Well Jeopardy fans we have made it through this epic Wild Card Tournament that has started Season 40 of the show. And much as I’d like to say we can finally look forward to seeing some familiar faces, anyone who has even a remote familiarity with the show knows such is not the case.
In the weeks
to come we will be experiencing, as Yogi Berra put it, déjà vu all over again
as we now must go through the Second Chance Tournament and Champions Wild Card
for Season 39 before we finally get to the Tournament of Champions
which, hopefully, will take place in 2024. But it’s worth noting, in what is
likely to be my final article on Jeopardy for 2023, that there have been
some things to report, one in front of the camera, the celebration of at least
one winner of the Wild Card tournament just passed, and what is a combination
of poetic justice and a burn to a Jeopardy champions from last year who caused
the show some significant agita.
First the most
significant change. Last week Mayim Bialik made it official that she will not
resume co-hosting duties of the show. Whether this is due to the controversy
surrounding her decision to stop hosting this past summer due to the SAG-AFTRA
strike or simply her choice to move on we don’t know at the present time. However,
the decision for Ken Jennings to become the sole host of Jeopardy is a
welcome one as it will finally give steadiness to a show that has been absent
since the passing of Alex Trebek in November of 2020.
Over the past
year Jennings has finally managed to grow into his hosting duties and now seems
comfortable in it in a way he was not in his first several months. He knows that he can never be Alex Trebek,
but his behavior has grown easier, charming and his experience as a contestant
has been helpful particularly with the new reign of super-champions. His
performance at the inaugural Masters Tournament was one of the high points in
TV in all of 2023 and it is there, along with his work in the previous Tournament
of Champions, that he has found the comfort zone we longed for. The show is now
in good hands with him at the helm.
But credit
must be given to Bialik for her work in the last two years, not just when it
came to her sprightly enthusiasm but to her presence with so many of the
super-champions that have come during the last two years. Bialik was behind the
podium for much of Matt Amodio’s run, hosted the Professors Tournament that
introduced the world to Sam Buttrey and was at the start of Mattea Roach’s
original run. She also was behind the podium for the runs of such less famous
(but no less talented) super-champions as 16 game winner Ryan Long and 11 game
winner Jonathan Fisher. And while her time on Season 39 was brief by
comparison, she was at the helm when Hannah Wilson and Ben Chan had 8 and 9
games respectively. Throw in her time on Celebrity Jeopardy which
brought her a deserved Emmy nomination, and her time was more than just a
fill-in. Jeopardy thanks your service, Mayim Bialik and we hope we will see you
again someday.
Now a note on
the Wild Card Tournament. While I remain unconvinced of its long term
potential, I will confess that the final leg – Hearts as it was classified –
was a high point of the season because it finally brought to the stage one of
the few Wild Card competitors I had been waiting to see: Yungsheng Wang. A
deputy public defender Wang had won $84,202 near the conclusion of the
2021-2022. Like Lucy Ricketts, a finalist in the first leg, he was an alternate
for that year’s Tournament of Champions and under normal circumstances might
have participated. It was almost worth going through this tournament to see
Yungsheng again and he more than made it worth the time.
Luckily making
it in to the semi-finals, he participated in the most intense semi-final match
of the tournament. Getting a lead early in the Jeopardy round he seemed
desperately behind Andrew Chaikin got a huge lead very early in Double Jeopardy
at one point leading him with $20,200 to his $7000.
But when he
managed to get four consecutive $2000 clues correct, Yungsheng made a remarkable recovery. Though
he finished the round with $18,600 to Andrew’s $26,600. It came down to Final
Jeopardy and a vague category: BUSINESS:
“Of the Big 4
U.S. airlines, the 4 that each have over 15% of the domestic market, it’s the
youngest.” Andrew was the only one who knew it was Southwest (founded in 1967.)
He practically leapt off the podium when he won.
In the final
he faced off against Tyler Vandenberg, a Marine officer in full dress uniform
(he’d won 441,400 back in July of 2021) and Gary Hollis, a semi-finalist in the
Professors Tournament.
Game 1 was a
back and forth affair for the lead between Yungsheng and Gary with Tyler in
third most of the way. At the end of Double Jeopardy Yungsheng had the
advantage with $16,800 to Gary’s $14,000 and Tyler’s $8800.
But the Final
Jeopardy for Game 1 changed the game. The category was THE WILD WEST: “In
1888’s Ranch-Life & The Hunting Trail Teddy Roosevelt wrote his 2
ranch hands were ‘able to travel’ like this animal.” Tyler was the only one who
knew the answer: “What is a Bull Moose?” Tyler doubled his score and both Gary
and Yungsheng dropped significantly. Tyler had $17,600 to Yunsheng’s $8000 and
Gary’s $6000.
