Congrats Jelisa Castrodale - "Jeopardy!" winner

cuz switching out the question would be fair?

 

Especially when one of the celebrities is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the question was something to do with who followed Lew Alcindor as UCLA's center, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar answered "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

Even Alex Trebek said it was among the most embarrassing "Jeopardy!" moments ever.

 

Wolv the question was something like "In Airplane, Roger Murdoch says he has to drag what former UCLA center up and down the court." It was Walton. Kareem missed it ... even though it was his line in the flick.

Greatest Jeopardy moment ever.

 

Ummm, no, guys. Let's be a bit more selective in our conspiracy theories, shall we?

The message board idiots should drink a hefty kegger of STFU. Why, pratell, would you rig something so a guy who just set the single-day money record gets knocked out? Your show just got more buzz than it has in a while because of this.

Aside from the fanatical rules the show's producers and contestant coordinators abide by to squash even the rumor of shenanigans -- a byproduct of the scandals from the '50s -- there's no way to know who the other two contestants are going to be (and by extension, their occupations), because they pick them right before each game.

Case in point, On my second and final game, the FJ category was "Hollywood Scandals." Against me was a 50something woman from South Dakota and a 23-year-old mechanical engineering graduate from MIT. I trailed both entering FJ.

The moment I saw that category, I knew the kid was toast. There's no way a 23-year-old geek knows old-school Hollywood. Sure enough, he screwed the pooch.

The moment the 50something South Dakotan put her pen down five seconds into the 30 seconds we're allowed on the question, I knew I was toast, even though I got the question right. Like most of the Double Jeopardy categories, this one was right in her wheelhouse.

Nothing I could do about that, but take my nearly 11 grand and head out. It was what it was.

 

I couldn't remember the exact line. You're right, though - the greatest moment.

 

Craig was on one of the morning shows and said he misread the question, failed to see Feb. 8th and reasoned the 43 years meant the time between titles. He said he read the question 2-3 times and never saw Feb. 8.

 

Birdscribe - Yes, I know you've been there, and I really, really respect that. That's awesome.

That said, I don't see why the producers can't easily switch out the FJ question once they see who the contestants will be. Serving up a 2010 Super Bowl/newspaper question to a sports journalist doesn't seem very fair to the other two contestants.

 

switching out questions would cause more problems for game shows than not. These things have stricter rules than "reality" shows for a reason.

 

I saw an episode of that VH1 version of Jeopardy! a few years back where a band, I think it was Third Eye Blind, got a final question that was basically, "This person played guitar on only two albums for the band Third Eye Blind."

 

Wolv, you can't because of the way the show is taped and the way the contestants are selected for each show.

The show tapes only two days a week: five shows on Tuesdays, five on Wednesdays (insert joke about Alex Trebek having the greatest/cushiest job on the planet here).

There are five shows daily, with a 10-minute break in between each, along with an hour for lunch between shows 3-4. They start taping around 11ish and knock them out.

There are 12 contestants in each daily pool: 10 who will wind up on the show that day and two alternates. I was an alternate the first time I went out, because they had 9 people who were from out of SoCal they needed to get on that day. So I didn't get selected that first day.

The point is you don't know until right after one show ends if you're going to be selected for the next one. And there's no time to switch out FJ because someone who is a sports journalist happens to be selected for that one show.

Unless you're Cliff Claven, the categories are a crapshoot for everyone, which is the foundation on which the show rests and what makes it what it is. Who knows enough about everything and can recall it under pressure?

 

It's fixed! (Junkie)

 

So does Trebek have to go change outfits after every episode is taped?

I would think that taping schedule gives the defending champ a real advantage in the early going. You've already been out there and are in a rhythm. By the time the other contestants get settled in and answer a couple questions, you'd be halfway through the first round.