What'ssss ...... Matt Amodio
October 14, 2021 9:11 AM Subscribe
After 38 straight wins, Jeopardy champion Matt Amodio run finally comes to an end. Matt's run of 38 wins puts him in second place all-time behind Ken Jennings' 74 and ahead of James Holzhauer's 32. Matt's $1.5 million in winnings is third behind the previously mentioned Jennings and Holzhauer. One record Matt holds, unlikely to ever be broken, is having won with 6 different hosts.
Who is Matt Amodio? He is a PhD candidate at Yale.. Like most grad students he is looking for a job. Used today's appearance on CNBC to talk about that and to discuss what to do with his $$$. He is quite the personable champ even wondering if he would be interesting enough to get on the show.
The Hamden Pub can claim Matt as "Hamden's own" where he honed his skills and downed a few pops at their trivia nights.
His unique style of answering with "What's" regardless of the subject caused some controversy initially, but endeared him to many over time.
Who is Matt Amodio? He is a PhD candidate at Yale.. Like most grad students he is looking for a job. Used today's appearance on CNBC to talk about that and to discuss what to do with his $$$. He is quite the personable champ even wondering if he would be interesting enough to get on the show.
The Hamden Pub can claim Matt as "Hamden's own" where he honed his skills and downed a few pops at their trivia nights.
His unique style of answering with "What's" regardless of the subject caused some controversy initially, but endeared him to many over time.
I think a large part of why Levar Burton's week was so weird and boring was in large part to Matt blowing all the other contestants away, while also being a stilted, wooden, black hole of charisma (and answering every answer so freaking weirdly). I continued disliking him so much I was hoping beyond hope he would finally lose for weeks on end, until, I guess, at some point he became a lot less stiff and lifeless, and I started...liking him? Anyways, what an accomplishment. Good for him.
posted by General Malaise at 9:32 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 9:32 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
He did go down with a whimper more than a bang. I like him. Something about his awkwardness and robot like ways. He said in the CNBC interview that he was sort of expecting to lose all 38 days so when the end came, while he was a little surprised at how, he was not surprised in happened.
All the guest hosts seemed to like him and most of the guest hosts had played celebrity jeopardy and seemed to appreciate how hard his accomplishment was.
posted by AugustWest at 9:42 AM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
All the guest hosts seemed to like him and most of the guest hosts had played celebrity jeopardy and seemed to appreciate how hard his accomplishment was.
posted by AugustWest at 9:42 AM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh, at my house we liked him a lot! He seems like a dork, but our kind of dork, you know? And I love that he knew pretty much every category that came at him.
In contrast, last night's winner (who looks like John C. Reilly) visibly shied away from the triple-rhyme puzzles. And all three contestants floundered a lot, though their final scores were respectable. Another thing that stood out is that they started off at the top of the columns, which I thought was anathema to Modern Jeopardy Strategy.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:50 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
In contrast, last night's winner (who looks like John C. Reilly) visibly shied away from the triple-rhyme puzzles. And all three contestants floundered a lot, though their final scores were respectable. Another thing that stood out is that they started off at the top of the columns, which I thought was anathema to Modern Jeopardy Strategy.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:50 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
What strikes me is that as good as Matt was, he barely made it halfway to the length of Ken Jennings' streak. I'm starting to think Ken's streak will be as unassailable as Joe DiMaggio's.
posted by martin q blank at 10:17 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 10:17 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Thanks for the post, AugustWest, but a nitpick about the title: the optimal response would be "What's Amodio." No need to risk volunteering a first name and getting it wrong, when they'd have accepted just the last name.
...which was part of the reason I'm with the non-fans here. I get why he used these strategies, I don't blame him. But as a viewer I'm not watching Jeopardy! for his sake, I want a comprehensible and informative game where the winner was the one who knew the most trivia, not knew how to game the system (granted that Matt was usually both).
posted by Riki tiki at 10:43 AM on October 14, 2021 [15 favorites]
...which was part of the reason I'm with the non-fans here. I get why he used these strategies, I don't blame him. But as a viewer I'm not watching Jeopardy! for his sake, I want a comprehensible and informative game where the winner was the one who knew the most trivia, not knew how to game the system (granted that Matt was usually both).
posted by Riki tiki at 10:43 AM on October 14, 2021 [15 favorites]
I agree with your point Riki tiki about the last name. I cannot recall him ever giving a first name (except his own). You don't win 38 times in a row without both knowing facts, lots of facts, and with getting into a rhythm with the buzzer and the answers. He did sort of try to bully the newbies in the first segment starting at the $1,000 questions, hunting the Double Jeopardy clues and betting it all in the single Jeopardy round. I do not recall him ever referring to a "true daily double". He always bet the number he had. Superstition? Quirky? Annoying? James Holzhauer and to a lesser extent, Ken Jennings were quirky people. I think it takes a certain type to win that many in a row. They all seem to play to win as opposed to playing to not lose.
