Jeopardy! Streaks: Love ’em or Hate ’em?

Season 38 is going down in Jeopardy! history as Super Streakers Season. When the season began on 9/13/2021, Matt Amodio was returning for his 19th game. He went on to win a total of 38 games. Matt was defeated by Jonathan Fisher who proceeded to win 11 games. Before that, back to back streakers were unheard of. Tyler Rhode won 5 games, the minimum required to get in the Tournament of Champions. A week later, Andrew He won 5 games. Current champ, Amy Schneider, defeated Andrew on 11/17/21 and as of today (1/13/22), she just won Game 32.

Before this season, there were comments just about every day imploring someone to win the 5 games required for an invite to the next Tournament of Champions (ToC). Yet when winners like Matt and Amy show up who win more than, say, a dozen games, the rigging accusations start flying.

In other news, we have “It Might Be Time to Retire ‘Jeopardy'” an article written by former Jeopardy! champ, Tom Nichols on The Atlantic.

Tom thinks that “Jeopardy has lost the spirit that made it an American institution.” He says the show “has become professionalized and mostly closed to the casual player.” The factors that have contributed to this sad turn of events include doing away with the 5-game limit back in 2003, when players retired and came back to face other top notch players in tournaments; and streakers turning the game into a full-time job.

The main argument there is that the game has become inherently unfair. It’s not a good thing to revel in watching a demonstrably superior player defeat two “sacrificial lambs” for every game he or she wins. Tom wants to see everyone get a fair shot at winning and believes they should bring back the 5-game rule.

On Twitter, Buzzy Cohen explained why he feels Tom Nichols is wrong:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but this article is predicated on the false assumption that Jeopardy exists for the contestants when in fact it exists for a viewing audience. As long as we are entertained/still enjoying the show, little else matters. https://t.co/TPMtOqbkld

— Buzzy Cohen (@buzztronics) January 13, 2022

Don’t ask me how Buzzy knows that the Jeopardy! audience loves long streakers. It’s true that as a streak goes on, more people start watching the show, but a certain percentage just want to see when the latest whiz kid is going to bite the dust.

Personally, I don’t think they should bring back the 5-game rule. They could compromise: keep the 5-game minimum for a ToC invite and institute a 10-game limit. They should also pay second and third place higher cash prizes. If they don’t want to do any of that, I think the show’s popularity will eventually taper off on its own.

I’ve read that people don’t care about the runner-up prizes on Jeopardy! Supposedly, they want to be on the show for the “prestige”, signifying that they passed the tough test and even tougher audition. But where’s the prestige in doing all that plus paying your own airfare out to Los Angeles, only to get your arse beat by a superchamp?