Jeopardy New Season - Ken Jennings - Possible Spoilers

he needs to go on who wants to be a millionare or something.. 75 shows only gets him 2.5 mil?

 

Yeah but the problem is that you're not allow to make 1 mistake in Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

 

Only a handful of people knew that Twenty-one was rigged and they were eventually found out.

There's always a weak link somewhere in these things.

I hope it is rigged since the ensuing trial would be more interesting than anything else on television, AND it would likely kill a lot of the game shows on TV for a time (hopefully including such contests as Survivor and the ilk).

I, for one, don't think what he's done to be all that impossible to think that it has to be rigged. I've known quite a few people who know all that kind of crap like you see on the Jeopardy questions. The trick would be getting good enough at running the buzzer to put the knowledge to use.

If not for the 5-day limit, I imagine we might well have seen something like this before on Jeopardy.

 

Three people can keep a secret. . . but only if two of them are dead.

 

danasty.. true.. I wonder if anyone has ever made a living out of just going on every possible game show

 

It's not rigged. He makes up trivia questions for a living! And he's probably just got a fast thumb.

 

Five day champs were relatively rare, usually only 4-5 per season. Of those hundred or so contestants, none came close to Jennings' per show average. Further, of the contestants last year, only one exceeded five days, and he only went eight. This run is special. Not only has it broken all the Jeopardy! records, it will ground every other game show record into dust. No one had been on ANY game show for longer than 43 games, and that was the relatively easy "Tic Tac Dough," where each show was only against a single contestant.

It will be interesting to see how Jennings ends up doing in the "Tournament of Champions" a year from now.

 

Despite the cash prize, the reality shows are not classified as "game shows," and not subject to the rules Jeopardy!, Wheel, and so forth live under. With the demise of "Pyramid" and the GSN shows, the traditional game show IS more or less dead.

 

I'm not so sure about that. I seem to recall a booted Survivor contestant saying that the game was rigged. And according to the story, it would be a big time federal violation if it was true.

 

Here's the text of the law in question:

The statutory provision regarding contests is set forth at Section 508 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the ``Act'') (47 U.S.C. § 509). Section 508(a) of the Act (47 U.S.C.. § 509(a)) provides that it is unlawful for any person, with intent to deceive the listening or viewing public:

To supply to any contestant in a purportedly bona fide contest of intellectual knowledge or intellectual skill any special and secret assistance whereby the outcome of such contest will be in whole or in part prearranged or predetermined.


By means of persuasion, bribery, intimidation, or otherwise to induce or cause any contestant in a purportedly bona fide contests of intellectual knowledge or intellectual skill to refrain in any manner from using or displaying his knowledge or skill in such contests, whereby the outcome thereof will be in whole or in part prearranged or predetermined.


To engage in any artifice or scheme for the purpose of prearranging or predetermining in whole or in part the outcome of a purportedly bona fide contest of intellectual knowledge, intellectual skill, or chance.


To produce or participate in the production for broadcasting of, to broadcast or participate in the broadcasting of, to offer to a licensee for broadcasting, or to sponsor, any radio program, knowing or having reasonable ground for believing that, in connection with a purportedly bona fide contest of intellectual knowledge, intellectual skill, or chance constituting any part of such program, any person has done or is going to do any act or thing referred to in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) above.


To conspire with any other person or persons to do any act or thing prohibited by paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) above, if one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of such conspiracy.


For purposes of Section 508, the term ``contest'' means any contest broadcast by a broadcast station in connection with which any money or any other thing of value is offered as a prize or prizes to be paid or presented by the program sponsor or by any other person or persons, as announced in the course of the broadcast.

For purposes of Section 508, the term ``listening or viewing public'' means those members of the public who, with the aid of radio receiving sets, listen to or view programs broadcast by radio or television stations.

I don't see the "Except for Survivor" clause there.

 

Plus, the point was that if one show is proven to be fixed, the public perception may be enough to destroy interest in other contest shows whether they fall under the purview of the law or not and even if those particular shows were always on the up-and-up.

Five day champs were relatively rare, usually only 4-5 per season. Of those hundred or so contestants, none came close to Jennings' per show average. Further, of the contestants last year, only one exceeded five days, and he only went eight. This run is special. Not only has it broken all the Jeopardy! records, it will ground every other game show record into dust. No one had been on ANY game show for longer than 43 games, and that was the relatively easy "Tic Tac Dough," where each show was only against a single contestant.

I don't deny it's special, but I don't know that he's singularly able to do what he's done. Without an even playing field, we don't know that there couldn't have been another person to do the same thing or come close to doing the same thing since the champs were artificially limited in appearances until recently.

You seem to be trying to support the idea that he is cheating, though, since that's what I was posting in response to. The whole "he's so amazing, he has to be cheating" idea that daNasty is seeming to support.

I say that, while quite amazing, it's not outside the realm of possibility that someone else could've done the same in the past if allowed to continue past the five day mark.

But I guess since no one else has done it, it was impossible even had there not been an artificial limit on the number of visits. You've convinced me, edc, he's cheating.

 

i agree with mrpaige what he's doing isn't something i think has to be staged. there's probably plenty of people with as much random knowledge as him, maybe even some of his competitors but i think he's mastered the buzzing in which is why he blows away everyone else.