I am on Team Amodio
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on October 14, 2021
I am on Team Amodio
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on October 14, 2021
In the last year or so, it's been clear to see a new type of player emerge, with clear strategies and techniques.
This feels a lot less like the old, "Hey, that could be me up there!" vibe.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:00 AM on October 14, 2021 [5 favorites]
This feels a lot less like the old, "Hey, that could be me up there!" vibe.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:00 AM on October 14, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm pro-Amodio. His breadth of knowledge was astonishing, and despite the "What's..." tic (which did grate on me at first) he was human enough to root for. In particular, his incredulous look every time the announcer totaled up his (increasingly absurd) winnings was very endearing.
(I also don't see anything wrong with the last-names-only responses-- Jeopardy! is very harsh about punishing contestants for misspeaking even when it's clear they know the gist of the answer, so taking pains to avoid any contact with the "no mispronunciations or extra syllables" rule is fine with me.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:25 AM on October 14, 2021 [9 favorites]
(I also don't see anything wrong with the last-names-only responses-- Jeopardy! is very harsh about punishing contestants for misspeaking even when it's clear they know the gist of the answer, so taking pains to avoid any contact with the "no mispronunciations or extra syllables" rule is fine with me.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:25 AM on October 14, 2021 [9 favorites]
Interesting factoid about giving just the last name - that almost killed Ken Jenning's streak before it began. The Final Jeopardy answer on his first show was "She's the first female track & field athlete to win medals in five different events at a single Olympics" and he wrote "Who is Jones?".
Well, there are other Olympic athletes with the last name "Jones" (marathoner and former world record holder Steve Jones, for example), but the Jeopardy fact checkers, after some time, decided that this was acceptable as there weren't many other people it could have been. I assume he brain-farted on the first name and couldn't even come up with an initial, because that's not an uncommon last name.
In general the benefits of giving just the last name outweigh the risks, but not always.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
Well, there are other Olympic athletes with the last name "Jones" (marathoner and former world record holder Steve Jones, for example), but the Jeopardy fact checkers, after some time, decided that this was acceptable as there weren't many other people it could have been. I assume he brain-farted on the first name and couldn't even come up with an initial, because that's not an uncommon last name.
In general the benefits of giving just the last name outweigh the risks, but not always.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
Jeopardy! has a quiz on their website where you can try to answer questions that Amodio got wrong. The space where you write in the answer has "What is" or "What are" pre-filled. I was wondering about that when I took it yesterday but I guess that was just them having fun (I haven't watched an actual episode of the show in a very long time and was not aware of this tic).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:32 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:32 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
"I get why he used these strategies, I don't blame him."
Same. As gameplay, totally understandable. As interesting teevee, not so much. The sense of building familiarity with the category isn't there. After hitting the hard question, the easy ones seem dull.
That said, I've been that kind of trivia gamer before, which is why no-one wants to play with me anymore. :(
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:43 AM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Same. As gameplay, totally understandable. As interesting teevee, not so much. The sense of building familiarity with the category isn't there. After hitting the hard question, the easy ones seem dull.
That said, I've been that kind of trivia gamer before, which is why no-one wants to play with me anymore. :(
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:43 AM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also don't see anything wrong with the last-names-only responses-- Jeopardy! is very harsh about punishing contestants for misspeaking even when it's clear they know the gist of the answer, so taking pains to avoid any contact with the "no mispronunciations or extra syllables" rule is fine with me.
