The Quizzing Equivalent of Holey Moley
January 30, 2023 7:58 AM   Subscribe

A few weeks ago, Yogesh Raut (previously on MeFi) walked onto the Alex Trebek Stage and won his first game of Jeopardy! He went on to win two more, and nearly $100,000, before falling to a triple-stumper Final Jeopardy question. He also embarked on what NBC News called "a weekslong social media rant against the show, asserting that it's not a real quiz contest, questioning its value to society and accusing it of being 'fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.'" Is he Jeopardy's newest villain who should get a lifetime ban?
posted by Etrigan (103 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
BANHAMMER
posted by supermedusa at 8:19 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Anyone have a link to the original rant(s)? Facebook says the content isn't available right now.
posted by Dez at 8:25 AM on January 30, 2023


Whilst discussing this somewhere else, a friend suggested a sort of Punnett square of trivia competition, with axes of "timer" and "tactics".

Timer: Do you have to ring in before the other contestants?
Tactics: Is the competition purely about answering more questions (or at least accruing more points) than the other contestants?

Jeopardy is Timer Yes, Tactics Yes (you have to bet on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy).
Quiz Bowl is Timer Yes, Tactics No (just answer more questions).
LearnedLeague is Timer No, Tactics Yes (you have to assign defense points to your opponents).
Most pub trivia setups are Timer No, Tactics No (a lot have a FJ-esque bet at the end, but in my experience, bad betting very, very infrequently upends a team that "should" have won).

So yeah, Jeopardy! isn't the Olympics of Trivia (even though probably most Americans would consider it to be), but neither is anything else, because you can't do all four squares in the same competition. If you consider one square to be more "pure" than any other, well, that's on you, not on trivia competition.
posted by Etrigan at 8:28 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]


“We have to look the next generation of quizzers in the eyes and tell them, ‘I know you want to learn everything that there is to know. But, for your own sake, please don’t. It will only get you labeled a ‘know-it-all.’ You will be told that you’re a freak, a product of genetic quirks rather than hard work and shining passion, or else a personality-less robot, and that label will be used to justify excluding you and marginalizing your voice,”

Wow! I was not prepared for how unhinged this would actually be.

Like, without knowing anything about the quizzing community except that it exists, I would say it's a fair bet that it has a racism problem. Because why should it be an exception? But if this is how you approach the world? I'm gonna say that racism isn't the primary problem you're having.

And Jeopardy! is, primarily, entertainment. It's a game show. If they only took the best-and-brightest quizzers, it would probably be unwatchable. But it's supposed to be fun! Jeopardy! producers want you to go out there loose and relaxed and ready to play a game.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


This fruit is the unfulfilled object of desire for a fox in Aesop's fable.
posted by Superilla at 8:34 AM on January 30, 2023 [12 favorites]


Christ, what an asshole. Yes, it's a gameshow. A TV gameshow. You knew that when you auditioned, went on the show, and won $100K. It's never been promoted as the "Olympics of Trivia." Put on your big-boy pants, admit you were bested by a woman, and get on with your life.

Also: What does a lifetime ban on Jeopardy even mean? Contestants only come back if they qualify for the ToC, right?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:34 AM on January 30, 2023 [16 favorites]


I mean, Jeopardy is super hard, but it's super hard in the way crossword puzzles are hard. After a while you learn that some of the answers have clues in them, and you learn the kind of lateral thinking the writers come up with for their answers. And the more you do, the better you get at it.

It's not a Real Quiz. It's a game. I mean, that one quiz that comes out of the UK every new year that basically takes the entire hive mind to solve is a Real Quiz, but that would make for very dull television.
posted by hippybear at 8:35 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


What does a lifetime ban on Jeopardy even mean?

Sean Connery knew, but he took the secret to the grave with him.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [22 favorites]


I feel like this is an appropriate thread, in the sense that it's about criticism of Jeopardy, to say that I've never understood the reverence with which Jeopardy is held amongst Americans. The weird question format is a dumb formality that would almost immediately improve the show if they dropped it - it's never relevant to answering the question. The 'tactics' seem like they're easily solvable; you don't see different champions going in with their own theories, there's either the known most efficient strategy, which is to fish for Daily Doubles, or to play the way the producers want you to play, which is by going down the category. The tactics on the final question are relatively interesting, but it feels like there's only a few actual positions.

I do think it's difficult to run a game show that's supposed to be entertaining, because ultimately it's more fun for the audience if they feel like they could have a crack, which generally precludes asking actual trivia questions in favour of something that only the producers actually know. UK format Pointless, for instance, simulates the fun of a trivia contest without actually being one, because there's no "correct" answer, just ones that the producers have determined are more valuable.
posted by Merus at 8:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]


It's not a Real Quiz. It's a game. I mean, that one quiz that comes out of the UK every new year that basically takes the entire hive mind to solve is a Real Quiz, but that would make for very dull television.

Even that quiz has some tricks to it that can lead you to answers!
posted by LionIndex at 8:45 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Yogesh is at least consistent: he looked to be contemptuous of the game while he was playing it too.
posted by cardboard at 8:47 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


I'm not plugged into Jeopardy! fandom social media, but I'm pretty sure James Holzhauer was making a joke in his tweet "Anyone who’s ever used social media to criticize Jeopardy or its producers should get a lifetime ban from the show." Does anyone know what he might be referring to?
posted by indexy at 8:47 AM on January 30, 2023


'fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.'

'fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.'

'FUNDAMENTALLY INCOMPATIBLE WITH TRUE SOCIAL JUSTICE.'
posted by Going To Maine at 8:51 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]


I feel like this is an appropriate thread, in the sense that it's about criticism of Jeopardy, to say that I've never understood the reverence with which Jeopardy is held amongst Americans.

It think it's partly a reflection of the paucity of trivia/quiz stuff on American television in general; Jeopardy is, like, the one cut-and-dried knowledge/skill based show we've got. Most game shows are more about luck and risk with some shards of cultural or practical knowledge baked in; compare Wheel and Price Is Right, which are similarly huge cultural influences in the game show canon of the last thirty years and have fundamentally different mechanics and vibes.

Even the more recent ventures into knowledge- and tactics-based stuff have been a lot more flash and and a lot less pure nerd action: Millionaire and Weakest Link both went long on drama and presentation over chewing through an assortment of categories of knowledge every episode.

