Joho the Blog
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August 11, 2004
Although I hadn't watched Jeopardy in maybe 20 years, a couple of weeks ago I watched a few featuring Ken Jennings, the million-dollar smart guy. Very impressive. And it struck me how they're cheating... Watch some reruns before Jennings was on. The questions were much easier. Having dumber questions favors any contestant who is outlandishly smarter than the others. So, while it's not quite cheating, it does tilt the board toward Jennings and lets him run up $50,000 daily totals leaving the other contestants with nothing but a snapshot of Alex Trebeck and a tune they can't get out of their heads. Posted
by D. Weinberger at August 11, 2004 12:56 PM
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Comments
Actually, since I know that I'm not getting any smarter, it's clear that the questions have been getting steadily easier over the years. You go back to the champions from the 80s (Chuck, Frank, and the like) and you find that you were amazed by the stuff they knew. Now, not so much. Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention the prize inflation. $1000 questions on Single Jeopardy?
Posted by: Dennis Doughty | August 11, 2004 03:27 PM
How do we know that he isn't just reliving the same day over and over again like that guy in Groundhog Day?
Think about it. He would get all the answers right. And why? Because he had been there over and over and over again before, that's why.
http://thomashawk.com
Posted by: Thomas Hawk | August 11, 2004 05:55 PM
Some years ago a Jeopardy staffer told a reporter that the challenge of writing "Questions" for the show was making the not-very-hard sound difficult. Are the questions easier or do they care less now about appearances?
Posted by: Wray Cummings | August 12, 2004 09:41 AM
It's reaction time -- he's got the edge.
I'd bet he's an old hand at video games.
Posted by: degustibus | August 18, 2004 09:20 PM
The dude cheats. Here's how. The other people are loced out on like 95% (or more) of the clues. Then somewhere the TV cameras don't "look", is the correct question. And on the odd chance he stumbles reading it, the other contestants are still locked out. The thing is Ken, Alex, the other contestants, the entire Jeopardy cast/crew, and the entire audience are legally bound to keep it all a secret.
Posted by: I hate Ken Jen | September 16, 2004 01:48 PM
I don't believe Ken Jennings is nearly as intelligent as he lets on. I've seen a lot of comments and thoughts regarding ways Ken Jennings could know all he "seems" to... Here's a thought - Ken Jennings knows a Jeopardy show producer. For obvious reasons, the writers and producers are the only staff members who know the answers and questions (in true Jeopardy form). Ken can simply memorize the answers based on shows schedules. When Jeopardy is filmed, 3 to 4 episodes are consolidated into one day then there are several days between shows - Certainly enough time to cram on about 72 answers per episode. Think about it... Mr. Jennings may not be as smart as he lets on.
Posted by: Macdaddy | November 4, 2004 09:10 PM
You know what's even more pathetic? The fact that so many people have something to chip in on this pointless debate... come on guys, don't you have something better to do than to think about whether or not some guy on a tv show cheated and if so, how he did so? I mean seriously...
Posted by: I have a life | January 27, 2006 06:12 PM