I can see both side of it. It definitely peeves me when a contestant only gives a last name answer, but I understand why. I suppose, though, the piece that really bugs me is while they are very harsh about mispronunciations, they are very lenient on misspellings in Final Jeopardy.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:46 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
I can see both side of it. It definitely peeves me when a contestant only gives a last name answer, but I understand why. I suppose, though, the piece that really bugs me is while they are very harsh about mispronunciations, they are very lenient on misspellings in Final Jeopardy.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:46 AM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Matt's run was wonderful to watch! I disagree very much with people who don't like him because of his "what's...", his answer-picking strategy, and not using first names if possible. The goal of the game is to WIN - and he did it, and he did it brilliantly.
I love the ultra-champions unabashedly. For non-sports people like me, this is as close as we get to a Joe DiMaggio, or a Wilt Chamberlain, etc.
ALSO - I *really* appreciate his DD wager announcements - I've never liked the "Let's make it a true daily double" bit.
As for Mayim - her guest-hosting stint was pretty rough - even cringey - but she has come a long way as a semi-permanent host, and as far as I'm concerned, she can have the job.
posted by davidmsc at 11:50 AM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
I love the ultra-champions unabashedly. For non-sports people like me, this is as close as we get to a Joe DiMaggio, or a Wilt Chamberlain, etc.
ALSO - I *really* appreciate his DD wager announcements - I've never liked the "Let's make it a true daily double" bit.
As for Mayim - her guest-hosting stint was pretty rough - even cringey - but she has come a long way as a semi-permanent host, and as far as I'm concerned, she can have the job.
posted by davidmsc at 11:50 AM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish: I also don't see anything wrong with the last-names-only responses-- Jeopardy! is very harsh about punishing contestants for misspeaking even when it's clear they know the gist of the answer, so taking pains to avoid any contact with the "no mispronunciations or extra syllables" rule is fine with me.
I agree. Sometimes Jeopardy can be too harsh about this IMHO, as I get annoyed when someone who probably learned a word by reading mispronounces it--even though they clearly know the correct information--and gets judged wrong. I recall someone who knew "foliage" but pronounced it "foilage" and... nope. As the old saying goes, "Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading." I wish Jeopardy were more charitable to us bookish types.
posted by indexy at 11:58 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
I agree. Sometimes Jeopardy can be too harsh about this IMHO, as I get annoyed when someone who probably learned a word by reading mispronounces it--even though they clearly know the correct information--and gets judged wrong. I recall someone who knew "foliage" but pronounced it "foilage" and... nope. As the old saying goes, "Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading." I wish Jeopardy were more charitable to us bookish types.
posted by indexy at 11:58 AM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
I checked out fairly early into his run. It was so boring--no one really had a chance to answer or make enough headway to compete by Final Jeopardy, and that is so effing dull to me. You never really had to wonder if he could come through, or if this would be the day he finally lost; there was just no tension in the games. That was what drove me away from Jeopardy in the first place years ago--Ken Jennings just kind of ruined the show for me. He also seemed annoyingly smug, and I've played trivia against dudes like Amodio and Jennings and disliked them intensely. I will have to see if I can find this episode because it'd be nice to see him go bye-bye.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
And thus we are faced with the question: Is the purpose of Jeopardy! to provide an opportunity for trivia masters to use the rules of the game in order to break records and win high scores, or is it to create an entertaining show for the audience?
The answer, of course, is neither. The purpose of Jeopardy! is to generate revenue for the shareholders, so the producers will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. If players like Amodio and Jennings attract viewership, they will appear more frequently. If they repel viewers, then the rules will be changed to prevent them in the future. Our individual preferences and opinions do not matter.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
The answer, of course, is neither. The purpose of Jeopardy! is to generate revenue for the shareholders, so the producers will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. If players like Amodio and Jennings attract viewership, they will appear more frequently. If they repel viewers, then the rules will be changed to prevent them in the future. Our individual preferences and opinions do not matter.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
…while they are very harsh about mispronunciations, they are very lenient on misspellings in Final Jeopardy.
Did you catch the biathlon/biathalon final a week ago? Biathalon was not accepted because it adds a syllable. It was a runaway so didn’t make a difference, but I also thought that might have made the judges a little more lenient.
