Now that I publish immediately instead of scheduling at 9 p.m., I have to potentially sacrifice creativity just to not offend people who might see the title before they see the show. As if it wasn’t (sometimes) hard enough! But I still love it all.
Speaking of spoilers, I’ll have to let you know tomorrow (and it’ll have to be in a comment) how I did on this first day of Learned League. 😉
We had a really good Hangout last night with four current Tournament of Champions contestants, the reigning champ, two happy bloggers and a hopefully-future contestant. I had to watch it myself since I couldn’t make it, and I thought it was great. Just have a look.
Hopefully this post will satisfy you, too. I was at the Tournament of Champions myself, so I have a little inside scoop. Read on.
Unlike for 80s week of the Battle of the Decades, I arrived in what I thought was plenty of time (2:30 the day before taping began). If you watched this Hangout though, you know I just barely made it there because the wrong rental car company was identified in my confirmation email. I’m glad you didn’t have to see me running down the street dragging a suitcase. Also if you watched that Hangout, you saw a random guy wave in the camera and ask if I was talking to my boyfriend, much to the delight of the other panelists. (I had to do the Hangout from Burger King because it was next to the right car rental place.) I made the mistake of ordering dinner before the Hangout but of course didn’t have time to eat it, so my dinner was cold when I got a chance, and on my birthday! Not complaining though. I’d go through it all over again and much more to see this tournament in person.
The next day though, I got to the studio in plenty of time. There were two people from Indiana, apparently an older married couple, and they had just come from Hawaii. It blows my mind when audience members are there having no idea what they’re about to see, in this case the Tournament of Champions. Nor did they care, which is frustrating. They oohed and aahed politely when I told them, but they went on to tell me about the times they’ve seen other game shows, and which ones they still want to see. In other words, they don’t get it. 🙂 So they talked about The Price is Right (okay, I’ve seen that in person twice), Let’s Make a Deal and Wheel of Fortune while I oohed and aahed politely.
Next to show up though, and strike up a conversation? A lady who told me she was Ben Ingram’s mom. I blurted, “I’m with Ben Ingram!!” (Ben graciously included me on his guest list, and I’m forever grateful.) She looked as aghast as I felt. I thought about asking Ben if his mom was coming, but I didn’t. In any case I quickly explained who I was. Susan did not come to L.A. for Ben’s regular episodes, so this was all new to her. I was proud and happy to answer her questions. 🙂 We took selfies but, even though she’s lovely, she didn’t appear to think they turned out well. Believe me, I’ve felt that way about many a picture of myself. So I’m happy to not publish them.
I was surprised to not see Jerome Vered or Michael Rooney, and apparently I thought even Brad Rutter might be around because I wrote on my notes that he wasn’t. I also did not see my “friend” Joe, the one who comes to every Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune taping. Imagine my shock when he was one of the two guys working the metal detector as the audience members walked to the studio. You can imagine how satisfying that was. He seemed as surprised to see me. The guy’s got a good memory, and seemed to remember everything I’ve ever said to him. Except my name but who’s keeping track.
I was deeply disappointed that I wasn’t seated on the same side of the studio as the contestants. (I like being there to see and hear what they do.) I envied Pam Mueller, Cliff Galiher and Keith Williams, who were seated on that side. I have a sad face on my notes! They probably don’t have as much to gain sitting over there as I do! But I tried.
I provided the matchups last month in a comment. So let the show begin.
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| John Pearson |
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| Ben Ingram |
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| Rebecca Rider |
I know exactly how cruddy those pictures are, and I’m sorry. Speaking of sorry, I meant to bring my Learn Me Good
Ben wore a tie from his alma mater Wofford. His mom must’ve told me that! I have on my notes that she took my arm, but I don’t remember it. She seemed so stressed I doubt she does either. Ben said “Hi, Mom!” for the camera as he was introduced!