We basically don't have any other nerd showdowns. Jeopardy is pretty much it for a canonical knowledge/trivia game. The weird question format is a gimmick but it's also of a piece with the rest: this show is different, this show is for detail-oriented smart people who know lots of stuff. If you play along at home and get the answer a contestant doesn't, it's, for once in the game show spectrum, more because you are smart than because they are an idiot.

I grew up on Jeopardy and I was never very good at it because I'm bad at general knowledge trivia. But I liked it well enough. These days I'm in love with Only Connect which is, despite being a show full of questions I have no clue on (British parliamentary politics? Association football management history? Music questions about opera?), it all feels more rounded and there's questions where I manage to see things the very smart quizzers playing don't or not as quickly as well, and the four act structure mixes it up nicely. It's a better show than Jeopardy on a lot of fronts, but it's also serving the same purpose. But it's, like, one of the bevy of quiz/panel/trivia shows that UK television puts out. Jeopardy, for American TV (especially in the not-so-distant broadcast network television era), was basically it.
posted by cortex at 8:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [23 favorites]


Olympics of Trivia

I get the metaphor, except that Jeopardy! isn't as openly, horribly corrupt and covered in advertising as what the IOC puts out. That all ended for TV trivia programming after the Geritol Trials of 1958.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:53 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


I've never understood the reverence with which Jeopardy is held amongst Americans.

It hasn't always been revered. When I was a kid, it was definitely cool to hate on Jeopardy and even make fun of Alex Trebek for being a condescending know-it-all. But then he appeared in that X-Files episode and later Family Guy and we gradually realized that he was pretty cool and Jeopardy--even if it isn't the best of game shows, is a reassuring comfort food that airs five days a week in syndication.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:53 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


Jeopardy! is revered by nerds everywhere because they can watch it and feel smart, not because it's a particularly good game. It's like a multi-player crossword puzzle you can do in your living room where you're up against three other people who will not judge you when you're wrong (because they're on tv). The performative aspect of group Jeopardy watching can be really fun, too, like trivia nights at the bar. The game itself seems pretty bland with just minor bits of strategy, and the answer "in the form of a question" format seems to be about removing the extra clue of who/what/where/when than anything else. I prefer regular crosswords myself, because my brain doesn't access these kinds of answers with any speed, but I usually can get there sooner or later.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


t I'm pretty sure James Holzhauer was making a joke

Yes, he was. Holzhauer was one of Mike Richards' most vocal detractors when Richards tried to take over.
posted by Etrigan at 8:56 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


I've never understood the reverence with which Jeopardy is held amongst Americans

For a very, very long time it was the only game show on tv which actively rewarded being smart and knowing stuff (Wheel of Fortune to some extent, but there was still a huge amount of luck).

It was also one where you could play at home. Can you shout out the answers faster than the players? Did you run the "18th century poetry" category like a boss? You rock. Guessing the price of a washing machine on The Price Is Right doesn't have the same appeal. I watched the Jeopardy GOAT tournament and I'm pretty pleased that there were two or three triple stumpers where I knew the answer. Yeah, it's "Bring Your Own Device". Suck it, Jennings.

The whole "phrase in the form of a question" gimmick is, indeed, a gimmick, but it has a long history and that's how Jeopardy! does it, so deal. I can't imagine it would improve the show in the slightest if it were dropped.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 8:56 AM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]


I don't know about all the other stuff, or Yogesh's frantic death-grip buzzer technique, because I was too distracted by Jimmy's luxurious mane of hair.
posted by chococat at 9:00 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


Yogesh is at least consistent: he looked to be contemptuous of the game while he was playing it too.

And yet, curiously, he didn’t find his righteous anger at the evils of Jeopardy! until after he lost.

What a giant baby. A loser twice over. I suspect, as floated above, that his real anger stems from being publicly “humiliated” by a woman.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:07 AM on January 30, 2023 [17 favorites]


Someone or other has said that very competitive people are the least fun to play with. I tend to agree.

I remember thinking Yogesh looked like he was taking it far too seriously. We can't all be Mattea Roach, but we should all be so lucky as to be able to approach a game show in the spirit of fun with which it's intended.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:12 AM on January 30, 2023


Don't ban him, just make him play Family Feud until he is appropriately repentant.
posted by Mitheral at 9:12 AM on January 30, 2023 [20 favorites]


A friend of mine has played Jeopardy! and knows Yogesh. She says his is fantastically polite and nice, and that most of the hot takes presented about this are off-course.
posted by gwydapllew at 9:14 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


But it’s not like the world decided to spontaneously gang up on this guy. Polite or not, he’s the one who launched into this weeklong rant after losing, so complaining about “hot takes” about this is what seems off-course.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:25 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]



The whole "phrase in the form of a question" gimmick is, indeed, a gimmick, but it has a long history and that's how Jeopardy! does it, so deal. I can't imagine it would improve the show in the slightest if it were dropped.


I concur, and here's an article on that history:

Over the following months, she tells me, she and Merv [Griffin] play-tested their new game, which they called “What’s the Question?” around their dining room table. NBC executives thought the show was too hard, but bought it anyway. It made its debut, renamed “Jeopardy!” and hosted by the congenial Art Fleming, on March 30, 1964. It quickly became the biggest hit ever in its daytime slot.

posted by HeroZero at 9:26 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Today I learned that there is a quizzing community, which strikes me as gloriously optimistic. Also, I get a bit of cognitive dissonance when people describe someone who won almost $100,000 on Jeopardy as someone who lost on Jeopardy.
posted by surlyben at 9:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


I remember after I lost my 2nd episode I was fuming mad.. absolutely fuming. It took me the better part of lunch with my mom and best friend to unclench enough to enjoy the fact that I had played and won on the show I'd been obsessed with since I was a kid.

And I'm competitive, but not that competitive. (Ok, my wife refuses to play Trivial Pursuit with me and my family considers trivial pursuit a blood sport... but....)

