Nice guys finish last.” Besides, sometimes nice guys do finish first. No, I’m not talking about any politician, or pro athlete, or entertainer. Nope, I’m talking about someone you all know, and I’m certain you’re all rooting for.
Ken Jennings is a nice guy, and he’s already finished in first place.
His incredible run is rumored on the Internet to have gone about 71 consecutive shows and about $2.6 million in winnings. The trade press says the show where he loses has already been taped, and will air in about a week. It will be a glorious defeat, because Ken is already the greatest winner on any quiz show, ever.
So where’s the news in this article? Hang onto your pencils, your books and your chairs. Here it is:
Last Friday they had tryouts for Jeopardy! at Biltmore Square Mall south of Asheville, North Carolina. Like most of you, my wife and I are Jeopardy! junkies, plopping down in front of the TV and calling out the answers with high accuracy, almost every weeknight. So of course we planned to try out.
I got to the Mall at 10 a.m., for tryouts scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. There were already seven others in line: four ladies from Asheville, and three men from other parts of North Carolina who’d come a long way to try out. We started a sign-up list to protect our positions in line. As a lawyer, author and former professor, I thought my chances excellent, since those occupations have all done well in the past.
My wife was planning to come over right after she picked up her daughter at school. By the time she got there, more than 1,000 of the ultimately 1,500 would-be contestants were in line. So I searched the line, found them, and gave her my wrist band as number 8 in line. This was not just chivalry but practicality. I thought she’d do better than I would.
And so it turned out.
The first 1,500 people in line were brought in groups of 20 to a roped-off area in the Mall. Each got a quiz of ten questions, which varied of course from person to person and from group to group. The Jeopardy! staff didn’t tell contestants exactly how they scored. Kem was sure that she got nine of the ten correct (she skipped one question). That was enough to earn an invitation to come back for the full test the following morning; out of the hundreds quizzed, only 70 went on to the next round on Saturday.
The full test was fifty questions. Again, staff did not give out the exact results. They did say that passing that test required “something more than 70%.” Kem thinks she missed just four of those questions. It was enough.
Here’s a suggestion of the answers that she faced in the pre-test on Friday and the written, video-displayed tests on Saturday. (Rules forbid a precise statement of answers and questions.) Correct questions are at the end:
A: He was the 19th century author of “Twice-Told Tales.”
A: A lass named Fiona is the heroine of this Lerner & Lowe Broadway musical.
A: The Shoemaker-Levy comet collided with this planet in 1994.
A: This band was in the can with its lead singer, Shirley Manson.
My wife was one of the 15 contestants who passed both tests, and did well in the trial runs of the Jeopardy! show in a conference room at a local hotel on Saturday. The Jeopardy! folks were careful to say that nothing is guaranteed. But all that stands between her and an appearance on the show in Los Angeles is a phone call from the producer.
So keep your eyes pealed for another “nice guy,” this one named Kem, not Ken. I’ll keep you posted. With great pride.
[Q: Who is Hawthorne? Q: What is “Brigadoon?” Q: What is Jupiter? Q: Who are Garbage? I wouldn’t have a guess about the last one if my life depended on it.]
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About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. CongressmanBillybob@earthlink.net
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Thanks for the update. Good luck to Kem. I hope she's not just fodder to Ken Jennings cannon, or whatever BIG GUN takes him down.
He's a nice man, a brilliant man, he may be the greatest man who's ever lived, but I just wish he'd GO AWAY!
bump!
I thought it was Peter Jennings' job in Jepordy.
Bummer.
What is a bump to the top, Alex?
Just kidding, is there anything this guy doesn't know? I wonder what the catagories are for the show that he loses on:
- History of womens Undergarments
- Automotive Engine Maintanence
- Famous Bowlers in the 60's
- Progressive-Punk Rock Lyrics from bands that begin with "Death"
??? Any Ideas ???