I liked Matt, but also liked the guy who beat him (and thought it was a good final game of his; 3 good players). Still not a fan of Blossom as host, though. To be honest, I’m not sure who the best host would be; whoever it is will have to take time to grow into the role. I see why they have mostly chosen celebrities as guest hosts, but I have to wonder how many really want to modify their current careers for the semi-full-time host job. There are lots of lower-tier media players who would probably be great. Alex had a lot of experience but wasn’t exactly well-known when he took the job.
posted by TedW at 12:45 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Did you catch the biathlon/biathalon final a week ago? Biathalon was not accepted because it adds a syllable. It was a runaway so didn’t make a difference, but I also thought that might have made the judges a little more lenient.
I liked Matt, but also liked the guy who beat him (and thought it was a good final game of his; 3 good players). Still not a fan of Blossom as host, though. To be honest, I’m not sure who the best host would be; whoever it is will have to take time to grow into the role. I see why they have mostly chosen celebrities as guest hosts, but I have to wonder how many really want to modify their current careers for the semi-full-time host job. There are lots of lower-tier media players who would probably be great. Alex had a lot of experience but wasn’t exactly well-known when he took the job.
posted by TedW at 12:45 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
I liked David Faber from CNBC as a guest host. He is smart, used to being on live TV, and funny. Blossom is ok. Neither particularly like or dislike.
Holzhauer, being a Vegas professional bettor, sort of impacted the way the game is played now. He looked at the odds. Get a DD on a lesser valued question and push it because the question is usually easier.
I record the show every night because it is just not convenient to watch for me at its live (on tape) time. So, I get to fast forward out of the commercials. I have the opportunity to skip the intro little questions halfway in the first round, but I find them oddly compelling. The contestants have to pick the little sniglet that they tell. Sometimes I wonder what they were thinking when they picked that. And Matt, after a while was reaching for things to say. But, the viewer got to know Matt or at least think they know Matt over the course of his 38 snippets. It was odd because in the beginning they would only say he was a grad student from New Haven. Hello! Yale!! What was his subject (Artificial Intelligence, computer learning)? They would not say until about halfway through his run. I think one of things I liked about him was his love of baseball. Also his semi self deprecating sense of humor.
He will be back for the Champion week. I suspect he will become an ambassador for the show a la Ken Jennings.
posted by AugustWest at 1:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Holzhauer, being a Vegas professional bettor, sort of impacted the way the game is played now. He looked at the odds. Get a DD on a lesser valued question and push it because the question is usually easier.
I record the show every night because it is just not convenient to watch for me at its live (on tape) time. So, I get to fast forward out of the commercials. I have the opportunity to skip the intro little questions halfway in the first round, but I find them oddly compelling. The contestants have to pick the little sniglet that they tell. Sometimes I wonder what they were thinking when they picked that. And Matt, after a while was reaching for things to say. But, the viewer got to know Matt or at least think they know Matt over the course of his 38 snippets. It was odd because in the beginning they would only say he was a grad student from New Haven. Hello! Yale!! What was his subject (Artificial Intelligence, computer learning)? They would not say until about halfway through his run. I think one of things I liked about him was his love of baseball. Also his semi self deprecating sense of humor.
He will be back for the Champion week. I suspect he will become an ambassador for the show a la Ken Jennings.
posted by AugustWest at 1:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Jeopardy! has a quiz on their website where you can try to answer questions that Amodio got wrong. The space where you write in the answer has "What is" or "What are" pre-filled. I was wondering about that when I took it yesterday but I guess that was just them having fun (I haven't watched an actual episode of the show in a very long time and was not aware of this tic).so, i was actually a contestant, and we're told that "what is..." is perfectly acceptable to answer with, even if it's a person/name/etc.
posted by europeandaughter at 1:55 PM on October 14, 2021 [9 favorites]
His unique style of answering with "What's" regardless of the subject caused some controversy initially
Can someone expand on this please? I don’t see how it could work.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:58 PM on October 14, 2021
Can someone expand on this please? I don’t see how it could work.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:58 PM on October 14, 2021
Always interesting to see people's reactions to different contestants - for what it's worth, I liked Amodio and I normally hate it when people win for more than a week or two at a time. I like novelty, and I like more people getting to brag that they're a Jeopardy! champion.
I think part of why I liked Matt despite his sort of boring dominance was the host churn during his run. It's not usually the champion that offers the consistency, but in this case it was nice to have someone to root for to outlast Mike Richards.
I do think it's kind of impressive he kept winning through so many hosts. Part of the advantage of being a returning champ is getting used to the cadence of the host and speed of the game, but the host changes kept switching that up on him.
