Toronto-based artist joins growing trend of ‘Jeopardy’ super-champions | 24CA News
It’s not your creativeness: “Jeopardy” streaks are getting longer.
Ray Lalonde, the Toronto-based scenic artist who’s gained 11 video games and counting, is simply the newest in a brand new technology of trivia titans to take up residence on the Alex Trebek Stage.
After Thursday’s recreation, Lalonde had amassed US$311,500.
Consider additionally Mattea Roach, the 24-year-old Canadian “Jeopardy” phenom who gained 23 straight video games earlier this yr, giving her the fifth-longest streak within the present’s historical past.
The two are amongst solely 16 contestants within the present’s historical past with successful streaks of a minimum of 10 video games, stated Andy Saunders, the Guelph, Ont.-based blogger behind “The Jeopardy! Fan.”
Read extra:
Dream comes true for Edmontonian on ‘Jeopardy!’
Read More
Of these 16, seven appeared on the present in 2021 or 2022, together with Amy Schneider and Matt Amodio, who maintain the second and third-longest streaks of all time.
Saunders has a idea as to why.
“The show lowered its barrier to entry,” he stated.
Near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the present’s producers started permitting would-be contestants to audition at any time, slightly than solely with the ability to take an entrance check a number of days out of the yr.
And for many who ace that preliminary check, the second spherical of auditions is now carried out through video name, Saunders stated, slightly than requiring quiz present hopefuls to journey to a significant metropolitan centre to check out in individual.
“There were a lot of people out there who are very good at ‘Jeopardy’ and just needed that extra nudge to try out, making it that little bit easier for them,” Saunders stated.
A spokeswoman for “Jeopardy” didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about whether or not the variety of candidates has gone up lately, however Saunders stated he’s eradicated a number of the different attainable explanations.
The present’s clues don’t appear to be any more durable, he stated, and the so-called super-champions use quite a lot of completely different methods, so it’s not their fashion of play that’s giving them an edge.
But regardless of the clarification, Saunders stated he enjoys the lengthy streaks.
“I absolutely love watching excellent players do well,” he stated.
Not solely does it provide you with one thing to root for, however you additionally get to investigate the sport in a barely completely different approach, Saunders stated.
“You can definitely tell with the longer streaks that certain players are good in certain categories and not as much in others.”
It appears to be working for the present, he added: “The ratings are still going up whenever there’s a longer streak.”
© 2022 The Canadian Press