If I had access to social media and an audience and was even more hyper competitive than I am, I could have seen myself going on an online rant after my loss, but I don't think I'd have it in me to go on for this long.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [19 favorites]


He didn't even get a lousy copy of the home game.
posted by box at 9:30 AM on January 30, 2023 [14 favorites]


“We have to look the next generation of quizzers in the eyes and tell them, ‘I know you want to learn everything that there is to know. But, for your own sake, please don’t. It will only get you labeled a ‘know-it-all.’ You will be told that you’re a freak, a product of genetic quirks rather than hard work and shining passion, or else a personality-less robot, and that label will be used to justify excluding you and marginalizing your voice,”
Now, I'm not qualified to weigh in on whether Jeopardy! is good or bad for Quizzing-with-a-capital-Q any more than I'm qualified to weigh in on whether AI is good or bad for Art-with-a-capital-A. But this point here? This tracks. You spend years in school internalizing the message that knowing things and answering questions correctly is the key to success; it's what you're scored on, after all. But then you get dumped out into the "real world," and surprise! It was all a scam! You should have spent less time studying and more time making friends and developing social skills, you gullible, hopeless loser! You wasted the best and most promising years of your life doing what you were told! Now go work at a soul-crushing bullshit job until the merciful release of death finally comes for you.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:35 AM on January 30, 2023 [22 favorites]


A friend of mine has played Jeopardy! and knows Yogesh. She says his is fantastically polite and nice, and that most of the hot takes presented about this are off-course.

I also know Yogesh and I concur. His passion is all things related to the quizzing/trivia/knowledge recall space, and he has experienced many really awful race-related things in that space, so I totally understand why calling out racism is a priority for him (and I support it - I was a quizbowl teammate of his when some of those awful things went down and thinking about them still makes me angry).

Also, reading the linked articles, I think some of the standard caveats about examining isolated statements without broader context apply here. His view of Jeopardy as not the be-all-end-all of American quizzing is one he's held for many years and I don't think was particularly influenced by appearing on the show; his platform is just larger now.
posted by scottcal at 9:35 AM on January 30, 2023 [17 favorites]


Also, I am here to say that Learned League is the best worst thing my fellow nerds from high school ever introduced to me.
posted by gwydapllew at 9:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


A friend of mine has played Jeopardy! and knows Yogesh. She says his is fantastically polite and nice, and that most of the hot takes presented about this are off-course.

Looks like he's stumbled into the role of a heel, someone fans can hate to imbue the fantasy contest with moral drama.
posted by grobstein at 9:41 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Don't ban him, just make him play Family Feud until he is appropriately repentant.

He'd need to find four people willing to be on his team.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:45 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


I’m just here to say that I’m a one-day Jeopardy! champion and I guessed the correct answer to this Final right away. (Yogesh is quite a bit better than me at Learned League however, Q% .900 to .700.)
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


Nice or not, he seems to have made Jeopardy the subject of a lot of anger best directed elsewhere. Like others, I assume there is indeed racism, etc. in "the quizzing community," insofar as such a thing exists in the U.S. outside the educational system, but Jeopardy's hardly responsible for that. It's hard for it not to read like sour grapes.

The ability to memorize facts is a necessary foundation to being smart, but it's not actually being smart, for any useful definition of smart. I feel sorry for people who get stuck at that level beyond about high school. It appears he's the sort of dude who puts his SAT scores on his resume, so...yeah. Whoever told him that all he had to do to succeed in life was memorize stuff and regurgitate it fast gave him inadequate advice, but most smart people do figure out those limitations relatively early on.
posted by praemunire at 9:53 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


What does a lifetime ban on Jeopardy even mean? Contestants only come back if they qualify for the ToC, right?

There is also the relatively new Second Chance Tournament which gets you into a ToC spot if you win it. Although I don't think they usually ask people back if they win a game or two but don't qualify.
posted by PussKillian at 10:00 AM on January 30, 2023


I don’t know what the current rules are, but when I was on the show in 2010 the rule was that we could not try out again for the show until after there was a new host other than Alex Trebek.

But I think my best shot is to get famous enough to go on Celebrity Jeopardy at this point.
posted by thecaddy at 10:11 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


Stanford graduate for $50,000 Alex.
posted by srboisvert at 10:19 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


You can always tell a [Stanford] man, but you can't tell him much.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:22 AM on January 30, 2023 [13 favorites]


> I've never understood the reverence with which Jeopardy is held amongst Americans

For a very, very long time it was the only game show on tv which actively rewarded being smart and knowing stuff (Wheel of Fortune to some extent, but there was still a huge amount of luck).


Seconding this about how it was revered for celebrating "being smart". There's some kind of anti-intellectualism in the US, so for this to get a pass seems a little miraculous.

....I'd question whether "Wheel of Fortune" is the same, however. There was a comedian I saw once who did a bit about how Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune always seemed to be broadcast as a matched-set on TV, one after the other, and comparing the contestants was a fun thing for him - with Jeopardy you would have "guys like 'Braniac from the planet Zoltron-V',", and then with Wheel of Fortune "you'd have people where the clue is 'A stitch in time saves....' and they would guess 'pork'."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:32 AM on January 30, 2023 [16 favorites]


His view of Jeopardy as not the be-all-end-all of American quizzing is one he's held for many years

He's fully entitled to that opinion, but also, so what? Does there need to be one? Is there anyone who really thinks it is the end-all-be-all that he's really fighting against? It just seems like a weird pointless thing to have a strong opinion about, which is what I'm side-eyeing no matter how long he's had it.
posted by LionIndex at 10:33 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Mr. Raut really overestimates the importance of that particular TV show. I enjoy it, but have never spent nearly as much time obsessing over it as he does (and in the 1980s I wrote a program for BASIC on the Mac that would allow me to play along and compare my scores to the contestants, if that helps you gauge my level of interest).

They shouldn’t ban him; they should invite him back for some sort of tournament that would be completely insulting. Like “Tournament of Losers”, or “Tournament of Whiners.” Or maybe ask him to be a guest host for Celebrity Jeopardy or some new special, like Sixth Grade Jeopardy. Or he could even come up with his own game show that would meet his own exacting standards and pitch it to some producers. I’m sure it would be a hit!
posted by TedW at 10:38 AM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Perhaps he could get a spot on Hard Quiz.
posted by flabdablet at 10:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Frankly, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" was the most stupid, irritating quiz show game that I ever saw. Dude may have some issues with Jeopardy, but really, Millionaire was just slow, hedging, and irritating. Jeopardy seems like a relatively smart show as far as I can tell.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:40 AM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]


Sounds like a good candidate for MetaFilter. Suggest we wave the $5.
posted by mono blanco at 10:46 AM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]


You spend years in school internalizing the message that knowing things and answering questions correctly is the key to success; it's what you're scored on, after all. But then you get dumped out into the "real world," and surprise! It was all a scam! You should have spent less time studying and more time making friends and developing social skills

I mean, friends and social skills are important, and I've been surprised by how often remembering random things from school has been useful to me in life. And by how impressed people often are when you know completely random things.

