The following YouTube video has gone viral–at least in Canada–over the last few days:
On my Facebook timeline, one person said “Randy is an idiot”. To that, I completely disagree. Here’s why:
Randy starts this sequence with $5,600 and control of the board, in third place, and one category left. Judging by the fact that nobody has touched the category with a 10-foot pole, and the fact that nobody rang in on the first clue in the video, it was clearly not a strength of his.
However, Randy still has a chance to win the game – and he found the Daily Double on his second selection.
- He went big on that Daily Double, needing to catch up to Dan, who was leading, and then missed the key word “Avon” which would point him in the direction of Stratford. It happens.
- Whistler was easily the “best” answer of the three wrong answers out of his mouth–in the respect that at least it’s a Canadian resort. By that point he was just trying to claw out of the hole left by #1;
- By the time answer #3 came around, he was trying to extricate himself out of the hole and just kept digging. Props to him to taking even the 1% shot that a contestant needs to take in that situation.
While he would have avoided going viral if he’d just kept his mouth shut, that wouldn’t be the best way to play the game, and for that he’s not an idiot. He played hard straight to the final buzzer and for that he gets my respect, not my scorn.
To close, I’m just going to quote my friend Jerie Shaw’s comments from after Kristin Sausville’s single-player Final a few months back:
- People who get on Jeopardy are all bright, talented people who love trivia and are very good at it
- A huge percentage of the game depends on luck
- They probably didn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed by their performance
- Not knowing something is an opportunity, not a weakness
- Anybody who has ever been on Jeopardy would kick your ass sideways in trivia
- Don’t be a dick. Just… don’t.