The Jeopardy! Experience
6. "The Roar of the Greaspaint"
Now entering the studio are today’s contestants. An animator from Encino, California, Phil Cummings. A records evaluator from New Ark, Delaware, Lynn Loper. And a marketing director originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Johanna Defenderfer.
And now, here is the host of Jeopardy! Alex.... Trebek!
Lynn's first moments on Jeopardy!
Here—sit beside me, and we’ll watch Lynn play Jeopardy!. I know, right? They’re even smaller than the seats in a movie theater. Did you hear the way Johnny said Newark? Lynn hates it when people say “Neurk,” you know, like Neurk, NJ. They ask the contestants how to pronounce their name; Lynn added how to pronounce “New Ark,” with two syllables. Shhhh. We’re not supposed to talk, or see that guy in the sunglasses? No, he’s not the hot dog guy! He’s from Standards and Practices. He’ll throw us out.
Watching Jeopardy! being filmed live is like watching at home on TV: you just have to imagine a wider camera angle. It’s a little like watching a play's dress rehearsal: you can see stagehands in the shadows of the stage lights and a hovering director, things that are unseen during the actual performance of a play. Jeopardy! on TV is like watching the actual play; Jeopardy! live is like watching the play’s dress rehearsal.
That’s Lynn in the middle, wearing a beige dress and great big glasses. I can’t believe she finally got on! I knew it: they’re making her stand on a box. No, she’s 5’4”. It’s ‘cause Johanna’s so tall. They don’t like the camera bobbing up and down as they pan from player to player. It makes people seasick. Oh, sorry, sir. I’ll keep quiet. You don’t have hot dogs, do you? Never mind. Yikes!
Still frame, Jeopardy! episode 1864.
Things went fine during the Jeopardy round. At the first commercial break, Lynn had $1,400, Phil had $1,500, and Johanna had $200. Then, Lynn got the Daily Double and bet $1,000 for the lead. The category was “The Body Human:”
Easy, right? But, even through my near-sightedness, I could see she didn’t know. That left the score: Lynn $800, Johanna $500, Phil $2,000. It's not so good, but lots of time remains.
Wow. Do you see that? No, stop looking at The Dress! During the commercial, Alex rereads the clues he wasn’t happy with the first time. They must just plug them in during post-production. I never thought of it until now, but you never see Alex read the clues when you’re watching at home. They only have to redo the audio if he messes up or isn’t happy with how he pronounced something. They can do it without stopping the tape, and his voice will sound the same as in the rest of the episode. Cool.
At the end of the first round, Lynn had $2,400, Johanna had $1,300, and Phil had $3,300: a good game.
In the Double Jeopardy round, Phil found the first Daily Double and got it right, boosting his score to $6,500, with Lynn at $2,600. Shortly after that, Lynn missed a $500 clue, and Phil was able to buzz in and answer correctly. Now, the score was Lynn at $1,600 and Phil at $8,200. A bit later, Johanna got the other Daily Double right, which brought her to within $100 of Lynn, although Phil was still ahead with $9,800: maybe not such a good game.
I feel bad for Lynn. I know she’s disappointed that she’s not doing better. At least she doesn’t have to worry about any more Daily Doubles. You’re right—she does look like she’s having fun! No, I meant Lynn. Will you stop looking at The Dress!?
Toward the end of Double Jeopardy, Lynn was in third place with $4,600, down by $8,800, with just four clues left. Alex announced, "We have less than a minute to go." Phil got and answered the next clue correctly. There were three clues remaining. To have any chance of winning, Lynn had to have at least half of Phil’s score going into Final Jeopardy. Then, she could bet everything in Final Jeopardy and hope Phil got it wrong. That meant Lynn had to be fast enough to signal in first for all three of the remaining clues AND answer each correctly in less than a minute, or she’d lose. She answered two of those last clues correctly, giving her a score of $6,000. Phil had $13,400. There was one $1000 clue left. The category was “Notorious.” With 3 seconds to go, Alex read the last clue:
I could see the other two contestants trying to signal in, but Lynn got in first and gave the right question. The score going into Final Jeopardy was Phil: $13,400, Lynn: $7,000, and Johanna: $5,100. (While shaking hands after the game, Phil told Alex he knew the answer to that last clue on the board, but he’d locked himself out by ringing in too early.)
Going into Final Jeopardy, way behind.
It looked hopeless. Lynn was down by $6400. I wanted to hug her, tell her she did great, and try to console her. But as I watched her during the commercial break before Final Jeopardy, I could see Lynn was just as confident as when the game started. She didn’t need consoling; she was having fun! Lynn was playing Jeopardy!, and that’s all she ever wanted out of all this—to play Jeopardy! with people like herself. But, my mind’s eye is apparently near-sighted too because years later, Lynn told me that once she started to play, she wanted to win, even though she’d insisted at first that all she ever wanted was to pass the audition test.
The Final Jeopardy category was “Animals:”
Assuming that Phil bet correctly, three things had to happen for Lynn to win: she had to bet everything, she had to give the correct response, and Phil had to get it wrong. If even one of those things didn’t happen, Lynn would lose. When I saw the clue, I knew Phil would get it right ‘cause even I knew the answer.
Johanna had written down “What is a Maryland Spaniel,” to which Alex said, “No, that’s incorrect.” Then, turning to Johnny, he said, “I don’t think there is a Maryland Spaniel,” but quickly added, “But there is now because you saw it on Jeopardy!” Johanna had bet everything, so she was left with $0.
Lynn answered correctly, and she’d bet everything, leaving her with $14,000. There was only one thing left.
I saw Phil glance up at the studio audience before his answer was revealed, but I was too far away and too nearsighted to read his expression. Phil answered, “What is a beagle?” The audience gasped. It didn’t matter what he’d bet (it turns out he had bet correctly: $601, meaning Phil would have won by $1 had he given the correct answer); Lynn was the new Jeopardy champion! Lynn said when they were chatting with Alex on stage after the game, Phil explained, “I’m from Encino — what do I know about Maryland?! All I could think of was the HMS Beagle, Darwin’s ship.”
I don’t care what the hotdog man says; I’m standing up and clapping! $1,400, that’s pretty good, right? At least that pays for the trip out here. What? It’s $14,000? $14,000!
The crowd was applauding. The music came up, and as Johnny told everyone what they’d won—something they don’t do anymore, so no more year’s supply of Dentu-Grip for you!—the contestants came down to talk with Alex. Then, the music suddenly stopped, the house lights came up, Alex went backstage the way he’d entered at the start of the show, and the contestants disappeared the way they came in with the contestant coordinators. Fifteen minutes later, it all started again. Except this time, Lynn was the returning Jeopardy! champion. Lynn was a Jeopardy! champion!
2 Category Notorius: “Warden Lewis E. Lawes wrote about infamous inmates in his memoir 20,000 Years in . . . this New York Prison.” Correct response: “What is Sing Sing?"
3 Category Animals: “Legend says this dog is descended from ones shipwrecked on the coast of Maryland in 1807.” Correct response: “What is the Chesapeake Bay retriever?”