An episode of Jeopardy! is only about 20 minutes long. That’s enough time to form an opinion about each contestant. You will not believe the things people say about Jeopardy! contestants online! Or, maybe you’re a part of the Twitter army that commented on successful contestants like Matt Amodio and Jake DeArruda. Either way, viewers will always find something wrong with Jeopardy! contestants!
In this article, we will have a look at some of the most common comments and complaints coming from avid Jeopardy! viewers. These people are so enthusiastic that they notice even the smallest details, such as awkward hand motions and over-the-top celebratory gestures. Come along for the ride to find out what pisses people off the most and what is wrong with the contestant on Jeopardy! tonight!
Bad Attitude
Nobody likes a sore loser, and Jeopardy! fans are no exception. Contestants who make snarky comments or think too much of themselves can always count on Twitter to bring them down to earth. A bad attitude will not be tolerated in the Jeopardy! fandom.
Yogesh Raut went under fire for his bad attitude when he made a Facebook post criticizing Jeopardy!, which has since been deleted. In his post, Raut expressed his feelings about quizzes, the word “trivia,” and American society as a whole. In short, he said that Jeopardy! does not support “quizzing culture” or reward talented players. Quite the opposite; it is a show with the primary goal of entertaining people. Priority is not given to genuine talent but rather to looks and charisma.
Raut was labeled a show-off when he admitted to having three Master’s degrees and answered a question about the Statue of Liberty with the full name of the monument. He was later called a sore loser when he expressed his dislike for Jeopardy! as a quizzing platform and spoke about racism in the world of trivia—a word that he feels does not express the importance of quizzes. Though Raut lost his fourth game of Jeopardy!, a loser, he is not. The contestant got to walk away with $96,403 in winnings.
17-year-old Leonard Cooper made quite the stir when he won the 2013 Jeopardy! Teen Tournament. Leonard was smug, and he let us know he won with his answer. Instead of coming up with “Dwight David Eisenhower,” the answer the host was looking for, he wrote: “who is some guy in Normandy but I just won $75,000,” Okay, I’ll be honest, Cooper had more lovers than haters. How can you be mad at him after seeing his adorable face when his win is revealed?
Overly Enthusiastic
A bad attitude is not good, but neither is too much enthusiasm. Yes, Jeopardy! fans can be picky! You have to strike that perfect middle ground to be liked. Or, you just have to be someone viewers can relate to. Apparently, they do not relate to Matt Jackson.
Imagine being on the famous Jeopardy! stage in front of a live studio audience of 200 people, competing against two strangers for a chance to win thousands of dollars. Oh, and did I mention all of that is going to be broadcasted on national television? I’d be pretty psyched, and I don’t think it’s a reach to say most people would be too. Matt Jackson certainly was, as he celebrated answering each tough question correctly with a fist pump or a big smile. Some Jeopardy! viewers took to Twitter to express their dismay over Jackson’s reactions. Apparently, most Jeopardy! contestants find it easy to contain their excitement. Would you?
Jake DeArruda, a young 23-year-old man from Vermont, pissed Jeopardy! watchers off with his obvious excitement. He couldn’t quite contain it when he hit a Daily Double or got a question right; he would pump his fists and touch his fingers to his chin. Jake’s facial expressions are a whole other thing. Not only did Jeopardy! viewers find his mannerisms obnoxious, but they also disliked his behavior. Mainly, he talked over Ken Jennings, the host of the show. Jeopardy! producers were surprised to find out just how annoying people found Jake. In an effort to calm the public, the producers wrote Jake’s odd behavior off to his age.
If you think about it, his story is actually quite cute. DeArruda ran a blog where he confessed to wanting to win four games of Jeopardy!. Unfortunately, he lost the fourth one, making it a 3-game streak, racking up a total of about $70,000. To the haters on Twitter calling Jake annoying, he responded with a picture of him taking a champagne shower. If that doesn’t scream a winner, I don’t know what does!
Mannerisms & Facial Expressions
Have you ever found someone annoying because of their facial expressions or mannerisms? Jeopardy! fans have; what a picky bunch they are! Mattea Roach famously came under fire for how she carried her… hands. Instead of having them down by her sides, she held them at torso-level when she spoke. Is that the American equivalent of sticking your pinky out when you pick up a cup to take a sip? In fact, do people find that annoying too?
Austin Rogers was one of the quirkier contestants. His over-the-top introductions and facial expressions got some fans of the show hating. You could tell Rogers was a bartender; he had open body language, did not hide his smile, and even acted out little bits during his intros. Once you binge watch all of them, you won’t be able to hate this man! And, if you’re an Austin Rogers lover, you will be happy to find out that, as of 2019, he was hosting his own trivia nights!