That said, I strongly disagree with the idea that knowing lots of facts is the same as "knowing everything there is to know", or that knowledge is the same as intelligence. There's a reason these are called trivia shows.
posted by trig at 10:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


His view of Jeopardy as not the be-all-end-all of American quizzing is one he's held for many years

He's fully entitled to that opinion, but also, so what? Does there need to be one?


I mean, he's essentially a professional quiz player and also a Jeopardy winner with major winnings. If there is an opinion to be had on bigotry in his field and his relationship to the most popular quiz format, surely he is the one who should be allowed to say it on his own social media?

Geeky subcultures always react to criticism without reflection, it happens every time. Even here in our 'enlightened' space.
posted by Think_Long at 11:00 AM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


I concur, and here's an article on that history

That article's headline is "How Merv Griffin Came Up With That Weird Question/Answer Format for Jeopardy!", which is funny since according to the article, he didn't - he was just married to the person who did.
posted by trig at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Frankly, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" was the most stupid, irritating quiz show game that I ever saw. Dude may have some issues with Jeopardy, but really, Millionaire was just slow, hedging, and irritating. Jeopardy seems like a relatively smart show as far as I can tell.

Helpful for when you're learning a language, though:
  • Questions and answers are written to the screen
  • Contestants and host say the words on the screen over and over again
  • When they do that, they say them verrrrry slowwwwwly
  • Um... exposure to local telephone idioms?
Plus you get some multiple choice trivia questions to puzzle through.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2023 [15 favorites]


Seconding this about how it was revered for celebrating "being smart". There's some kind of anti-intellectualism in the US, so for this to get a pass seems a little miraculous.

American anti-intellectualism is all about keeping people from thinking through the stuff that keeps us poor or docile or voting against our interests or tithing or whathaveyou. Simply knowing random facts in isolation is no threat to the forces that encourage anti-intellectualism.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:38 AM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


Simply knowing random facts in isolation is no threat to the forces that encourage anti-intellectualism.

Some people might call knowing random facts in isolation trivial.
posted by wolpfack at 11:52 AM on January 30, 2023 [13 favorites]


The Portland (Oregon) TV news stations were very excitedly hyping that there was a 'local' from Vancouver, Washington, on Jeopardy. I watch the show anyway, so I kept an eye out for him. Turns out it was Raut, but the show intro says he's from Springfield, Illinois. It's hard to understand why he'd have them say where he was born, but not where he currently lives. That alone made him seem a bit sketchy to me.
posted by hydra77 at 12:18 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Also, reading the linked articles, I think some of the standard caveats about examining isolated statements without broader context apply here.
scottcal

Geeky subcultures always react to criticism without reflection, it happens every time. Even here in our 'enlightened' space.
Think_Long

The problem is, he comes across even worse in context.

Unfortunately his actual Facebook posts appear to have been either locked or deleted, so we can't get the entire picture of the content. The best article I've found is this one (NY Post: yes, I know, but it goes into detail about each post and has an actual screenshot, unlike the others). This does help contextualize and explain what's going on here, because there seem to be two threads through his comments:

1. He is angry that his Jeopardy! appearances (and loss) are overshadowing his other quizz accomplishments (his first post on 1/12 was a list of them). This is where all the belittling of the show comes from, he is trying to characterize the show as meaningless minor league stuff and directly compares it to a chess grandmaster winning top tournaments but only being famous for beating low-ranked players in “a glorified reality show.”

2. He has received racist abuse from Jeopardy! fans and is understandably upset. I note "fans" because, from what I've read, he doesn't seem to accuse the show itself of racism specifically, making more general statements about industry and societal racism. That "fundamentally incompatible with true social justice" quote reproduced above in context is not about the show itself , but rather his view of its place in society:
Jeopardy! is a fun TV show but putting it on a pedestal is an objectively bad thing. It’s bad for the future of quizzing. It’s bad for women and POC who want to be treated with the same levels of dignity as their White male counterparts. It is fundamentally incompatible with incentivizing the next generation of quizzers to excel, and it is fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.
I wish we could see his posts because it's unclear what exactly he means here, given that he doesn't seem to be leveling accusations at the show itself, or what he means about it being a reality show, or the fact that he was, after all, beaten by a woman.

This seems to be a very bad case of sour grapes ("Who cares if I lost, it's a dumb game for babies anyway!") and genuine hurt at racist abuse from fans. But it also stretches credulity to believe that, despite comments above claiming he had always believed these things and has said them before, that he would have gone on this tirade or made this very public attack on the show if he had continued winning.
posted by star gentle uterus at 12:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [6 favorites]


The ability to memorize facts is a necessary foundation to being smart, but it's not actually being smart, for any useful definition of smart.

Ken Jennings has said a few times that winning Jeopardy requires a wide knowledge of many things, but not a truly deep knowledge of any particular topic. It's all about being useless smart.
posted by Ber at 1:01 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


A friend of mine who is in Learned League and has interacted with this guy was telling me about this just yesterday. His impression is that Raut is legit very smart, very prickly, not interested in making trivia more accessible to the broader community but very into his own interests. In other words, not a very good spokesperson for the quizzing community, but not necessarily deserving of the hate he's been getting either. People don't tend to go deep into the trivia rabbit hole because they have great social skills.
posted by rikschell at 1:05 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


and then with Wheel of Fortune "you'd have people where the clue is 'A stitch in time saves....' and they would guess 'pork'."

This is true, though, at least for values of the set "burlap sacks of ham."
posted by delfin at 1:08 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


I am interested in the semantic weight of "quiz" vs "trivia." When I moved to Philadelphia I was surprised that trivia is called "quizzo" here, and thought it was yet another regionalism, but apparently the two terms have very different meanings to people invested in such things.
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:13 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


The whole "phrase in the form of a question" gimmick is, indeed, a gimmick, but it has a long history and that's how Jeopardy! does it, so deal.

