Alex Trebek has passed (Update: new Jeopardy host stuff)) (2 Viewers)

[Bleu Raeder]

Maybe they are having a hard time finding people smart enough to appear on the show!

To be honest - I have seen a lot of folks on the show who didn't seem at the same level as folks at the auditions. Maybe they test really well and then freeze up, but there are a lot of very smart folks auditioning.

 

[Nisey55]

To be honest - I have seen a lot of folks on the show who didn't seem at the same level as folks at the auditions. Maybe they test really well and then freeze up, but there are a lot of very smart folks auditioning.

Can you watch the auditions? Wondering how know about them.

Yeah, I would freeze like an iceberg, plus I can't think that fast.

 

[Sailorsaint]

To be honest - I have seen a lot of folks on the show who didn't seem at the same level as folks at the auditions. Maybe they test really well and then freeze up, but there are a lot of very smart folks auditioning.

I don't think smarts is the only thing they are looking for....personality and "camera presence" have a lot to do with it, I'm sure.

 

[Bleu Raeder]

I don't think smarts is the only thing they are looking for....personality and "camera presence" have a lot to do with it, I'm sure.

Undoubtedly, maybe.

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Can you watch the auditions? Wondering how know about them.

Yeah, I would freeze like an iceberg, plus I can't think that fast.

Let's just say I've participated in a couple.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I don't think smarts is the only thing they are looking for....personality and "camera presence" have a lot to do with it, I'm sure.

I don't know, I've seen a lot of socially awkward, dull as dishwater contestants compete

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Let's just say I've participated in a couple.

Just for the record, it is not an easy process.

First, you take a 50-question online test. You're not given your score, but generally, you must answer 35 or more correctly. You have 15 seconds for each answer. Spelling is not counted against you. In a region, people who scored higher are randomly selected for an in-person audition. It has been said that 3% of test takers are randomly chosen.

At the in-person audition, you're first given a rules and pep talk. They encourage high energy, smiling, and acting as if you're enjoying the game. Then 50 clues are displayed and read aloud and you're given 15 seconds to write your response on a response sheet. Those are then taken and graded and you're not given your score. No one will tell you how many you need to get correct, but it has been rumored that 70% (again, 35 or more) is "passing". Now, you get to play a mock Jeopardy round against two other auditioners in which they are looking for "on-air qualities". You must respond in the form of a question, but they do not score the mock rounds.

Persons passing both tests and doing well in the mock rounds are placed into a pool and their name remains in the pool for 18 months. They may or may not get called. James Holzhauer auditioned twice and claims he worked on getting on the show "for about six years".

It is, by no means, a cakewalk. WWTBAM was much easier to qualify for.

I am guessing this is why their line of thinking is on bringing folks back who were on the show before. Those people passed the tests and were deemed to have the appropriate "on-air qualities" already, so calling them back doesn't seem too far out in left field.

Keep in mind that there can be some regional hurdles as well. You have undoubtedly noticed the number of contestants from the Northeast and specifically, the Boston area. The auditions have people from MIT, Harvard, Brandies, Brown, Yale, etc. Not to bash any other region of the country, but the contestant pools from some areas can be stacked. Matt Amodio was working on his PhD from Yale at the time he played.

 

[LonghornSaint]

i got to take the test back in the 90's when i was stationed in saudia arabia. Alex and his crew were hosting it in Bahrain for their military week auditions, so me and a friend drove down from Dhahran. That preliminary test kicked my arse and pretty much everyone else's in the gym. i think maybe just one person out of 500-ish, some Ensign fresh out of the naval academy passed. Very humbling since i thought i was decent when watching the show on tv, but it was still a great experience. Alex was quite pleasant and humble, and his crew were very friendly.

 

[Madmarsha]

Keep in mind that there can be some regional hurdles as well. You have undoubtedly noticed the number of contestants from the Northeast and specifically, the Boston area. The auditions have people from MIT, Harvard, Brandies, Brown, Yale, etc. Not to bash any other region of the country, but the contestant pools from some areas can be stacked. Matt Amodio was working on his PhD from Yale at the time he played.

During COVID, everyone appeared to be from California.

 

[Madmarsha]

Ladies and gents, we have a new Cliff Clavin:

The original


Now watch what this Karen does when she gets the final daily double and has a runaway score of $21,800 which is $14,700 over her closest competitor and there's only $2,400 worth of clues left on the board:

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Ladies and gents, we have a new Cliff Clavin:

The original


Now watch what this Karen does when she gets the final daily double and has a runaway score of $21,800 which is $14,700 over her closest competitor and there's only $2,400 worth of clues left on the board:

I kinda' felt bad for her. I think she was thinking she was going to get the Hans Christian Anderson clue (which ended up being the first clue in the category).

 

[Madmarsha]

I kinda' felt bad for her. I think she was thinking she was going to get the Hans Christian Anderson clue (which ended up being the first clue in the category).

Ha, that's basically what I said (I was waiting for Hans Gruber which was the only other Hans I could think of and I totally blanked on Von Bulow even though I knew all about that story).

 

[Madmarsha]

Sharon Stone is the current champ on Jeopardy!

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Jeopardy! fans weren't happy when a contestant's answer was accepted as correct, but they thought he had got it wrong.

Mayim Bialik was in the hosting seat for the June 1 episode, when Jared Watson, a quality control specialist from Greenville, Texas, was tasked with responding to a question in the Sweet Spots category.

The clue appeared on the screen and Bialik read it out to Watson.

"Founded in Paris, Laduree offers these filled cookies in a rainbow of colors and flavors, including orange blossom," she said.

Watson responded: "What are macaroons?"

Bialik accepted his answer, but corrected his pronunciation using a French accent.

"Yes! Or Macaron," she told him.

Jeopardy! viewers then flocked to Twitter to express their outrage over granting Watson a correct answer. Many pointed out that while macaroons and macarons are both French sweet biscuits with similar ingredients, they are different altogether.

"Macarons... are delicate meringue and almond-flour based sandwich cookies with buttercream, jam, or ganache filling that comes in a variety of flavors," according to Martha Stewart's website.

Whereas macaroons are made when shredded coconut is mixed into a base of whipped egg whites and sugar. They tend to be bigger and denser than macarons.

"#Jeopardy! is really getting inconsistent with their rulings, esp. pronunciations. A MACAROON is not the same as a MACARON. Ask Solzhenitsyn. #gameshow," tweeted one angry fan.

Another added: "Akshually, 'macaroon' and 'macaron' are different. [sic]"

The decision was also controversial because the same episode saw the end of the winning streak of Ben Chan who was toppled over a spelling mistake.

Chan lost his nine-game winning streak when he misspelled a word in his Final Jeopardy answer.

The clue read: "Both of the names of these two lovers in a Shakespeare play come from the latin word for 'blessed.'"

Chan wrote: "Who are Beatrice and Benedict?" but lost out when Bialik revealed to him the character from Much Ado About Nothing was actually "Benedick."...........

MSN