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There are many ways to prepare to be on PerilWatch the show, find a betting strategy, practice zooming with a pen or toilet paper holder. What you can not prepare for is challenging a champion of more than 10 days on a multi-million dollar warpath, armed with a sporting career and a unique strategy enriched by experiences spent in other game shows.
This champion is James Holzhauer, a moment Peril The legend whose record wins more than 20 days ranks second behind Ken Jennings, who currently holds the record for the longest streak of wins. The aggressive betting strategy and Holzhauer's impressive knowledge base allowed him to earn over a million dollars in the blink of an eye, which led many people to call him a wizard who could make Ken Jennings a footnote of the story.
All this makes television really great. It's also a nightmarish scenario for competitors who have waited all their lives to participate in the series, before falling on a fashionable stage.
At three Peril Candidate in October 2014, I can confirm: no one expects a hacksaw. You will not know who is the reigning champion before arriving at the Culver City Sony Batch the morning of your recording day, about two hours before shooting the cameras. My defending champion had won two episodes – more than most people, but nothing compared to Julia Collins, who now holds third place in the record of her 20-game series. I was able to relax a little.
Holzhauer's competitors can not do that. "James entered the green room and all the producers were beating him on the back saying," Hey champion, "said Alix Basden, who finished second behind Holzhauer in his 16th match.Holzhauer did not reveal his Earnings of $ 850,000 nor her 13-day series until producers ask for it.When this happened, Basden said that she "had almost fallen from my seat." Was like, 'Oh, so c & # 39; Robin Falco, who faced Holzhauer in his 17th episode, initially thought producers might be laughing. Another competitor remembers his jaw and laughter.
They would soon discover what they were facing. Five episodes of Peril are filmed every day and producers choose random candidates. If it's not your turn, sit in the audience and watch everyone compete. This can be a challenging experience for competitors who do not compete before a later episode.
During the competition, I wanted to be on the first episode to avoid sitting nerves longer than necessary. But most of the competitors who filmed the days when Holzhauer was competing told me that they hoped the opposite.
"I wanted to go later in the day so that someone else could defeat him," said Jasmine Leonas, who was third in the 18th match of Holzhauer. And for competitors hoping to be the Arya of the king of Holzhauer's night, waiting later in the day gave more time to master, hopefully, the champion's strategy.
For Holzhauer, this strategy is unusual in Peril l & # 39; history. It begins at the bottom of the game board, where the most important (and most difficult) clues are, rather than starting at the top of the board, which is the most common order. Ariana Mikulski, who faced Holzhauer in her fourth episode, was almost incredulous in seeing it happen. "I was experiencing cognitive dissonance," she said. "I was determined not to let anyone push me away, but I'm also watching his total dominance and his daring bets.. " Mikulski came in third place in the episode when Holzhauer broke the previous record of $ 77,000 winnings in one day by raising $ 110,914.
In fact, most competitors did not try to use Holzhauer's strategy, realizing that they would probably not win. "I was prepared, but realistic," said Laura Hertzfeld, who played in Holzhauer's fifth game. After all, the game is unclear and the strategy is easier to execute from an armchair.
"It's one thing to understand his strategy and another to defend against it," said Tyler Lee, a contestant in Holzhauer's 17th game. "He plays the" optimal "strategy. So you can do the same thing, but if you can not play better than he can, with the level of confidence that he has in the wide range of categories, then you play in his hands. According to Falco, another factor is money, since Peril does not cover the travel expenses of the participants in the program. "I took a flop for betting very low on a daily double, but I had to stay in second place to buy the ticket and the hotel," she said.
Adam Levin, who appeared in the 18th match of Holzhauer, tried to reflect the strategy of Holzhauer – and almost won. Although nearly all of Holzhauer's episodes were runaway in Final Jeopardy, Levin fought so hard that Holzhauer beat him only $ 18.
A key element of Levin's near-victory? He was in reserve the day before and had watched the huge bets of Holzhauer's double daily for five episodes. When Levin landed on one of them, he became unusually fat with his bet. "I'm not usually one to bet $ 12,000 out of a total of $ 13,000," he said. "It helped me see James in action."
Given all this, some acidic grapes are understandable. Leonas competed against Holzhauer and Levin on his episode. "I had the impression of being thrown into the tournament champions," she said. "I was frustrated and I'm a little disappointed. I have the impression that I have not had the opportunity to play a regular game of Peril.She and Falco noted that the fact that he was financially able to take a sabbatical year from his job as a professional sports player Peril, gave him an advantage more than unfair.
But Levin is not crazy about his experience. "I showed it was beatable," he said. "It was the opportunity of my life and I would do nothing less than what I did." Basden agrees. "If I had to lose, I'm glad it's for him." Hertzfeld knew that the Holzhauer episodes would receive special attention. She used her program for good. cancer diagnosis.
I can not say where I would have fallen in the spectrum, but I know it: I'm really very happy that Holzhauer was not the defending champion in the green room the day I registered.
Terri Pous is a writer and publisher based in New York whose writings have been featured, among others, on BuzzFeed, Time and The Week. She is twice Peril champion and can be found sharing random facts and anecdotes on Twitter at @ pépous.
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