Welcome to my weekly editorial where I talk about things in the world of Jeopardy!
Elsewhere In Game Shows This Week
Congratulations to my friend Jessica Pratesi, who’s picked up three wins on Channel 4’s Countdown in the UK this week; over her run, she’s also picked up a pair of 100-point wins. Her fourth game airs at 2:10 PM BST on Monday; here’s hoping that she gets to octochamp status by the end of next week!
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2024? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
Do you appreciate the work I do here on The Jeopardy! Fan? Would you like to make a one-time contribution to the site? You may do so here!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 17 players, now including Adriana Harmeyer, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!
On The Composition of the JIT Finals
The online discourse surrounding the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament has moved into several people feeling like the JIT is anti-climactic, including, most prominently, a Jennifer Quail tweet saying, “See, yesterday and today is why I feel like the three people who knew a year in advance they’d be here should have had to play each other in the semis or quarters because we’re one game away from it making no difference,” about the fact that the finals are a rematch of Amy Schneider and Andrew He.
That said, I think there is an entity to blame for this, and it’s not Michael Davies. I blame Sullivan Compliance Corporation (the show’s Standards and Practices company). In another move where it appears on the outside to relish the Avery Brundage role that it plays in the modern game, contestants couldn’t even publicly say that they had been invited to this event. This rule needs to be removed outright for the sake of overall transparency and fairness. While Jennifer probably could have realized that she was likely due an invite and could have begun studying for that probability, the fact that she was limited in this respect to just three weeks’ notice is entirely the fault of the show’s outside Standards and Practices company. In fact, I would say that procedures should be changed from now on and that Jeopardy! should be allowed to publicly name as many people in the field as it wants in advance to allow as many players as possible to study as much as they want for the event.
Frankly, there are certain areas of the modern game where Standards and Practices still need to be present. This is not one of them. Trying to cherry-pick ways of keeping some contestants down over others will only lead to further disparities in the future and ultimately be less fair overall.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Here are our current featured items, including our new Masters Season 3 Player List T-shirt:
I Did Take The Jeopardy! Test Last Saturday
As a part of the Jeoparday! festivities last week, I took the Jeopardy! test. I’m reasonably certain that I got a passing score. Of course, with my past contributions to the trivia community and who I’ve worked with in the past, I’m pretty sure that I’m not eligible to be a contestant on the show at this point.
Here’s what I’d like to see happen, though: Bring a few of us content creators in the fan community—like myself—on the show to play for charity. That way, we get the opportunity to be on the show, but without any sort of hangups regarding whether we’re “too close” to the show to be eligible in the eyes of the producers.
Of course, this is a selfish suggestion. But I’d love to be able to play at some point—and I figure that this might be my best chance.
In Closing
Regular play resumes next week!
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Andy; 1) I didn’t know outside compliance was even a thing. I presumed that ABC’s “Standards and Practices” people handled that for Jeopardy! and Wheel. But I should’ve guessed that there would be such a company. Daily, syndicated Family Feud, 25 words,or, less, and, the GSN “originals” would need such a service.
2) Sullivan’s rule makes no sense. Why not let the contestants as their air dates come close reveal that they are participating in these events, their family and friends could set up viewing parties. I think I’ve read that Jeopardy rules don’t allow contestants to reveal results pre air date. That does make sense. Why spoil the drama?
I am so happy that regular play begins this week. I have been waiting for this day since last September!!
Keep trying! It took me 20 years of taking the test and unofficially passing every time before I got “the call”
J! airdate 2/9/2024
BTW, your episode originally aired on 2/9/2022, not 2/9/2024.
Andy! I very much support your idea of a charity show with ‘content creators in the fan community’ as contestants. I hope Jeopardy! Producers would be willing to first consider this idea and then implement it.
I love this idea too!