The most phenomenal run in game show history ended today as Ken Jennings finally lost, after 74 victories and $2.5 million. And the tragedy is, he just faded away. He wasn't outplayed, he simply had a bad day. He dominated the game as usual, but he found and then missed both daily doubles in Double Jeopardy for a loss of $10,000 (and a swing of twice that), and then went on to miss Final Jeopardy while his opponent got it correct. Had Ken bet $0 on the daily doubles, he would have been unbeatable in Final Jeopardy. Not to take anything away from the player who beat him-- she played fine. But she didn't wipe the floor with him, or just edge him out in a hard-fought see-saw battle of trivia giants. She just drew the lucky straw. Rather an anticlimax.
But bravo to Mr. Jennings for a remarkable run and a well-earned place in television history.
Posted by Peter at November 30, 2004 11:03 PMToo true. If I didn't believe otherwise, I'd have thought he just took a fall.
Posted by: Clay on December 1, 2004 06:01 AMAnd it would have been even more of a whimper if she had done the right thing and bet $0 on FJ. Its nice that she didn't (since she got it right) but I thought it a very bad play on her part. Hoping Ken gets it wrong is one thing but hoping both he gets it wrong and you get it right makes the odds much worse and I just couldn't imagine Ken playing a betting game and betting low in this situation.
I posted a longer comment on my own blog.
Posted by: Aaron on December 1, 2004 08:43 AMYeah, I don't understand how people can be so bad at Final Jeopardy, either. It's just not that deep (especially when the 3rd player is out of it).
If she's going to put herself in a situation where she can only possibly win if she gets the right answer, then why not at least bet it all??
Posted by: David desJardins on December 1, 2004 03:13 PMI didnt see that episode. Can someone pls tell me, what were the players' scores before FJ?
Posted by: antkam on December 1, 2004 08:16 PMScores before FJ:
Ken 14,400
Nancy 10,000
Other guy - negative and out of it.
Bets
Ken 5,601 (absolutely standard)
Nancy 4,401 (also standard but stupid 0 is the best bet to win and 10K is the other reasonable bet.)
Don't read this comment for another 11 hours, please. (I start shift work in nine and a half hours and don't fancy my chances of getting to do anything fun on a computer tomorrow.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Posted by: Chris M. Dickson on December 2, 2004 12:49 PM