Are there rules on which question? Can you go on the show and win saying things like, "Who is France?", "What is John Steinbeck?", "Why are biscuits?", and "Where is Spiro Agnew?".
posted by jackbishop at 1:15 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]


The ability to memorize facts is a necessary foundation to being smart, but it's not actually being smart, for any useful definition of smart.

Ken Jennings has said a few times that winning Jeopardy requires a wide knowledge of many things, but not a truly deep knowledge of any particular topic. It's all about being useless smart.


I recall James Holzhauer in one personal info segment saying that he prepped for being on the show by reading a lot of books in the children's section of the library. Which isn't to slam on him or books for younger readers, but it's a genius way of absorbing a lot of general knowledge on a lot of topics relatively quickly.
posted by indexy at 1:17 PM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]


People here will know the exact answer but a recent big winner always asked the same question form since there's no rule a dog can't play basketball.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:18 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Are there rules on which question? Can you go on the show and win saying things like, "Who is France?", "What is John Steinbeck?", "Why are biscuits?", and "Where is Spiro Agnew?"

There was a long-running champion last year who used "What's" as the beginning of every question, which was kind of weird and annoying when it was a person, but it was allowed.
posted by Daily Alice at 1:20 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


Matt Amodio is the "What" guy.
posted by PussKillian at 1:23 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


yeah, in Jeopardy's rules - the question doesn't have to be grammatically sensical - it just needs to be a question. (In the first round, they prompt the contestant to phrase it in a question, second round you're instantly dinged. Final jeopardy they have you write the question phrasing when you write your bet before the question is revealed, after the category is revealed in the "break" period)
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:29 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Can you go on the show and win saying things like, "Who is France?", "What is John Steinbeck?", "Why are biscuits?", and "Where is Spiro Agnew?".

At least one person has gotten credit for "Uhhh... is it [X]?" in recent memory.
posted by Etrigan at 1:30 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]


I had no idea of this post-loss reaction until just now, because despite now having had a tradition for over 3 years of watching Jeopardy! (and Wheel of Fortune) every night with my mum, I don't follow the news around it. I guess I am not a "fan" then, despite making a point to watch each episode each week.

But since I don't follow the quiz/trivia community, I'd never heard of this guy until he was on Jeopardy!. To me, he'll always just be a Jeopardy! contestant (unless he becomes a Chaser or something like that). I do remember Yogesh's loss after reading the article because I was surprised no one answered the Final Jeopardy! question correctly -- it seemed like an easy one me (and I'm just relatively smart -- smart to the average person and was in gifted and talented and all that jazz, but all y'all are definitely smarter than I am, especially if it's about geographical bodies of water. "The Strait of Magellan" is my version of Alan Davies' "Blue Whale" on QI).

What I like about Jeopardy! isn't that I need to know tons of precise facts, but I can deduce an answer based on the supporting hint, which is why I assume most returning champions keep winning. After experiencing one full show, they now know the rhythm and feel of the game, and if they don't know the answer, they have enough seconds to figure it out within as the timer ticks down, so might as well ring in.

Anyway, Jeopardy! is only the "pinnacle" of American quiz shows because it is a household name. Most Americans grew up watching it, whether actively or just because grandma had it on in the background while visiting (along with Wheel of Fortune, of course). I kinda thought it was weird that this guy made a living on trivia because it seemed like it would be boring being on Jeopardy! if that's your life's pursuit, but here we are. Jeopardy! is entertainment, not about being the smartest person in the room.

I don't think he should get a ban, because tbh the only Jeopardy! villain is that one awful producer guy who tried to become the new permanent host.

(I also unabashedly love Holey Moley and would definitely watch a quiz show where people have to perform ridiculous Wipeout stunts before ringing in to answer. Or to get a second chance if they get a question wrong. Or to make a level of difficulty higher for their competitor or lower for themselves. While wearing Rob Riggles' golf pants. I'm pretty sure this is a genius idea -- ABC, call me!)
posted by paisley sheep at 1:38 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


Simply knowing random facts in isolation is no threat to the forces that encourage anti-intellectualism.

Right, but the people who listen to those forces don't know that, they've just internalized the message that know-it-alls are stuck-up boring snobs who need to be taken down a peg.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:43 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


Ken Jennings has said a few times that winning Jeopardy requires a wide knowledge of many things, but not a truly deep knowledge of any particular topic. It's all about being useless smart.

as well as having good timing with buzzer...ring in too soon and you are locked out for a bit. From what I understand, most of the players know the answers to all the questions. The trick is quick recall and buzzing in the fastest after you are allowed to buzz in.
posted by mmascolino at 1:54 PM on January 30, 2023


Geeky subcultures always react to criticism without reflection, it happens every time. Even here in our 'enlightened' space.

This doesn’t really fit my reading of who is reacting to what here. His major criticism of Jeopardy seems to be that it’s a silly TV show for casuals, rather than “real quizzing,” and for those deeply into quizzing I’m sure he’s right. It seems like a lot of his frustration stems from feeling like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves from serious quiz people, and if you are a member of that community perhaps it all fits together - putting Jeopardy on a pedestal, racism, not having a chance to compete until he was past his prime. But as a casual Trivia Enjoyer, I by definition don’t care a whole lot about what’s “real quizzing,” and find it pretty obvious that Jeopardy is a silly TV show that gets its reputation as the big leagues from being the most serious quiz game that is broadcast to and accepted by the broader American public, not from being the toughest or fairest. So as a less invested observer, the whole thing comes off pretty weird and resentful, like a.) you did fine and it is a matter of luck even to be on the show and b.) what did you think the show was?
posted by atoxyl at 1:57 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]


Doesn't the UK have much harder quiz shows on all the time? I mean, like Jeopardy is exactly what it is, but expecting it to be anything else is a bit silly.
posted by hippybear at 2:08 PM on January 30, 2023


At least one person has gotten credit for "Uhhh... is it [X]?" in recent memory.

