Sorry, but that is just factually wrong. The contestants DO NOT KNOW which clues will have the Daily Doubles before they buzz in.
The computer knows... and, although I'm sure the show's producers deny it, they COULD control who gets the DD's. James hit one on his very first pick, when he had NO money... so, he was limited to a $1000 wager. The Librarian got all the others, later.. when she was able to wager a total of $10k, and got easy questions.
Clearly, the show did NOT want James to break Ken's record. This was the first show where he really was in range to do it. They brought in two of the BEST contestants ever... all together, they only got ONE incorrect answer on the entire show. The guy that came in third stole a lot of money in the Double Jeopardy round.
I saw every show James was in. I don't buy any theory that he was intentionally losing. The show just rigged it against him. He was still answering questions up to the very end. His last wager was smaller than usual, yes... but, that was a good strategy. He knew he couldn't catch the leader, if she got the answer correct and bet enough. (She did, on both counts). So, he wagered an amount that would keep him ahead of the third place guy, no matter what. That's what a professional gamble does: Analyze the situation, put yourself in the HIGHEST PROBABLY place for winning.
The Final Jeopardy question was a layup for Emma. It was her field of study in college. Hell, even I knew the answer, and English Lit is NOT my specialty.
Oh... for the record, James is, hands down, the BEST Jeopardy player ever. His average winning was more than DOUBLE that of Ken Jennings. James changed the show.
That’s the best conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard.
I’ll join your team.
James has a very special brain. As a person he just seemed like a regular polite humble guy a bit underwhelmed by all this attention. Best Wishes.
Not exactly but I could imagine how Einstein would do on Jeopardy if he applied himself.
I’m sorry that you didn’t recognize my sarcasm. I was responding to that individual who posited that Mr Holzhauer threw the match. The secrets to his success was his ability to control the board and hit the Daily Double, at which time he would wager big.
The only Daily Double he got was the first clue, when he didn’t have a grubstack to wager.
Sorry, but I am not buying your argument that the Jeopardy! folks were trying to protect Ken Jenning’s record. Cui bono?
BTW, congratulations on getting the last clue. I narrowed it down to Marlowe and Ben Jonson but picked the wrong one.
Considering she had four prior interviews that never got her on the show (which include game playing), I would hardly consider her one of the best contestants ever..she got lucky.
In fact, I'll even go out on a limb to say she will be lucky to win 3 more appearances.
For the record, it was Nancy Zerg who beat Ken Jennings and she promptly lost in the next game.........
I would agree with everything in your post, but I don’t buy that the producers rigged it against him. I don’t believe they are moving Daily Doubles around, and I don’t think they could predict who would be strong enough to beat him. There have been contestants in the past who were good and came within striking distance. And then there were contestants who might have been good but were too slow or made mistakes. The key was to not let him seize control and start running away with it. They did that yesterday.