I also liked how cheerful he seemed, so it's funny to me that he came off as smug to many of you. He smiled after most of his answers, and was visibly relieved when got one he was guessing at. And as others mentioned, he always seemed a little pleasantly shell shocked as his total went up and up.
Anyway, I never liked James Holzhauer (for no good reason, he seems a perfectly acceptable human) so I was glad Amodio made it to 2nd most games, but I was fine with getting some fresh champions going.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:08 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
I think part of why I liked Matt despite his sort of boring dominance was the host churn during his run. It's not usually the champion that offers the consistency, but in this case it was nice to have someone to root for to outlast Mike Richards.
I do think it's kind of impressive he kept winning through so many hosts. Part of the advantage of being a returning champ is getting used to the cadence of the host and speed of the game, but the host changes kept switching that up on him.
I also liked how cheerful he seemed, so it's funny to me that he came off as smug to many of you. He smiled after most of his answers, and was visibly relieved when got one he was guessing at. And as others mentioned, he always seemed a little pleasantly shell shocked as his total went up and up.
Anyway, I never liked James Holzhauer (for no good reason, he seems a perfectly acceptable human) so I was glad Amodio made it to 2nd most games, but I was fine with getting some fresh champions going.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:08 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
I am a fan of Matt in general, even though the past couple of weeks I've been complaining to my family that there is no longer any jeopardy in Jeopardy! since Matt was always so far out ahead no one can hope to win against him. Which is why the episode he lost was So! Exciting! because finally -- real jeopardy! As in, someone could win or lose with the right or wrong answer, even Matt!
And I quite like the new champion, who was adorably gobsmacked by his first win.
While Matt's low-key monotone was soothing to the point where I'd zone out in Double Jeopardy since it was often just him and the host, back-and-forth, I am more interested in actually watching the show with fresh blood.
So I would still cheer for Matt if we were on, because I like him as a contestant and a person. But I also like watching Jeopardy! have jeopardy again.
(I also have to wonder how many Poland-related gifts he'll receive over the course of his life.)
posted by paisley sheep at 2:10 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
And I quite like the new champion, who was adorably gobsmacked by his first win.
While Matt's low-key monotone was soothing to the point where I'd zone out in Double Jeopardy since it was often just him and the host, back-and-forth, I am more interested in actually watching the show with fresh blood.
So I would still cheer for Matt if we were on, because I like him as a contestant and a person. But I also like watching Jeopardy! have jeopardy again.
(I also have to wonder how many Poland-related gifts he'll receive over the course of his life.)
posted by paisley sheep at 2:10 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, now that the Amodio Rodeo is over (TM Claire McNear, the lead gameshow reporter of our time imho, or whoever came up with it before her), please enjoy this twitter thread recounting Amodio's surprisingly tight first win, from Patrick Nolan of soxmachine.com.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by the primroses were over at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2021
Here's an axe-grar from me about an insignificant detail: couldn't they have come up with a better winner's photo than one aping Vanna White?
posted by rhizome at 2:56 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by rhizome at 2:56 PM on October 14, 2021
I also liked how cheerful he seemed, so it's funny to me that he came off as smug to many of you.
I only saw maybe two episodes of this run, but one thing I noticed that he tended to be slightly turned away from the other contestants. Maybe it was just coincidence from the little I saw.
posted by rhizome at 2:59 PM on October 14, 2021
I only saw maybe two episodes of this run, but one thing I noticed that he tended to be slightly turned away from the other contestants. Maybe it was just coincidence from the little I saw.
posted by rhizome at 2:59 PM on October 14, 2021
Jeopardy! has a quiz on their website where you can try to answer questions that Amodio got wrong.
This web quiz illustrates perfectly why I should not ever be on Jeopardy: I get antagonistic when I don't know the answer. "What is: How the **** was I supposed to know that, Alex?"
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:27 PM on October 14, 2021
This web quiz illustrates perfectly why I should not ever be on Jeopardy: I get antagonistic when I don't know the answer. "What is: How the **** was I supposed to know that, Alex?"
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:27 PM on October 14, 2021
The breadth of his knowledge was impressive, which makes it even more fun to me that I knew a lot of the few questions he got wrong. The game that he lost on... it almost felt like he was throwing the game or he was off for some reason. There were so many more bad answers on that one.
