Will that guy on Jeopardy ever lose?

otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WmMqi5PTt0

flash didn't rap that, c'mon jep

ken jennings weighs in - http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/02/ken_jennings_on_jeopardy_champion_arthur_chu_and_daily_double_hunting.html

jennings somewhat off in thinking baseball, football, etc embrace innovation - the actual teams might (and in baseball's case there was considerable resistance here even) but there's considerable resistance from the media and the fans to a certain extent. football is pretty much constantly innovating to the extent that sometimes long ago discarded innovations or ideas can momentarily become evolutionarily advantageous again but there are still considerable segments of the fans and the media that want to see the game 'the way it used to be played', this kind of conservatism generally is exhibited more during discussions of concussions or other areas where the game is perceived to be under attack and under threat of some sort of emasculation, it's pretty rare this griping really focuses on actual schemes or specific innovations but you can see it flare up from time to time eg some of the chip kelly stuff earlier this season. another difference is that sports at any level where 'fans' comes into play is generally played by ppl who have played the sport before. jeopardy is generally played by ppl who are learning how to play as they play, to the extent that simply googling 'how to play jeopardy' beforehand can be a considerable advantage. i've never been on jeopardy so i could be way off (maybe jaymc can weigh in) but it seems like there are aspects of actually playing it that couldn't be anticipated by someone playing along at home. the other night i watched an episode of community i had dvred and there was 15 minutes of jeopardy before it and lo and behold it was a chu episode. anyway these ppl were pretty bright clearly (they'd made it on jeopardy) and there was a question that was basically 'what is 5 times 12' and nobody got it so there is clearly something about the game that makes actual thought (as opposed to mere memory) difficult. in this respect this makes what chu is doing more impressive to me now, actually having the presence of mind to execute the strategy and still having to yknow actually answer the questions (which is something that kinda diminishes the innovation in that it's not an innovation that allows a player to overcome a talent deficit against an opponent, it's not a gamechanger) is pretty impressive. strategy also seems like it tends to leave the easier questions on the board so maybe this makes the game 'harder' for ppl playing at home and they resent him for it.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgvmTFlCMAA52vl.jpg

lmao

WS the hell out of the girl on the left tho

I really dont get why people dont go nuts on the daily doubles. I thought the point of this game was to win money yall.

haha yeah I kinda always mark someone for a doomed loser when they're sorta behind, or even when they're sorta ahead, and they get a Daily Double and bet a thousand when they could bet two or three. IMO they tend to get the question right, and lose the game. I can totally see making that same mistake in person - it's hard to overcome a lifetime of cautious instincts and remember that you must win the game or it's not real money, and always go big. I mean unless it's a category you just know jack shit about, fucking go for it, the main obstacle on the other questions is not having time to think and come up with it.

Extensive (and kind of fascinating) interview with Arthur Chu:
http://www.avclub.com/article/controversial-jeopardy-champ-arthur-chu-tells-his--201355

Arthur will be back on today for those who have wanted to watch.

thanks, i forgot about this

loving that interview on the avclub

Yeah, I dug this:

I think I mentioned that I have some experience as an actor, and I was like, “I’m going to be playing a role and that role is of an unstoppable Jeopardy! champion.”

You have no idea that Jeopardy! picks the top 5 percent of telegenic appeal from their pool. I was probably one of those super awkward people. My glasses were crooked, and I stammered and stumbled a lot my first audition. And I didn’t get called. I don’t know that that’s why, but I was like, “Next time I’ve got to prepare like it’s a real audition.” Since then, I’d done some more community theater

he won again btw

yup, he blew 'em away

I don't know how the taping schedule went, but I have to wonder if last night's episode was taped after the controversy took off. There was just something a little winking or snarky in the way Alex introduced him by talking about his winning streak before adding "and that's all you need to know about him."

i think they were filmed last week or the week before, so probably. in that AV Club interview he mentions he already taped this week of shows (without saying how far he got)

AVClub interview also points out (iirc) that beyond being a strategy, tieng in Final Jeopardy lets the two tieing players each take home a pile of cash, vs. the typical winner takes all, loser gets a couple of grand system.