Is it ... Ghostbusters II?
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:13 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]


Yes, you have to be smart to play Jeopardy!, a response by Jeopardy! champ Tom Nichols.
posted by chrchr at 2:31 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


I am not a world class trivia guy but I’ve had the privilege of playing with and against some world class trivia guys. One of the delights of trivia is that people can be really good at it without taking it (or themselves) too seriously. You can have very high level competition where everyone is just there to have fun, nobody is nitpicking or rules lawyering, etc.

I have played against Yogesh. He takes it very seriously.
posted by goingonit at 2:43 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]


You spend years in school internalizing the message that knowing things and answering questions correctly is the key to success; it's what you're scored on, after all. But then you get dumped out into the "real world," and surprise! It was all a scam! You should have spent less time studying and more time making friends and developing social skills

I'm somehow always surprised by adults who are angry or resentful that human culture is full of people. Even as a kid, I understood on various levels that every single social setting I was in, was time for developing social skills and making friends (and that any setting at all with other people was in fact a social setting). In a world with eight billion people, social skills are kind of interpersonal water. School was no different, because every social context, as a kid, required me to pay attention to some degree to learn how to behave appropriately within it.

I guess it's just odd to me that some kids (presumably within the description 'neurotypical') got a message that school was only for book-learning, and didn't figure out differently and adjust for any of those dozen or more years they spent in an obviously social setting.
posted by LooseFilter at 2:47 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


mmascolino: The trick is quick recall and buzzing in the fastest after you are allowed to buzz in.

It’s even worse than that sounds, because if you wait to react to the “go” light you will be too late—good players anticipate it. Experience is definitely an edge, or at least that’s what I tell myself, having been out-buzzered by a previous winner. It was especially frustrating because I kept myself close with a couple of $1000 answers, and winning one more $800 buzzer would have put me ahead.

having to figure this out while being on national TV for the first time doesn’t make it any easier, let me tell you
posted by doubtfulpalace at 2:49 PM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]


I want the ghost of Don Adams to go on Jeopardy and prefix every answer with "Would you believe it's..."
posted by cortex at 2:57 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Billy "Quizboy" Whalen was unavailable for comment.
posted by mikelieman at 2:57 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


I want the ghost of Don Adams to go on Jeopardy and prefix every answer with "Would you believe it's..."

Or Don Knotts. That would work too.
posted by hippybear at 3:01 PM on January 30, 2023


It think it's partly a reflection of the paucity of trivia/quiz stuff on American television in general; Jeopardy is, like, the one cut-and-dried knowledge/skill based show we've got.

Americans need to watch an episode of "Only Connect" and then stop thinking they're smart when they can answer Jeopardy questions...
posted by mmoncur at 3:59 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]


My grandmother watches Jeopardy! religiously but I just can’t stop recalling those SNL skits and interjecting various rude comments. She has banned me from watching it with her. BTW, if Yogesh had bet $0 and answered “Your mother, Trebeck!” he would have won (and perhaps been banned as well).
posted by sudogeek at 4:09 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]


I think my favourite thing about this thread is that like five people have interacted with the subject and there's no consensus on the read people got from him.
posted by Merus at 5:13 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]


I'm a few weeks behind on Jeopardy so I am just watching the Yogesh episodes now. His demeanor seems fine. Jeopardy fans in aggregate are often ridiculously picky about the actual contestants. They are real people, not polished actors, that's a good thing.

I can't seem to find any of his original posts, maybe he deleted them, so I won't comment on any of that.
posted by muddgirl at 8:02 PM on January 30, 2023


(and yes there is a vocal minority of racist & sexist fans too. If he was addressing that, good for him.)
posted by muddgirl at 8:04 PM on January 30, 2023


Huh, I've been on a couple of game shows in Australia and audition for them as a hobby, but I didn't realise there was a quizzing community as such. (it's not like I've reunited with my teammates or are in the same Facebook group or whatever, but I did learn years later that my bestie's sister and dad were on the same gameshow as me, though not the same episode).

From what I can gather though, it does seem like this American quizzing community is a lot like my brief experience in Mensa: full of mostly white people whining about why the world doesn't take them seriously as Geniuses, rather than channeling all that energy into actually doing good for the world. And then occasional few that just genuinely enjoy puzzles.
posted by creatrixtiara at 9:03 PM on January 30, 2023 [1 favorite]


I guess it's just odd to me that some kids (presumably within the description 'neurotypical,' but maybe additional considerations are salient with Yogesh, I dunno) got a message that school was only for book-learning, and didn't figure out differently and adjust for any of those dozen or more years they spent in an obviously social setting.

Maybe your school was different to mine, but the message - which was rather fucking explicit - was always as described. There was no 'social' class. You never got tested on how good you were at being mates. You only ever get tested on and praised for academic performance (or sports). In fact, socialising was actively discouraged - how anyone can be told to stop talking and pay attention more than a half dozen times and not come away with the exact contrary lesson to you, I don't understand. But I'm almost certainly not neurotypical.
posted by Dysk at 9:21 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]


Yes, it's a gameshow. A TV gameshow.

Admittedly, I prefer feature film gameshows, but I thought I was the only one.
posted by fairmettle at 10:48 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]


Maybe your school was different to mine, but the message - which was rather fucking explicit - was always as described.

Well there's the explicit message and the implicit message, right? Someone - I forget who - once described school as "10 percent reading and math, and 90 percent Where Do I Stand In The Great Pecking Order Of Humankind" and at least at the school I went to, the "good at book-learnin'" kids didn't come off very well in the latter.

I watch Jeopardy! every day, but until this post I had no idea that there was such a thing as "serious quizzing" or a "quizzing community", at least for people who are no longer in college. It might be fun to play, for those who are into that sort of thing, but it doesn't sound like it would be much fun to watch.
posted by Daily Alice at 3:57 AM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]


We basically don't have any other nerd showdowns. Jeopardy is pretty much it for a canonical knowledge/trivia game.

I feel like "The Chase" is a pretty solid nerd showdown. (But of course, almost all of the "chasers" of the latest US version have been former Jeopardy! champions, which just shows how large Jeopardy! looms in the trivia-game landscape.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:37 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]


I feel like "The Chase" is a pretty solid nerd showdown.