Personally, I would love to see win streaks capped at say, 20 wins, or something. I just get bored seeing the same person win. But apparently streaks are good for the ratings.
I'll take Matt over James anyday, but that's not saying much.
posted by hydra77 at 4:03 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Personally, I would love to see win streaks capped at say, 20 wins, or something. I just get bored seeing the same person win. But apparently streaks are good for the ratings.
I'll take Matt over James anyday, but that's not saying much.
posted by hydra77 at 4:03 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I hated this guy.
Using "What" for a person's name is not just a weird tic; it's dehumanizing. For me, it's right up there with the tendency to say "male/female" instead of "man/woman/boy/girl," which also grates. Rats, not people, are male/female/what.
His runs were also super boring to watch. It was like watching Tom Brady play against a couple of ten-year-olds. When the outcome is a foregone conclusion, what's even the point of watching?
posted by basalganglia at 4:50 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Using "What" for a person's name is not just a weird tic; it's dehumanizing. For me, it's right up there with the tendency to say "male/female" instead of "man/woman/boy/girl," which also grates. Rats, not people, are male/female/what.
His runs were also super boring to watch. It was like watching Tom Brady play against a couple of ten-year-olds. When the outcome is a foregone conclusion, what's even the point of watching?
posted by basalganglia at 4:50 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Matt's "what' wasn't a weird tic. It was strategy. It allowed him to say "What's" as soon as he was called and then pause, ensuring that he didn't make the dreaded mistake of not answering in the form of a question, and maximizing the amount of time he had to think of an answer. It's allowed under the rules and if it bothers viewers "Jeopardy!" should change the rules. I've never seen anyone else do it, but there will probably be Matt imitators.
posted by chrchr at 6:14 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 6:14 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
Yeah, it's strategy, and it's also dehumanizing. Strategy at the expense of sportsmanship basically sums it up. No thanks.
posted by basalganglia at 6:47 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by basalganglia at 6:47 PM on October 14, 2021
Ken Jennings lives in my neighborhood in Seattle. Not long after James Holzhauer's streak ended, Jennings hosted a trivia night fundraiser for the local community center. One category was "Things James Holzhauer Got Wrong".
posted by ShooBoo at 7:42 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by ShooBoo at 7:42 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Strategy at the expense of sportsmanship basically sums it up. No thanks.
Isn't this all of Jeopardy though? Like even the format of the show, where the contestants are given the "answer" and they have to "give the question" was decided in the wake of the Twenty-One rigged game show scandal, a pointless addition that made strategic sense for the show (they could claim that their show was 'rigged' equally for contestants and audience alike), at the expense of contestants who know the right answer being penalised because they didn't say "What's" in front of their answer.
posted by Merus at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Isn't this all of Jeopardy though? Like even the format of the show, where the contestants are given the "answer" and they have to "give the question" was decided in the wake of the Twenty-One rigged game show scandal, a pointless addition that made strategic sense for the show (they could claim that their show was 'rigged' equally for contestants and audience alike), at the expense of contestants who know the right answer being penalised because they didn't say "What's" in front of their answer.
posted by Merus at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
The purpose of Jeopardy! is to generate revenue for the shareholders….
Which they accomplish by delivering a product: a large audience characterized by members of market sectors desirable to advertisers. Monetization demands attention to mass content-driven abandonment of the show.
posted by carmicha at 8:36 PM on October 14, 2021
Which they accomplish by delivering a product: a large audience characterized by members of market sectors desirable to advertisers. Monetization demands attention to mass content-driven abandonment of the show.
posted by carmicha at 8:36 PM on October 14, 2021
Claims he threw the game on purpose. I highly doubt it especially on a Monday. They tape 5 shows in a day. If he is there for Monday's show, he might as well be there for all week if he can because all the week's shows are taped in that same one day.
posted by AugustWest at 9:37 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by AugustWest at 9:37 PM on October 14, 2021
He did sort of try to bully the newbies in the first segment starting at the $1,000 questions, hunting the Double Jeopardy clues and betting it all in the single Jeopardy round.
Hunting for the Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy has been a strategy for a long time now.
