Saturday, March 24, 2007

Putting Himself in "Jeopardy!"

So, if you ask me, Scott Weiss kind of screwed himself.
Weiss, you'll remember, unless you live here in Columbus where the show was preempted by the damned NCAA tournament, was the returning champion on the Friday, March 16 edition of Jeopardy! that ended in the show's first ever three way tie. Going into Final Jeopardy! Weiss was leading with $13,400 and his two opponents were tied at $8,000. As Alex Trebek stated on Monday's show, Weiss apparently overheard the host tell an audience member in answer to her question that they had never before had a three way tie. Sensing that the other two would likely bet everything, he bet just enough to result in a three way tie if all of them gave the correct response to the final clue.
If I were in charge over there, I would've thrown the game out and done it over, but apparently there is nothing in the rules of Jeopardy! that says you actually have to play to win. However, the idea that Weiss' bet was calculated to "make history" and extended his proverbial fifteen minutes of fame lessens the impact of the so-called "historic" moment. In the end, of course, his stunt worked against him, as he lost the rematch. Serves him right, I say.
Anyway, for those of you in Columbus or elsewhere who haven't seen it, here, courtesy of YouTube, is last Friday's "historic" Final Jeopardy!:


1 comment:

Max Ink said...

Sorry you weren't able to see the whole original "historic" show, Ray.

Since I don't know the Jeopardy! rules and I figure you do-- Scott's 3-Day total was $61,001... since he lost the next game, does that mean he lost his (total) winnings, too?

Just wondering.