Well, he'll certainly know ALL the answers in your proposed catagories, sleeper.
Yes, even women's underwear!
The thing he is really good at is figuring out that good response. He's an excellent figurer-outer, and I say that with the highest respect.
But hey! College Jeopardy has been on the past week or so, it's so much fun NOT KNOWING who will win.
And tonight I got Final Jeopardy and none of the little Geniuses did, so I felt very good about myself.
Less good about America today, because the CORRECT response was "Helen Keller" and the answer the 3 incredibly bright students came up with was "Rachel Carson".
The ultimate lesson here: the enviro-wackie-commies are doing a great job immortalizing their heros to the young. Those who champion the triumph of the individual, even over extreme hardship, less so. The catagory was: 20th Century Americans.
GOOD LUCK KEM! AGAIN! WIN BIG BUCKS!
Congrats to Kem on making it thus far, and don't get discouraged if you have to wait a long time for the phone call. It was just a couple of weeks shy of one full year between when I tried out and when Jeopardy! called to say they wanted me on the show. I'm glad I didn't have to face Ken Jennings. In a bit of personal trivia, the returning champion in my first game--who I knocked off--was Kevin Olmstead, who later went on to win $2.18 million on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Jennings recently passed him to become to all-time winningest game show contestant.
I hope Kem does as well as you did. I know she has the horses, and she won't freeze up. So I have high hopes for her, and when she gets into the second day of taping, I'll fly to L.A. to join her and root her own.
Billybob
I used to think that I could do pretty well on Jeopardy!, maybe even win for a few days in a row. I even tried out for the show years ago, missing selection by an eyelash. But watching this guy play a couple of times has pretty much convinced me that my going up against him would be like a Pop Warner team taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ken Jennings is a force of nature.
Bet you can't find ANYBODY to play Trivial Pursuit with you... :)
I think Jeopardy wanted to have an "event" to boost their show....JMHO.....
really, we all know he's going to go on til he reaches the reported 2.6 million...why bother watching.....
Kevin O. is a good friend of mine!!! small world huh?
btw i have personally passed the Jeopardy test a few times and the mock game that you described is more to find out more about your personality then your brains. They know that you are smart enough from the 50 quiz and they just dont want a jerk or a guy that is really boring to be on the show. I ve heard that if you get to the interview process, which it sounds Kem did, that there is about a 50- 75% chance that theyll be calling.
I noticed his strategy. When he picks a category he starts in the middle values. He answers a few in a row and takes all the high value ones. If the other contestants get to pick, they get the lower value ones and can't catch up to him.
She wasn't going on Jeopardy!, but on other, more luck-based shows. I haven't had a chance to watch TV in a while, but I used to notice a couple of things about Wheel of Fortune. First, they keep a black tube top or wrap to put on women with low cut dresses for when they spin the wheel. Second, they sometimes cool people's jets during breaks in the show. Several times, I've seen people going beserk during an early segment, then break for a commercial, and they're very subdued for the rest of the show.
Another somewhat interesting thing I've read is that about half of the prizes on game shows are turned down by the contestants, because they don't want to pay the taxes. This is particularly true for The Price is Right. Are they still trotting out that stupid $4,000 popcorn cart as a prize every other show?
He looking for Double Jeopardy answers.
My Dad can't find anyone to play Trivial Pursuit with him, either! Everyone eventually got frustrated and said "no thanks."
When I was a kid, we got a set of encyclopedia. He, over the course of a winter or two,....READ THEM! Cover to cover; and then started over.
REMEMBER. "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?" is NOT an acceptable answer...
"I think Jeopardy wanted to have an "event" to boost their show....JMHO....."
I knew that "play until you lose" was a bad idea. I'll be a lot of the past super champs could have gone as far a Ken, and no doubt they'd have been as boring. It's like "flashcards on tv" now.
I'm a little heartened by watching these college games at least I know I CAN still enjoy the show.
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