As for Rebecca, I was surprised to see her short hair, because I’d seen a picture taken two days before and she still looked like she had long hair, though it was hard to be sure. When I asked her at O’Brien’s Pub a couple days later, she did still have long hair on Sunday! She looks nice. In her interview with Trebek, she mentioned the cut! And speaking of hair, we all wondered whether Trebek would have his mustache, since it was a hot topic at the time. Mercifully, he didn’t.
Twitter Feeds. Perfect. All three are on Twitter: Ben, Rebecca and John.
I nailed this triple-stumper in the audience, in Fashionable Common Bonds: “Cap, kimono, 3/4.” Ben went to Twitter Feeds then. Later he found the Daily Double in A Little Alliteration.
Ben 1800 (4 right and one wrong)
Rebecca 1600 (3 right and one wrong)
John 1200 (3 right)
Ben naturally wagered it all on this clue (he must’ve seen the show a time or two): “‘Put
the ship of state on its feet’ and ‘Play your cards to the hilt’ are 2 of these expressions.” Ben was wrong. This was the last clue before the first break.
I remember John’s story about the Toyota Corolla making me laugh in the audience!
At the end of the round:
Ben 2400 (4 right)
Rebecca 3800 (4 right)
John 2000 (5 right and one wrong)
If you clicked on the link to John’s Twitter page above, you’ll see how he posed for his Trebek picture. Someone in the audience said it was a reference to the Blues Brothers!
I had another “Come on you guys!” moment on this one in What Kind of Animal Are You?: “It’s the type of shoe seen here.”
I think they may have cut out a comment from Rebecca, or else I heard it some other time: something like “I was gonna say ‘ugly.'” The next clue was a Daily Double in They Turned My Book into a Movie. John found it.
Ben 10000 (4 right)
Rebecca 3800 (One right and one wrong)
John 2000 (One right and one wrong)
They stopped tape before John’s Daily Double, and in the meantime Trebek said they’d been off for 5-6 weeks! He also asked the audience how many people preferred him with a mustache. I saw two mustachioed men raise their hands, and Trebek scanned the crowd and said slowly, “Two men with facial hair, and one woman w…well….” It cracked me up.
John wagered it all (yay!) on this clue: “‘Apocalypse Now.'” Ouch. John was wrong.
Ben found the next Daily Double in What Kind of Animal Are You?
Ben 11600 (2 right)
Rebecca 3800
John 1200 (One right and one wrong)
Ben wagered 100 on this clue: “Grete Waitz served as one of these pacesetters in her first New York City marathon; she won the race & set a world record.” Ben was right!
At the end of the round:
Ben 16100 (4 right)
Rebecca 6600 (2 right)
John 8400 (9 right!?)
As Mr. Trebek pointed out, it’s not a runaway. The Final Jeopardy category was State Holidays.
I realized as the words were leaving my mouth that I picked the wrong time to ask Susan Ingram if she was going to come back after lunch, since Ben was playing in this game. Susan goes, “I’ll answer after this.”
I’m not sure of the question from the audience, but Mr. Trebek mentioned that Rocky Schmidt was a former champ who now works for them! I’ve seen that guy every time I’ve been in the audience and never knew that.
This was the Final Jeopardy clue: “This is the only state that honors a former U.S. Secretary of State with his own legal holiday.” I wrote that Ben was writing fast and that his mom was breathing loudly! Even Trebek mentioned that Ben wrote “very quickly.” I got this one right, and I’d like to say a huge major past champ was asked about this later that day (he wasn’t in the audience), and he didn’t know. Yessss. Rebecca got this right and added 5000. John was wrong and lost everything. 🙁 🙁 As Rebecca said on Twitter yesterday when she missed our Hangout, “I haz a sad.” Ben was right and added 701, which of course makes me very happy! We’ll see him for sure next week, and who knows (I do) about Rebecca and John. I hoped John would stay so I could talk to him. I wanted to run over there! And it’s reasons like this that I want to sit on that side of the studio audience.
In any case, we’ll be back tomorrow!
One year ago: The All-Important Fourth Game
Two years ago: The Elements of Silas
Three years ago: Tweeting Tom
Four years ago: [untitled]