Amodio's actual contribution to Jeopardy strategy was fairly brilliant. Going for the thousand-dollar questions across the board at the start is a good strategy if you think you know the answers (and can ring in fast, which he could), because it allows you to accumulate a lot of money early in the game. That either gives you a massive advantage if you hit the first-round Daily Double - because you can risk it all, as Matt did, with relatively low risk of losing the game if you miss the question - or it gives you valuable hedge room when one of the other players hits it and manages to true-daily-double their score, to a point where they're still thousands of dollars below you. He avoided going for the early grand on first-round categories he didn't feel confident about because he's a good player.
That's not "bullying" - every Jeopardy player comes in with the same odds. That's just having faith in your own abilities. Amodio won multiple games by tens of thousands of dollars where he didn't hit any Daily Doubles, he won games where he lost more than $7,000 on a first-round Daily Double, and on more than one occasion when he was having a bad game he bet everything on a second round Daily Double and won. He's a remarkable player, pure and simple.
posted by mightygodking at 11:19 PM on October 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
Hunting for the Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy has been a strategy for a long time now.
Amodio's actual contribution to Jeopardy strategy was fairly brilliant. Going for the thousand-dollar questions across the board at the start is a good strategy if you think you know the answers (and can ring in fast, which he could), because it allows you to accumulate a lot of money early in the game. That either gives you a massive advantage if you hit the first-round Daily Double - because you can risk it all, as Matt did, with relatively low risk of losing the game if you miss the question - or it gives you valuable hedge room when one of the other players hits it and manages to true-daily-double their score, to a point where they're still thousands of dollars below you. He avoided going for the early grand on first-round categories he didn't feel confident about because he's a good player.
That's not "bullying" - every Jeopardy player comes in with the same odds. That's just having faith in your own abilities. Amodio won multiple games by tens of thousands of dollars where he didn't hit any Daily Doubles, he won games where he lost more than $7,000 on a first-round Daily Double, and on more than one occasion when he was having a bad game he bet everything on a second round Daily Double and won. He's a remarkable player, pure and simple.
posted by mightygodking at 11:19 PM on October 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
I liked Amodio. He sorta reminds me of my high school misfit brigade cohort who had the closest thing I've encountered to the "photographic memory". Somebody you don't want to play Jeopardy (or Trivial Pursuit) with simply because if they've heard the answer/question before they remember it the next time. Amodio seemed pretty nice, sure he played hard and fast to win, but when it got down to the easy low value questions he usually backed off enough to give the other players at least a bit of a chance to at least fight out second and third place. The reason to watch Jeopardy is not to root for players, it's to sit in your living room and scream out the answer before all of them fools (except in the categories like Broadway Musicals (lol NOPE)).
I do sorta think he threw that last game. OMG what 38 rounds of trivia born out of what might just have been meant to be a cool vacation. Bail out early that last day and enjoy the rest of your trip before going home and getting back to work.
It was quite nice to watch him click in and say "What's" and set the squirrels in his running around like mad to come up with the answer in time.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:09 AM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
I do sorta think he threw that last game. OMG what 38 rounds of trivia born out of what might just have been meant to be a cool vacation. Bail out early that last day and enjoy the rest of your trip before going home and getting back to work.
It was quite nice to watch him click in and say "What's" and set the squirrels in his running around like mad to come up with the answer in time.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:09 AM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
It definitely peeves me when a contestant only gives a last name answer, but I understand why.
I was watching an episode of "The Chase" recently where someone got an answer wrong when they would have been right if they gave just the last name. I forget the exact question, but it was blah blah bird illustrations and the player said "James Audubon". Oh, sweetie, it's "John Audubon" "James" was his middle name. "John Audubon" would have been fine and just "Audubon" would have been fine (it's not like there's more than one, but giving an unnecessary and incorrect first name killed him.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:02 AM on October 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was watching an episode of "The Chase" recently where someone got an answer wrong when they would have been right if they gave just the last name. I forget the exact question, but it was blah blah bird illustrations and the player said "James Audubon". Oh, sweetie, it's "John Audubon" "James" was his middle name. "John Audubon" would have been fine and just "Audubon" would have been fine (it's not like there's more than one, but giving an unnecessary and incorrect first name killed him.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:02 AM on October 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
"The Chase" still has some balance problems. Like what I think was mentioned above, there are questions the Chasers got wrong in their runs, so the questions should gravitate to those topics. Not completely, because the Chasers could easily get up to speed, but maybe make them a larger factor. It's usually not much of a race at the end, judging from the several episodes I've seen.
posted by rhizome at 2:37 PM on October 16, 2021
posted by rhizome at 2:37 PM on October 16, 2021
Not sure about balance problems with "The Chase".