"The Chase" has about 20x the glitz and flash of Jeopardy!, but it's the same sort of "know random stuff and spit it out quickly" as Jeopardy! (with perhaps more emphasis on the "spit it out quickly" bit). You can also root against the contestants and for the chaser (which is, of course, the correct thing to do).

There are actually a few others, but they come and go. "Win Ben Stein's Money" wasn't too far off. "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and "1 vs 100" and some more I can't remember. But Jeopardy! has always been there and always will be.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 7:52 AM on January 31, 2023


Admittedly, I prefer feature film gameshows, but I thought I was the only one.

I only like the old b&w silent movie game shows. The talkies ruined everything!


Been thinking about question formats for Jeopardy!, and if I ever get on I'm going to use: "Didn't your mama ever tell you about ... ?"

"I'll take 'Authors' for $800, Ken."

"In 1937 his sister said he had “hats of every description,” which he would use as a “foundation of his next book.”

*BUZZ* "Didn't your mama ever tell you about Dr. Seuss?"

He came to power 34 days before FDR and left it 19 days after him.

*BUZZ* "Didn't your mama ever tell you about Adolf Hitler?"

A popular product was born when Jean Naigeon of this city substituted the juice of unripe grapes for vinegar.

*BUZZ* "Didn't your mama ever tell you about Dijon?"
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:31 AM on January 31, 2023 [12 favorites]


hyrdra77: "...It's hard to understand why he'd have them say where he was born, but not where he currently lives..."

I scanned his blog a few days ago - he apparently believes the Oregon/Vancouver/PNW area is inherently racist and treated him shabbily, so he did not want to be associated with the region during his tenure on the show.
posted by davidmsc at 9:53 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]


I would really like to see his whole post. Because the clips I have found via this thread seem much more complex than they have been portrayed.

He is calling out the conditions that allow sexual harrassment, white supremacy, and racist trolling to happen in his community. And the hypocracy of presenting success in his community as a purely meritocratic process, given that the sexist and racist conditions that shape the whole community itself.

Tbh, I'd like to hear that argument in full first, before dismissing him as simply an angry (brown) man and a bad loser.
posted by EllaEm at 10:10 AM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]


It's hard to understand why he'd have them say where he was born, but not where he currently lives. That alone made him seem a bit sketchy to me.

This became a thing in the early days of the pandemic, when they didn't want anyone to fly in and stay in a hotel, so the entire contestant pool was people who currently lived in Southern California. They then encouraged people to say they were "from" where they were born or grew up or even went to college, rather than it being obvious that "Steve is from Pasadena. Tracy is from Irvine. Pete is from Thousand Oaks." Since they reopened the contestant pool, they've let people be more free about where they want to be "from".
posted by Etrigan at 10:12 AM on January 31, 2023 [5 favorites]


he apparently believes the Oregon/Vancouver/PNW area is inherently racist

He's not wrong. Vancouver is a hot spot for white supremacy, as is the rest of Washington State outside of Seattle metro and Oregon outside of Portland (cites: SPLC, DoJ, ADL, etc.). You won't hear much about that on Jeopardy! tho'
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:54 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]


Here's a little excerpt from his main FB rant. In the replies and QTs to this tweet, you'll see lots of commentary from people who have played against him in various venues who reveal him to be a very sore loser. It should also be noted, he started his online meltdown before his episodes even aired.

Everyone here debating the merits of his arguments is just playing along with his attempt to redirect the conversation. His rants are a transparent post facto attempt to reconcile the fact that he obviously expected to be an all-time great player, and his mere three-day run has forced him to claim that he doesn't think it's legit. One of his FB rants included him saying "Would it have been nice to be remembered as the greatest J! champion of all time? Sure, I guess." Also his interview interstitials were all about the time he beat Ken, the time he beat Holzhauer. He wasted no opportunity to place himself with the J! pantheon. Now suddenly he has no time for the show? Sure...

Finally, Jeopardy! is popular for a very simple reason: It's fun.
posted by dry white toast at 3:44 PM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]


That excerpt, out of context, seems fine to me. I would need to know who he thinks is treating Jeopardy like the Olympics of Quizzing to know the context of the rant. But on the face of it everything he said is true and fair.
posted by muddgirl at 4:34 PM on January 31, 2023


But who is he talking about? Jeopardy fans? Learned League members? Jeopardy itself?
posted by muddgirl at 4:36 PM on January 31, 2023


the time he beat Holzhauer

Did I read correctly that he didn't actually beat Holzhauer, but rather a team that Holzhauer had previously been on?

(my friend is in the J!/Learned League community and it can be a tough crowd).
posted by armacy at 6:14 PM on January 31, 2023


The day Yogesh's run began to air, my family was flying home from LA where my wonderful wife had just competed on Jeopardy!. Having spent so much time and energy practicing with flashcards, buzzer practice (MeMail me for home buzzer recommendations), drilling DJ and FJ wager strats, and playing mock games from J-Archive, we were all too burnt out on J! to watch for a while. Tonight, we finally came back to our routine of watching, and queued up Yogesh's run. I feel like I was primed to feel some sorta way having already read his Facebook posts, but some things definitely stood out.
The Buzzer: It looked like Yogesh played inconsistently with how he held/pressed the buzzer, and he was getting visibly frustrated by being beaten to buzz quite a few times. I spent a good while in the studio audience watching the person who 'unlocks' the buzzer and turns on the light. That person was pretty consistent, pressing the unlock button RIGHT at the end of the last word of the clue. It seems like for timing, you need to listen for the cadence of the host AND the un-locker's timing. I'm not allowed to reveal the outcome of my wife's appearance until it airs, but she was told during breaks she was buzzing in too early when she swore up and down she was playing the lights by sight. It can throw your whole everything off, consistently knowing you've got the answer and getting beaten on reaction time. I can see how a super-quizzer might think this makes the game worse, or not as legit.
The Interviews: The production team gives contestants a decent size list of human-interest questions/prompts to answer in advance, and then the team works with contestants before each taping to choose which topic to talk on. All of Yogesh's "get to know you" bits were namedropping other well known Jeopardy! champs and other quizzing games where he beat them. I wonder why the production team went with these anecdotes, or if Yogesh insisted on them. I don't think it came off as a good look.

