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Emily Yahr
Reporter style covering pop culture and entertainment
Imagine: you have always dreamed of being on "Jeopardy!" You take the test online. You impress the producers during the audition in person. You have beaten thousands of other hopes. You are traveling to Los Angeles. You go on stage under the lights of the TV. You see Alex Trebek. It's your moment to shine.
. . . and then you have to play against James Holzhauer.
This is the harsh reality for the 32 people in the last three weeks who have faced one of the most dominant players in the history of "Jeopardy!" – a person who might have cracked the code of the legendary game show, to the point of it could never be the same. Holzhauer, a professional gambler from Las Vegas, has raised $ 1.2 million over the last 16 episodes and has averaged the highest amount per game in the series' history. Criticism has proliferated as viewers listen to its aggressive play: the strategy of first selecting the most profitable clues, relying heavily on the issues of the Daily Double and the Final Jeopardy and, apparently, mastering the perfection almost all subjects existence.
While Holzhauer makes his way through the categories, it is impossible not to question the other two candidates. What are they thinking? Are they surprised? Annoyed? Beaten down?
We have discussed with some of these unlucky souls – and yet extremely good mood – and have learned that there are five steps to losing Holzhauer.
[‘Jeopardy!’ winner James Holzhauer keeps dominating. Does it matter if he broke the game?]
1) You quickly realize that something is wrong with this "James".
"Jeopardy!" Is usually recorded several weeks or months ahead of the airtime, with producers holding five consecutive games in a single day. So new competitors usually have no idea of the champion until they arrive on the board. Some players realized what was happening when they attended the recording of the first games of the day, waiting for their turn.
Kevin Bohannon, Game 8: The producer said, "So, James, tell them how much you earned." He said, "$ 415,000." We all went to say "WHAT ?!" It was shocking. I would describe the mood in the room at that time as a relief. It was almost comical. Maybe that's why I was interpreting it: the inevitability of what we were facing became obvious. But I do not think we understood how quickly he got that money.
Mike Dindoffer, game 7: [When Holzhauer won $110,914 in his fourth game.] You could hear the deaf breath of the audience. . . it was like the sound of the soul escaping from the body.
Satish Chandrasekhar, game 2: I knew he was a very good competitor, but I did not know he was at the level he is now. I think it really hit me when I saw him play his first game. . . he just crushed it from start to finish.
Lorelle Anderson, game 10: I knew we had the champion coming back and how much money he had won, but I did not know how he was before seeing that first game. My expectations have radically adjusted. I told myself: "Okay, I see what it is, agree!"
Claudia Walters, play 14: They said, "This is our new champion, James, he has won 12 games so far." And you sit down, you nod and think, "Oh wow, it's cool, maybe it's going to be a Buzzy Cohen or an Austin Rogers." they said, "He has [$851,926]. "I took out my calculator. . . He continued to watch, averaging more than $ 70,000 per game. It's crazy! It's something no one has ever seen before. It's a different kind of "Jeopardy!" And you have no idea what you're up against.
Hannah Pierson-Compeau, game 10: I did not stop thinking: "Come on, someone beat him, someone beat this guy so I can play against someone else." "
[The secret weapon of the sports gambler who just broke the single-game ‘Jeopardy!’ record? Children’s books.]
2) You acknowledge that this may not be good.
Arrive on the "Jeopardy!" Board is pretty surreal, see Alex Trebek in the flesh. Many have described it as a seeming feeling to cross their television screen. Holzhauer, however, clearly had the chance to feel at home. He is therefore free to continue his tactic of hitting the indexes up, while his new competitors are still looking for the ringtone.
Pierson-Compeau: I was really proud of getting the first Daily Double. . . [But] as much as I was trying to be optimistic, once he was on a roll, it was just "Ohhh, no."
Samantha Merwin, game 11: As far as I'm concerned, the feeling is different when I look back: it was not as dramatic as it appears. The Double Jeopardy round was held while it was like: "It's crazy".
Matthew Amster-Burton, Game 3: An index of $ 2,000 was for the lead singer of Pixies. I am a big fan of Pixies. . . I thought, "I have what I want." But then he beat me up to the ring. You can see me on the side of the frame, raising your hands to the sky, saying, "What's going on ?!
3) You accept the fact that yes, you will lose.
The game is evolving so fast that some players remain unaware of the sums of dollars raised. Only after a pause in action do they see how much Holzhauer has accumulated – and for many, it has created a sense of unhappiness.
Lewis Black, play 6: The other days, all the other opponents, the results could have been different, but you just managed to get there and go head first in a circular saw.
Amster-Burton At the end of the single "Jeopardy!", I thought I might be able to win. But as soon as he had his first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, he bet a lot and I told myself, "Okay, it's over."
Alex Koral, game 1: I hoped that he would start to miss questions. . . and then in the Double Jeopardy, it was a bit like – you see the writing on the wall.
4) You suddenly hear all the people you have known.
The series of episodes of Holzhauer began shooting in February, so he and his competitors had to keep their secret for weeks. for them, it was fun to see the rest of the world catch up with the Holzhauer phenomenon. A common thing to hear for competitors: "If it was not for this guy, you could have won!"
Walters: It's the weirdest thing to become famous for losing.
Bohannon: Everyone wants to know his personality, he wants to know: "Is he a robot, does he ever smile?" The truth is that he is not a robot, he smiles, he has fun up there.
Dindoffer: People think that it comes from robotics. But honestly, I think he's trying to play the player's strategy, not to reveal too much of it and to keep going.
Kevin Donohue, game 14: My father sent me an e-mail: "At a regular show, you would have been up there." Clearly, with James, the ordinary does not apply more to "Jeopardy!"
Merwin: Many people knew when my release date was and they did the math: "Oh my God, are you going to face this guy ?! . . . then a lot of people said to themselves, "You did really well, sorry to be beaten against that!"
Black: People were watching and I was getting comments like, "Wait, do you have to face this guy?" "Well yes."
Anderson: My mother said that everything was rigged.
5) Even if defeated, you're proud to be part of the "Jeopardy!" Story.
The competitors expressed their admiration for Holzhauer, an affable man who held a friendly conversation in the green room between two rounds on everyone. And hey, only 400 people participated in the 85,000 viewers who took the "Jeopardy!" Online test. So just being there is a huge accomplishment.
Donohue: James is 100% amazing. It was really fun to watch him take all the best pieces of "Jeopardy!" And combine them into one master strategy. . . . It's a bit of the best of both worlds: either you dismount a machine, or you're just one more person who loses to a guy who is amazing at this game.
Koral: I had mixed feelings: from the point of view of sour grapes, I wanted him to lose right away. . . but then, I hoped that he would be a kind of unique monster in the game and that people would say, "It took this type of person to beat him.
Amster-Burton: I did not go to "Jeopardy!" Hoping to win. It's an honor to play and it was a great story to be beaten by the best of the best.
Walters: It would have been cool to win, but it's also very cool to be part of the "Jeopardy!" Story.
ChandrasekharJames and I were talking about the great competition we have been for each other. I told him that I supported him and hoped he would go far: the better he would go, the better I went in comparison.
Black: I have to be on "Jeopardy!", Shake Alex Trebek's hand and be an extremely minor note in the history of the series. I would not trade my experience for nothing.
Read more:
While 'American Idol' eliminates a star of '90 Day Fiance', it's a reminder of a tough reality TV lesson
"Jeopardy!" Behind the scenes: 7 things I've learned to audition for the favorite TV game from the United States
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