Please Make Sure Your Denunciation Is In The Form Of A Question

Why didn't Alex Trebek just blow the whistle on the off-screen, faceless, unaccountable "judges"? Unacceptable:

NEWTOWN -- Newtown eighth-grader Thomas Hurley III was thrilled to be chosen as a contestant on the Kids Week episode of the television game show "Jeopardy!" that was filmed in February and aired this week.

...

As the final buzzer sounded, the 12-year-old penned his answer for the "Famous Documents'' question about the 1863 document Abraham Lincoln said was a "fit and necessary war measure.''

The correct answer: Emancipation Proclamation.

The studio and viewing audience saw that, despite the scrawl of an extra "t'' in Emancipation, the 12-year-old had the correct answer.

Even game show host Alex Trebek read it correctly at first, but then swiftly disqualified the boy's answer, saying he so "badly misspelled" the word it would cost him the $3,000 bet he placed on the answer.

The young man had spelled it "Emanciptation", although Trebek pronounced it correctly in reading it.

As it turned out, the final standings were not affected by the judges ruling. Skyler Hornback, the eventual winner, had an unsurmountable lead of $36,000 to $9,600 going into Final Jeopardy. The bold young Hornback caracked open the window of opportunity for his opponents by wagering $30,000 on the final question, but... he is a Civil War buff so there was a method to his madness. He also got the correct answer, for a near-record $66,000 final pot.

As for Hurley, apparently the second place finisher collects $2,000 regardless of the dollar amount the viewers are seeing at home, so the ruling cost him nothing but pride. Which surely should have a value.

 

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Eh?

[Rob Crawford]

He wuz robbed.

[Ignatz]

--unsurmountable lead of $36,000 to $9,600 going into Final Jeopardy. The bold young Hornback caracked open the window of opportunity --

Tom stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

What is no, Alex?

[NK]

Ig- isn't the first rule of JOM no grammar corrections?

I would remind Alex T that according to the Bloomberg News story I posted last week, Newton Ct GUN REGISTRATIONS are way up this year. Thomas Hurley Jr. may head out to LA ( or Vancouver-- wherever Jeopardy is filmed) and have a chat with Alex T.

[DublinDave]

Two t's changes the pronunciation and that's the bottom line.

I never watch the jeopardy kids because they're usually weak, lily-livered little four eyed nerd children who rule the chess club but get crushed in General population. Exceptional GPA, onto college, working in a sanitized white lab playing with stem cells for the rest of their natural born pre-determined mapped-out-by-mommy empty little lives.

[DublinDave]

Oooops...been reading too much Buwkowski lately...need to get back to Koontz.There's a new Odd Thomas coming out.

[NK]

That was the silliest-- if harmless-- DD comment ever.

[bgates]

This would be a fun question for our Lincolnesque Speller-in-Chief, if he took questions.

[NK]

EP question for Obummer? answer it? spell it? he couldn't even say it if appeared on the TOTUS right in front of him.

[James D.]

They had another spelling problem in Final Jeopardy last night (I think it was a repeat though; the Teacher's Tournamnent).

They gave the one contestant a wrong answer for writing "Waitin For Godot" instead of "Waiting for Godot".

[Ignatz]

--Ig- isn't the first rule of JOM no grammar corrections?--

Technically I was making spelling corrections and there is an exception for posts dealing with, well, what else, spelling corrections.

[James D.]

I got as far as the Jeopardy! audition here in the DC area last year. Passed the online test and got invited along with 200 other folks to try out downtown.

Supposedly everyone who made it there is in the potential contestant pool for 18 months (this was last April, so I could theoretically be picked any time until October).

But to put it charitably, I'm not exactly the most telegenic person out there, so I'm not holding my breath for the call.

[Janet]

Oh, James! I hope they call. That would be so cool to root for a JOMer on Jeopardy.
The kids & I are always trying to get my husband to try out. He's such a reader & history buff. You'd beat him in the opera categories though!

[NK]

Ig@11:43-- heh

[Account Deleted]

I must admit, I sigherd heavily upon reading this post.

[NK]

I still don't get TomM's 'Sighered' reference.

[Captain Hate]

In or unsurmountable margin, Cliff Claven proved there is no foolproof Jeopardy lead.

[kave]

NK
I believe it is a typo...supposed to be "
'sighed'.

[NK]

plain ole TomM typo?... who knew?

[accent egu over the last sylahble.]

A la recherches des van Dorens passes.
============

[Frau Quatsch]

Très drôle,

(L'accent aigu kommt auf mich zu. L'accent grave geht auf mich "av")

[boatbuilder]

Well, James D, good luck, but if the answer to final jeopardy includes the word "tournament" you're cooked.

[Porchlight]

This thread is cracking me up.

[narciso]

'it's written Raymond Luxury Yacht but its pronounced Throat Warbler Mangrove'

[peter]

Wonder if they will ever have a jeopardy question about Merv Griffin's affair with Rock Hudson?

[James D.]

Actually, I'd be cooked in Final Jeopardy anyway. My handwriting is so bad, they'd never be able to figure out what I meant, even if I did spell it right.

[maryrose]

peter:
i did not know that happened. I thought old Merv was married to one of the Gabor sisters.

[Daze of Sand]

I thought the first rule of JoM was, there was no JoM...

[peter]

maryrose, I only know what I read in the National Enquirer. But he was sued by Deney Terrio, who was the host of some seventies dance show for sexual harassment.

[Janet]

Porchlight, You should try out for Jeopardy...you do those pub quiz competitions so you've got practice.

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