JEOPARDY! contestant Andrew Miller praised the ‘helpful accommodations’ the show provided to help with his visual impairment in a rare behind-the-scenes reveal of the game.
Despite calling his Jeopardy! debut the “best experience ever,” the auto claims adjuster from Connecticut lost to returning champ, Mark Fitzpatrick.
Mark, who is also from Connecticut, and Andrew went up against Gino Montoya, an attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday’s game.
Before he was able to watch the episode, Andrew took to an online fan forum and commented about his experience.
“Andrew here! Haven’t watched yet but just want to say this was the best experience of my life.
“The crew on set was amazing; I’m visually impaired and they made helpful accommodations to the gameplay and were chill about me knocking stuff with my cane all day,” he wrote.
He also took his loss with grace, adding: “These were definitely not my categories which made it easy to cope with the L knowing my opponents had played so well on such a challenging board. GG boys!”
Andrew began with a strong lead as he added $1,000 to his score after correctly guessing the game’s first Daily Double.
However, Mark secured the lead heading into the first break with $5,400 while Andrew was behind with $2,000 and Gino had $1,000.
Mark found the second Daily Double which added $3,000 to his score of $10,800.
Despite Gino’s lead most of the game, Mark got ahead when he also found the third Daily Double – which gave him another $3,000.
Heading into Final Jeopardy!, Mark secured $21,200 while Gino secured $17,400 and Andrew had $4,600 for his total.
The last category was World Flags, which host Ken Jennings read: “The 12 stars on its flag symbolize perfection, not geographic or political units.”
“What is the European Union?” was the correct response however, in another triple stumper, all three players got it wrong.
Unfortunately for Gino, he chose to bet it all – leaving him with just $0 by the end of the game.
Mark bet $13,601, dropping his score to $7,599 while runner-up Andrew’s final total to $4,183.
After yesterday’s Final Jeopardy! resulted in a triple stumper, fans expressed their thoughts on today’s low-scoring game.
Jeopardy! Set Secrets
Jeopardy! fans don’t see everything behind the scenes from watching on TV. These hidden set features make the show run smoothly:
- Each podium has a hidden riser so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
- After each clue is read, signal lights go off around the game board, indicating players can buzz in and respond.
- Buzz in too early, and you’re locked out for .25 seconds.
- The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner, which tells Ken Jennings who goes next.
- Contrary to popular belief, the player with control doesn’t have a buzzer advantage on the next clue.
- To the game board’s left is a scoreboard so the players can see their opponents’ scores.
- All contestants must bring three outfits to the studio, but only the host and returning champion change for the next episode.
- There are wardrobe rules, including restrictions on busy patterns, solid white, purple (like the background), and logos.
- Five episodes are taped in a single day, and sometimes more.
- The categories, players (aside from the returning champion), and Final Jeopardy! for a tape day are all drawn randomly to ensure fairness.
- Female contestants are asked not to wear makeup, which is applied backstage, and don’t wear mascara because of sweat.
- Contestants fill out a questionnaire, and producers select five Q&A topics for the host.
- Host Ken isn’t allowed to interact with the contestants until after the game.
- Players can request to sit in a chair while competing without question.
“Even if Mark didn’t win as much today as his first two games, I’m sure he was happy to have won a third game at all! Gino’s comeback in DJ was quite impressive, but Mark getting both DDs kept him in the lead, so Gino had to deal with the woes of wagering from second place.
“I like to think Gino felt very confident in the FJ category and that’s why he wagered his entire score, but sadly, it didn’t work out for him. He’s likely to be in Second Chance with such a high losing Coryat, but the all-in second place wager never survives a Triple Stumper FJ.”
However, a fellow viewer disagreed with the notion that Gino should get a spot on the Second Chance Tournament.
“Yeah, I am not sure that I agree that someone that blew the wager should get a second chance.
“If he bet to get one dollar more than the leader he would have won, losing on bad wagering should not get you a second chance,” they wrote.
While one more defended Gino: “Jeopardy is a game about having knowledgeable contestants first, gameplay second.
“Gino had a 17,400 Coryat in his opening game. Of course he should be considered. What are we doing here.”
