Sometimes they really surprise me
So, the second day of the Tournament of Champions on Jeopardy! The final category: British royalty. The clue: The second king of this name was the last one born outside the British Isles. (The wording has a bit of ambiguity on whether he was the last of that name or the last one period born abroad, but that wouldn't affect the answer.)
I'm thinking this is an incredibly easy question to decide the whole tournament. Third and second place guys both say George. But unless the leader wagered really badly, it was all over.
And then she said ... Philip.
Philip??
She not only thinks there has been a King Philip of England, she thinks there have been several.
She lost.
Labels: jeopardy
2 Comments:
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At 10:54 AM, September 06, 2009
mike had this to say...
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At 11:05 AM, September 06, 2009
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->The thing about Jeopardy is that it's just a trivia quiz. Almost by definition, people will have accumulated an idiosyncratic collection of facts; it's not systematic knowledge. The "Tournament of Champions" is just a game among people who have more extensive such collections. It's inevitable that each player, "champion" or otherwise, is going to have some holes in their collection. From that perspective, it doesn't really seem fair to sling a "They didn't know THAT?!" at them when they miss, does it?
I don't agree, for two reasons: 1) the game is marketed as though the winners are really smart, instead of just having heads stuffed full of odd collections of facts, and 2) how can you go on Jeopardy! and not know your English kings?
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