It was a great interview all around. For an awkward nerd or whatever, this dude sure knows how to work the press. I wonder if he googled that, too?

doesn't seem like he's that awkward at all, just a dude who knows how to use self-deprecating humor and wants to work his 15 minutes for all they're worth

Well, in the interview he gives lots of reasons why someone might seem awkward, not least that Jeopardy! culls the most photogenic 5% from a pool of the nerdiest nerds in the nation, but also that everyone is exhausted and nervous and not operating at 100%. Also he says he was so focused on his strategy he pretty much ignored about how he may or may not be coming across. He's been pretty consistent: you're there to win. Everything else is a distraction.

Awkward on the show, I should have stressed. Every interview comments on what a nice, normal dude he seems irl, at odds with his Jeopardy! performance.

I mean he's right in that it's similar to how people tend to judge a man's character by what he does on the football field, for instance. Few people look totally comfortable on Jeopardy - well maybe Ken Jennings by his 30th episode

i remembered to watch tonight!!

does he always dominate this dramatically?

spoiler alert dude, cmon

oops sorry!

7pm jeopardy ppl are the worst

Man, it's been forever, but I want to say it comes on at like 4 or 5 here. Maybe that was just in the Oprah era.

Trebek compared him to Ken Jennings today. I can only hope!!! (I don't understand this dude's status as a "Jeopardy villain", but the very idea of a "Jeopardy villain" is entertaining)

aw crap, i fell asleep and forgot. must remember tomorrow

def in favor of game show villainy: "if i win this episode, three audience will not make it home today

your move, trebek"

*audience members
fuck i cant even do my shitty sub-custos shit anymore

He's up by something ridiculous like 10 grand after the first round. His opponents' attempts at beating him with his strategy are pointless and futile.

Hilarious. When he's winning by over double the next opponent, there's basically no point in even doing Final Jeopardy, right? (I believe in this case it was 44K to 6K!)

He kinda wussed out by not going for the one-day record tonight. But then again, I would have too.

I did love how Trebek blatantly egged him on there to go for that bet, since if he lost it, it would've given the others a chance (he would have had to bet about 30K?) to win. But we all knew he would make the smart play

And how the producers apparently corrected Alex during the break to let him know that he was $2000 off. I wonder if they let Chu know that before he laid down his wager.

*$200 off

actually if he had gone for the record and missed he still would have won by a mile.

that's true - he would have had to lose AND the second place winner would have had to bet it all and won (doubling her $6K to $12K, and Chu would go from $44K to about 11K)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/02/28/arthur_chu_jeopardy_s_reigning_champion_talks_to_ken_jennings_about_the.html

yeah caught the end of last night w/ trebek egging him on and chu not taking the bait

Pure badass. I love this guy

The one thing I do think is a negative thing where I wish I hadn’t done it was “cutting off Alex,” which is what I think gets people most riled up—but of course that’s what you’re likely to do when you’re in the zone and already thinking about jumping to the next clue. Problem is Alex kind of chooses the points at which he makes a little comment or joke about a question at semi-random, sparse intervals so it’s hard to predict when he’s going to do it— people accidentally “cut him off” on the show even when they aren’t all hyped-up and intense like I was. It’s something I would be more careful about if I could do it again, though, because I do think interrupting/talking over someone truly is rude in a way that just being intense and abrupt isn’t.

uh oh

Pretty sure that interview happened after his first week of shows, during the break when there were a bunch of tournaments.

And yeah, one of the things that embitters me is that the entire Television Without Pity “brand” is now tarnished for me.

He should consider that a blessing. TWP has been ass for years now.

Chu already seems a lot more "normal" in the second week, in terms of appearance/mannerisms

I hadn't seen the obnoxious anti-Chu tweets featured in the Slate article, but no surprise that people are morons. LOL @ Chu-phoria

Last night was the first time watching Jeopardy since Ken Jennings. I'm all in with this dude.