Another person who met a similar fate is Julia Markham Cameron – a lawyer from Boston. Julia annoyed Jeopardy! viewers with her facial expressions. Some found the faces she made annoying, while others called them hilarious and even endearing. Which one was it? You decide!
Answering style
What exactly is expected of a Jeopardy! contestant answering trivia questions? Well, for starters, each clue needs to be answered in the form of a question, with “What is” in the beginning. Matt Amodio got a lot of backlash from the fans of the show for doing just that! He answered every single clue he got with “What is,” regardless of whether the answer was a thing or a person. Amodio’s answering style is no accident; it’s a strategy. His method got him so far because he doesn’t have to spend time thinking about the format of his answer; he’s got it memorized.
Just to remind you, players who do not stick to the format are not awarded points for their technically correct answers. Amodio’s style got him very far, as he became one of the greatest Jeopardy! winners of all time. He won 38 consecutive games, making it the third longest winning streak in the history of Jeopardy!. When Twitter shamed Matt’s answering style, he probably found some solace in the huge amount of money (over $200,000) that he got to take home as a result of that very answering style.
If Jeopardy! is a game, the best player it’s ever seen is Arthur Chu. Not only did he show us his extensive trivia knowledge, he also showed us how to really play. Chu used the Forrest Bounce strategy to win 11 games of Jeopardy! in 2014. The strategy was first introduced by Chuck Forrest in 1985. Instead of going the traditional route of picking a category and answer questions from top to bottom, he skipped around the board. The strange method was prompted by the desire to find Daily Doubles before his competitors. Unlike the inventor of the method, Chu had the benefit of hindsight, with which he was able to discover the method and use it to his own benefit.
It wouldn’t be Arthur Chu if he didn’t put his own spin on it. He didn’t limit himself to the Forrest Bounce. Sometimes he played to tie, just to ensure his opponent at the next game would be easy to beat. In an effort to answer every single question first, he pressed on the buzzer before Alex Trebek was even done talking.
Arthur Chu helped viewers make sense of his methods when he said that hitting a Daily Double gives you an edge over your competition because it allows you to pick another question, given you answered the first one correctly. You give up the option to do that when you play “by the rules”. Chu’s strategy was less emotional and more statistical. Statistically speaking, you have a higher chance of hitting a Daily Double if you skip around the board, and you have a better chance of getting a point if you’re the first one to buzz in. If you still doubt Arthur’s strategy, it’s won him almost $300,000. After seeing all the discourse on Twitter, the contestant admitted that he cares more about winning that being liked. With that amount, he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
James Holzhauer’s playing style was not unlike that of Arthur Chu. He wasted no time with answering, pressing on that buzzer skillfully to beat his competitors to it. Instead of going down the board the way most contestants do, he started at the bottom with the higher-value clues. Finally, he was not stingy with his winnings and he bet large sums, as opposed to most contestants who shy away from such bold moves.
It’s important to mention that Holzhauer had the edge over his competitors, first, as a professional sports gambler. He had the advantage of viewing his winnings as a score and not actual money. That allowed him to be brave with his bets and put thousands of dollars on the line with each answer. Clearly, it paid off! James made almost $2,500,000 from Jeopardy! and won a total of 32 games. He also set a new record for the highest prize in one day – $131,127. Let’s not disregard the fact that he is also very knowledgeable about trivia. In the case of James Holzhauer we can say with certainty that all his haters were just jealous!
Speech
I’ve always thought that being annoyed by how someone speaks is a thing of teenagers. Turns out it doesn’t change with age; some people remain indifferent to voices, while a high pitch makes others’ skins crawl. Before you make fun of a Jeopardy! contestant because of their voice or accent, think about the fact that it’s something they can’t change. You wouldn’t make fun of a person’s big nose or flat chest, would you? That would be a whole other level of immature, wouldn’t it?
The Yale-educated lawyer Laura Ashby did not escape the fate of becoming the laughingstock of Jeopardy! watchers. All Ahsby did was… speak. The public was confused because they didn’t know which region to place her accent in. Some said she had an “upward inflection,” while others called it singing the end of each sentence. Laura revealed that she’s from Georgia, though that doesn’t really help. What did help her, though was that she got to walk away with almost $40,000.
Final Words
The American television audience can be quite the picky bunch. At the end of the day, anyone who makes it this far in the Jeopardy! process and gets to be on TV has a accomplished a great feat, and everyone should cut them some slack. Would you want to be mocked for being yourself? Likely not! Plus—all these “losers” have one thing in common: they’ve won lots of money!
For more info on what’s happening on Jeopardy! tonight, check out this article on how to find out the outcome of Final Jeopardy in real-time. And for more insider scoop, check out our article on the six things Jeopardy! contestants are forbidden from doing,
Lynn Lofton says
They missed more questions than they got right!