Yungsheng led
from practically start to finish in Game 2, but that might not have counted for
much were it not for two gutsy moves on Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy. He
found the first Daily Double early in U.S. FIRSTS:
Yungsheng: “A
client once told me: ‘Scared money don’t make no money’ so $7000:
“The first
woman mayor of a major U.S. city was Bertha Landes in Seattle; soon after came
Dorothy Lee in this city 172 miles south.” Yungsheng knew it was Portland and
went up to $16,600.
Yungsheng
found the second Daily Double later in the round in: “WELL, THEY SOUND THE
SAME” and gambled again betting $10,000:
“Any channel
to walk down or Guernsey in the English Channel.”
He knew it was
aisle (isle) and went up to $33,400. He finished with $33,800 to Gary’s $14,800
and Tyler’s $11,400, impressive scores but not nearly enough to stop him from
locking up the tournament.
The Final
Jeopardy category was NATIONAL MONUMENTS: “Designated in 2016, a New York City
monument named for this place of business includes nearby Christopher Park.”
Yungsheng was the only player to know the correct response: “What is
Stonewall?” He bet nothing but he didn’t have too.
Yungsheng’s
skill and joie de vivre were a highlight of this tournament and of the four
finalists (Josh Saak of Spades, Emily Sands of Diamonds, and Nick Cascone of
Clubs) I believe he deserves to be here the most. I look forward to seeing him
play in the Tournament – when it happens.
And when the
next Wild Card Tournament takes place it looks like Jeopardy is going to
do something it never gets a chance to do; put one of its most vocal critics in
its place.
If you paid
attention to both social media and Jeopardy this past year (and if you
read my columns on the subject) you are aware of Yogesh Raut who this past January won 3 games, just over
$96,000 – and the wrath of Jeopardy fans everywhere pretty much simultaneously.
On his blog
Raut wrote some pretty nasty commentary about his entire experience on Jeopardy
in which he chose to berate the show and its treatment of minority
contestants, all Jeopardy champions, the idea that Jeopardy was anything
resembling the epitome of trivia and finished it off by more or less that Mike
Richards, the producer involved with so many controversies, was basically
framed. The world of Jeopardy, fans and former champions alike, went out
of their way to burn him in effigy on social media. The show’s producers, however,
took the high road saying that all contestants were entitled to their opinions
and that they would gladly welcome Yogesh back on the show someday.
Now it seems
that the show is about to put their money where Yogesh’s big mouth is. Because according to the show’s website,
Yogesh has been invited back to the participate in the next Wild Card
Tournament.
I am almost
prepared to take back everything I said about this entire tournament, past and
present, for the wonderful trap they have stuck this loudmouth know-it-all in
(and no, I don’t mean that as a compliment the way most Jeopardy champions are).
Because now Yogesh Raut is on the horns of a dilemma. I should mention that no
Jeopardy champion is ever obligated to participate in a Tournament of Champions
or any special tournament. This has happened quite a few times in the show’s
history, sometimes due to traveling obligations or other unavailability. Indeed,
in the 2014 Battle of The Decades David Madden, who at the time was in second
place in games won with 19, felt because of a contractual obligation involving
his current employer, that he could not in good conscience participate in the tournament.
That conflict was apparently resolved by the Jeopardy All-Star Games in which
he participated and was on the winning team.
Raut’s situation
is considerably different considering his public stink involving the show. He
would seem to have two choices. He can either decline to participate in the tournament
for some vague reason or he can participate and be in the awkward position of
having to return to a show he publicly pilloried online. He will lose either
way; he will either be branded in the court of public opinion as a coward or a
hypocrite by fans of the show who he went out of his way to demean.
I am not the
kind of person who normally is petty and cruel even to those that he disagrees
with but to quote Groucho Marx, in Yogesh Raut’s case I’ll make an exception. As
skilled a player as he was, his attitude was not merely ungrateful but
completely disgraceful to anyone who has been a fan of the show for forty years.
I frankly wonder why, if he had such a low opinion of Jeopardy why he ‘debased
himself’ to appear on it. Perhaps it was merely so he could troll the show on
social media, or maybe he was just greedy. Either way, I find his attitude
contemptible. By taking the high road, Jeopardy has put Raut into a
position that any road he takes is the low road and it couldn’t happen to a
nicer guy.
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