For the GSN version the contestants regularly got massacred, but in the ABC revival they are winning about half the time. That seems pretty good. I assume the level of skill has ramped up. I get annoyed by the razzle dazzle and "drama" they inject into it, but Jeopardy! pretty much has the "trivia with no frills" formula patented (at least in the US. I'm familiar with the UK show Mastermind), so I guess we have to expect blinking lights and glitter from anyone else.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 3:27 PM on October 16, 2021
For the GSN version the contestants regularly got massacred, but in the ABC revival they are winning about half the time. That seems pretty good. I assume the level of skill has ramped up. I get annoyed by the razzle dazzle and "drama" they inject into it, but Jeopardy! pretty much has the "trivia with no frills" formula patented (at least in the US. I'm familiar with the UK show Mastermind), so I guess we have to expect blinking lights and glitter from anyone else.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 3:27 PM on October 16, 2021
I liked him. He was cheerful, and I found it endearing when he answered wrong and realized the right answer either seconds after he said the wrong thing or when the next contestant got it right - he would kind of do this Homer Simpson-esque "D'oh!". He also seemed so bashful when they would announce his total winnings at the beginning and end of the show. He was also a good sport, he'd applaud when another contestant got a Daily Double right (especially if they did a True Daily Double) - not all contestants do that - and he always looked like he was chatting in a friendly way to the other contestants during the credits at the end of each show.
I basically saw him as a more socially adept James Holzhauer. (Full disclosure: I also liked Holzhauer a lot; he explained once that a lot of his random dollar figure wagers during Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy were linked to important dates pertaining to his wife and daughter, which I thought was sweet. When he finally lost he walked over to the woman who beat him and gave her a huge high five, he seemed genuinely impressed. Another good sport. I don't really understand why some folks don't care for him.)
Ken Jennings is an anomaly in that he has an extensive breadth of knowledge (there's a reason why he won that GOAT contest against Holzhauer and... that other dude) and was also just a very personable likeable charismatic presence on the show. I can understand why people prefer him over Amodio and Holzhauer, who over time began to seem a bit robotic. But overall, I'm just impressed by how much all three of these guys know. The few times my boyfriend and I would get a question Amodio missed we literally did a victory dance around the living room (it didn't happen often).
I am not happy that anti-vax slut-shaming C-section shaming Mayim Bialik is doing the hosting full time until the show figures out how to fix the hosting problem in the wake of the Mike Richards debacle, but she is doing a decent job of keeping the show moving at a good clip and giving the contestants room to breathe. In a perfect world I'd love to see Buzzy Cohen and her split duties - Buzzy was really good during the Tournament of Champions.
Clearly we take Jeopardy very seriously in our house...
posted by nayantara at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
I basically saw him as a more socially adept James Holzhauer. (Full disclosure: I also liked Holzhauer a lot; he explained once that a lot of his random dollar figure wagers during Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy were linked to important dates pertaining to his wife and daughter, which I thought was sweet. When he finally lost he walked over to the woman who beat him and gave her a huge high five, he seemed genuinely impressed. Another good sport. I don't really understand why some folks don't care for him.)
Ken Jennings is an anomaly in that he has an extensive breadth of knowledge (there's a reason why he won that GOAT contest against Holzhauer and... that other dude) and was also just a very personable likeable charismatic presence on the show. I can understand why people prefer him over Amodio and Holzhauer, who over time began to seem a bit robotic. But overall, I'm just impressed by how much all three of these guys know. The few times my boyfriend and I would get a question Amodio missed we literally did a victory dance around the living room (it didn't happen often).
I am not happy that anti-vax slut-shaming C-section shaming Mayim Bialik is doing the hosting full time until the show figures out how to fix the hosting problem in the wake of the Mike Richards debacle, but she is doing a decent job of keeping the show moving at a good clip and giving the contestants room to breathe. In a perfect world I'd love to see Buzzy Cohen and her split duties - Buzzy was really good during the Tournament of Champions.
Clearly we take Jeopardy very seriously in our house...
posted by nayantara at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
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Knew his end was coming by the frequency of his tweets, but was more shocked by how he went down.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:31 AM on October 14, 2021