I've seen some fairly shitty commentary about his screen presence/attitude on twitter/elsewhere. Not everyone can be "on" and charming. Not everyone can do it while also competing under stage lights with camera cranes swooping around. And there's maybe 45 seconds of combined airtime per game to guess at someone's personality/behavior outside of the interview segment.

His FB posts seemed to me like he planned to have a big long run, and when it didn't pan out, he shit on the show as being unserious/simplified non-Real Quizzing™ too vaunted by the populace. But I don't think his posts are going to convince Proctor & Gamble to move their prime time ad money over to whatever Real Quizzing Olympics he'd replace Jeopardy! with, much less how to make them compelling and 30-minute digestible for American TV watchers. The people in the quizzing community already know Jeopardy! isn't the end-all. Isn't that enough?
posted by onehalfjunco at 12:15 AM on February 1, 2023 [4 favorites]


The genius of Jeopardy! is that it’s hard for the typical schmoe but not so hard that a reasonably smart person feels like they would have a shot at winning it. Thus, it has been a very successful show for 40 years.

It’s reasonable to assume that Yogesh felt, based on his success within the quiz community (which is quite the subculture), an extended run on Jeopardy! would be easily achieved. However, as has been noted already by others in this thread, he also has a reputation in the quizzing community for being an intense competitor and a less than charitable loser. I’m sure losing after “only” 3 games was a psychic shock.

Racism is real but so is toxic male entitlement. This may be a case where one reality is being used to obscure another.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 6:52 PM on February 1, 2023 [2 favorites]


A friend of mine has played Jeopardy! and knows Yogesh. She says his is fantastically polite and nice, and that most of the hot takes presented about this are off-course.

I’ve known Yogesh (and a whole lotta others) in the “quizzing” community for many years. He can certainly be fantastically polite, and his blog (The Wronger Box) has been a source of a lot of really nifty deep-dive facts, the kind I love. TRIVIAL facts, I should say - nobody *needs* to know how Marjorie Merriwether Post’s daughter Dina Merrill started in Operation Petticoat with Cary Grant, who was married to her cousin (“poor little rich girl”) Barbara Hutton… but it’s out there.

But Yogesh has managed to transcend legitimate racism, inequity and privilege — which very much exist, and by which he has indeed been targeted to some degree! — by making his quest for “social justice” (and “real feminism” — ugh, Yogesh, do NOT speak for the women of the trivia community; we’ve suffered enough) 100% about himself.

He goes on endlessly about “conversations” he wants to have, and how nobody is listening. Well, I can give you eight billion examples of conversations people have tried to have with him, and suggestions to which he should have been listening, but rejected. (For example: if you’ve been trying to get on a particular game show with very well-known wardrobe guidelines and buzzer techniques, don’t you think you should *do what they tell you* and/or *do what works* instead of complaining that your buzzer is malfunctioning because your hand placement doesn’t give you the same quick muscle response? Or… if you’re trying to draw readers to a blog that you hope might one day fund itself, let alone the rest of your lifestyle, do you think that alienating them is a good place to start?)

The thing which most articles and quick takes - including that of Michael Davies - have missed is the underlying current of obsession with people and institutions who have wronged him - specifically, Geeks Who Drink (re: Geek Bowl) and, oh, every quizmaster ever who has kicked him out because he wins too much. For his many years of graduate psychology study (which he will gladly tout!), he is incapable of reading a room. How do I know? I was there when it happened. (Multiple “its.”)

I hate hate hate hate hate that white supremacy, stereotypes of brown men being dangerous, racist Twitter trolls, unchecked bullying by children AND adults (socially and professionally), ingrained personal and generational trauma, intersectional misunderstandings, etc. exist. I hate that people are often gaslighted and tone policed when raising these issues.

You know what I hate more? When this stuff is undermined by someone who has proven, over and over again, to advocate for one person only, to the point where it damages the rest of the cause. MULTIPLE causes (thanks, intersectionality!).

If Yogesh had *ever* had *any* conversations about “social justice” that focused on more than just his own victimization, maybe I’d feel differently. But he’s not interested in mitigating or making things right, even for himself. Because what would he have to complain about then? He’s been airing grievances about things he doesn’t like for decades, yet stays there to… not improve them, just complain some more.

Perhaps I might also feel differently if the people whose names appear on lists of people who have a) wronged him or b) are “social justice frauds” (because making lists of your enemies is a totally chill thing to do…) didn’t include friends who are, e.g., thoughtful and kind public defenders for impoverished clients (many of whom may not even speak English) in a major metropolitan area.

It’s telling that he has attended something like eight undergraduate and graduate programs (including Stanford, USC, UC-Berkeley, NYU, New Mexico State, Washington State-Vancouver), in at least three fields (film, psychology, MBA). He can’t get a job in any of those fields - nor, would it seem, that he wants to, since he is still managing to live on SOMEONE’S dollar. He has been asked to leave multiple programs. He attributes that to racism, and I’m sure racism is in there somewhere, because white supremacy gonna white supremacy.

But when it happens THAT MANY TIMES… in that many places…
posted by St. Hubbins at 11:29 PM on February 1, 2023 [10 favorites]


But when it happens THAT MANY TIMES… in that many places…

If Taylor Swift can come to the conclusion that maybe it's her that's the problem, there's hope for this guy.
posted by hippybear at 7:22 PM on February 4, 2023 [1 favorite]


From what I understand, most of the players know the answers to all the questions. The trick is quick recall and buzzing in the fastest after you are allowed to buzz in.

This is a popular belief, but turns out not to be true. It's probably true(r) in the championship games, but Jeopardy! has been putting out what they call "Daily Box Scores" after each game for about a year now. This includes how many times people attempt to buzz in, how many times they succeed (i.e. are first), etc.

For the Sept. 22, 2022 game (which is the most recent one for which we have data), the winner attempted to buzz in 40 times and succeeded 29 times. The other two players were 30/18 and 18/8.

There are 60 questions total (not counting FJ), so even the best player that day only felt confident on 2/3 of them (which is actually very good. The top players get into the 40s). OTOH, maybe they were waiting to remember the answer before buzzing in, so it's possible that they did know the answer, but not fast enough.

But even if you don't know all the answers, fear not! A couple of well timed (and aggressively bet) Daily Doubles and you can win against people who, on the numbers, should take you down.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 2:07 PM on February 15, 2023


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