Jeopardy: How did a professional player "crack" an American TV game?

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Jeopardy Productions Inc

Jeopardy – the iconic US game show, in which candidates must give clues "in question form" – has never met a competitor as professional player James Holzhauer in recent decades.

Mr. Holzhauer not only became the second largest competitor in the history of the series to earn more than a million dollars (£ 773,000) in one go, but he also crossed the threshold of his madness multi-party faster than anyone in the history of the series.

No one has come close to surprising the Las Vegas sports bettor, who has been training for years in his limelight.

"I've been seriously thinking about how to tackle a possible Jeopardy appearance since 2012," Holzhauer told BBC News in an e-mail during his winning streak.

"I studied statistics on the best approach to the game board and this played a role in my strategy," adds Holzhauer, a graduate in mathematics from the University of London. Illinois and who has prepared for the more esoteric categories of the game by reading The Children's Books.

"Break" the rules

Since April 4, Mr. Holzhauer impresses supporters and former players with his calm attitude and his feline reflexes. It answers 607 questions with correct answers as well as category indices ranging from serious, such as History to Fantasy, through Occupational. Verbs.

Most Jeopardy players focus on one particular category by first solving the easy clues and then moving on to the more difficult ones. Mr Holzhauer adopts the opposite approach.

His technique of targeting the "expensive" and difficult indexes first (instead of going from easy to difficult) has provoked complaints from critics who say that it spoils the flow of the game, but the praise of those who say that it's not easy. he "deciphered Jeopardy's code".

He also made big bets on "Double Daily" issues where players can risk as much as their total score in one single answer (a "real double daily") – but rarely do.

This strategy of bouncing on the board – seemingly at random – in the hunt for "Double Daily" awards is called "Forrest Bounce" in honor of former candidate Chuck Forrest. But unlike his predecessors, Mr. Holzhauer is willing to risk much more money.

Fivethirtyeight.com, a website dedicated to ratings and polls, nicknamed Mr. Holzhauer "the man who solved Jeopardy".

According to the website, Mr. Holzhauer bet $ 25,000 twice on the daily doubles, which exceeds the previous record of $ 19,000 for this type of betting.

He also places big bets on the last climatic issue of the series "Final Jeopardy".

The Jeopardy team, including longtime animator Alex Trebek, apparently would not be a fan of the "Forrest Bounce", arguing that it would upset the show's natural order.

But no matter how he chooses his questions, he must always start by setting the tone – and most importantly – give the right answers.

One thing that future candidates will not be able to copy from Mr. Holzhauer is his congratulations to their friends and family during Final Jeopardy, a practice that the producers of the series no longer allow, according to an announcement that he made on his Facebook page.

Is the strategy paying off?

Although Jeopardy is a battle of intelligence, it can be physically and mentally challenging as producers record five episodes at a time, according to Brad Rutter, whose $ 4.8 million, 14-year winnings are the best of Jeopardy.

"You can study some things, but it's not like there's a real barrel of knowledge that you can sit and memorize," he told BBC News.

"You must have a brain that works this way and recover it over the years.

"There are several things that come up all the time like presidents and world capitals and Shakespeare that you would be well served to study before continuing," he advises.

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Brad Rutter

Washington Post columnist Norman Chad likened Mr. Holzhauer's dominance to the most formidable and dominant individual sports athletes of recent generations, such as boxer Mike Tyson, swimmer Michael Phelps and tennis player Serena Williams ".

Ken Jennings, whose winning streak captivated the public's imagination in 2004, tweeted: "It's absolutely crazy – I've always wanted to see someone try Jeopardy by betting this way and with the necessary skills to back it up. "

Quiz facts

• The 35th season was created in September 2018
• Holds Guinness World Record for Most Emmy Awards (34) Win in Game Show
• Ken Jennings was the only other competitor to have passed the $ 1 million mark.

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But is it a good TV?

Not everyone is a supporter of Holzhauer.

He has become a social media star, where some Twitter users discuss his skills and even ask him to run for president.

TV critics and Jeopardy fans are divided on whether its success is exciting or boring.

In a recent Chronicle of Variety, television critic Daniel D Addario claimed that Holzhauer's success was "a thrilling achievement and a deadly and boring television".

Andy Saunders, who runs The Jeopardy Fan, says Holzhauer is good for the game and makes it even more exciting.

"There will be people who will try to imitate it," Saunders hopes.

Although Jeopardy is extremely popular, its story has been hectic. The show survived two cancellations.

After hiring the current presenter, Alex Trebek, in 1984, the "brain" test was not an easy sell and the producers resisted the pressure to stop playing.

Nielsen data, quoted by AdAge, indicate that on average, 10.3 million viewers were listened to during the first 12 days of Mr. Holzhauer's broadcast.

The show is now considered so iconic that the recent announcement by its host of the diagnosis of his cancer was a national news.

"I would not say anything about the fact that Jeopardy surprised me, except that Alex Trebek continues to come to work during his chemotherapy," Holzhauer wrote in an email to the BBC.

"What a professional accomplished."

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