I saw it!!!

me too at two this afternoon...

I saw it!

I watched the show - I thought it was rather odd.

I found a brilliant summary that I'll post later.

So strange. I can't wait to read the summary!

rhizo - can you post a link to the summary so that we can read it if we want?

Is the summary about James's final wager? I just read it on another forum.

I think everyone by now knows the outcome. The question now is, did James lose on purpose?

Why such low wager in final Jeopardy?

I heard it on the news. Wish I had watched.

"The question now is, did James lose on purpose?"

I don't think there's any question that he did but why??

Meet Emma

The person who beat Ken Jennings was a "one hit wonder". Hope she isn't.

She made a gutsy move with her daily double, so I hope she isn't a one-hit wonder, either. Looks like she learned something from James. Can the other contestants watch the games before them being taped? That is, before she stepped up to the podium, did she watch James play?

I knew he would lose when he was ready, but why now?

Just read the About Emma; interesting that they both have a Chicago connection. She's a librarian at UofC? Yep, she's definitely Jeopardy! material.

What difference does it make how much he wagered? As long as she gave the correct answer and wagered to win, he was going to lose. The only way he could win was if she gave the wrong answer and made a big wager to guard against a big wager by him.

I don't watch Jeopardy and am barred from being a contestant because my brother works for Sony, and so he of course is also barred from being a contestant, although they did have a special Jeopardy game (not aired) for Sony employees.

On CBS This Morning, Gayle King bet $10 to one of the other hosts that James would win, and so I guess tomorrow morning she will have to pay up.

I watched it at the gym and didn't get why he made such a small wager. But unless she missed the question, I guess he would have lost had he wagered the whole amount.

Because of the scores going into Final Jeopardy, the only way James could have won would be for Emma to have made the bet that she did but put an incorrect answer. If James had bet his entire amount he would still have been $1 under Emma’s final total with her correct answer. His concern was to not come in third. He knew Emma would put down the correct answer because of the way she had played up to that point.

As the returning champion, James got to start off the game. He chose “Literature” (the second column) for $1,000. It was the Daily Double. Because it was the very first clue/answer, he couldn’t bet more than $1,000. He got the answer right, but it impeded his ability to “play his normal game” because he wasn’t able to build up his money before getting a Daily Double.

Then in the Double Jeopardy round, Emma got the first Daily Double. She trailed James, but made it a “true Daily Double” by betting everything she had. She got the answer right, which put her in the lead by at least $3,000. She kept a lead over James, then she got the second Daily Double in the round. That time she bet only $3,000 but she gave the right answer and increased her lead.

When I saw the title of your post, I immediately shut down and found my son to watch. I was like, either he broke the record or he's off. We were dumbfounded when she surpassed him and kept going. Amazing. I knew someone could only beat him by playing his way. Wow. Son said, I would've let him have his record if I'd have played against him today.

Interesting that last night's show was taped in March, and we didn't start seeing James as a contestant until April. Therefore, she had no idea who he was. She had worked out her own strategy, which was similar to his.

From the article I linked above:

She got her master’s degree in information science from UNC in 2016, and wrote her master’s paper on predicting the difficulty of trivia questions using “Jeopardy!” clues.

Somehow I don't think she'll be a one-hit wonder.

I don’t watch Jeopardy anymore but I guess I’m not surprised he finally lost to someone who outmaneuvered him in play. Or maybe he was just tired of playing or as Lindsey describes it, it just didn’t go his way. He will still be among the great players always remembered.

Thanks Alisanda for the Meet Emma link and Lindsay and Rhizo for the explanation of the betting strategy. As I watched the show I was caught up in the moment and didn't stop to consider what the final wager signified.

However I absolutely loved that a librarian won and can't wait to watch her continue. I confess that I was getting a little bored with James. I don't want to take away from his success but it was becoming so robotic that I missed the human touch.

I don't think Emma out-maneuvered James, she played the game as he did - and as well as he did - and had the good luck to get a Daily Double (or both, I don't remember) in the second round.

James' final betting strategy made perfect sense. I've always been amazed that people make betting strategy mistakes in Final Jeopardy.

I was never bored with James. I knew he couldn't go on forever, but I enjoyed every minute that he was on Jeopardy. I really, really wish he could have broken more records. And I congratulate Emma, but I don't think she out-maneuvered James.

I don't think she outmaneuvered him either. I wanted him to continue. I was amazed at his knowledge and was rooting for him to win a lot more. This woman won't be a James repeat.

I wonder when the next Tournament of Champions will be held. Surely James will be included unless someone breaks his streak. My understanding is the winners of the college and teacher's tournament are included and then the remaining contestants are selected based on the producer's discretion. James is way ahead of the next 3 closest steak winners who are tied with 7 wins each.

They also have an all star tournament team competition that he surely would be invited too.

Just watched the show. It was great.

He got only one double and had no money to bet. Problematic. In the second round she got both. She could have seriously sealed her win if she had James guts when it comes to betting. Still she did well and made an amount of money that made it impossible for him to win if she bet seriously on final and didn't get it wrong. And that is what happened. It was inevitable. The pressure on the previous winner has to be immense. You have to play ten games in two days back to back. Now it is her turn to face the pressure and exhaustion. It will be interesting.

I have never liked game shows

Alex seemed to tear up at the very end. Plus the card James's daughter made for him seemed to really touch him. I wonder if James had planned to leave? Was the card a "thank you, and goodbye" gesture?

I really liked James. I watched...and am sorry to see him go.

I missed the second half of the show today, did Emma win? She was doing great when I left during the first round.

I read an interview with Ken Jennings, asking if he went up against James in a tournament. He said one thing that has changed is Ken is older now, and your reaction time does change with age.

Yes Emma won. She could command the board, knew her trivia, didn't get rattled, but she has the female approach to money. I have watched this gradually change over the years. Women seldom have the bet the farm attitude. They play it safe. She did pull out some stops for final but the category was right up the alley of a literate person. As James knew, it isn't money till you win.

"Plus the card James's daughter made for him seemed to really touch him. I wonder if James had planned to leave? Was the card a "thank you, and goodbye" gesture?"

No, James didn't plan to leave, and the card wasn't a "thank you, and goodbye" gesture.

They tape 5 episodes in a day, two days a week. Some reports say they tape two days every other week, other reports say they tape two days each week for a set number of weeks before taking a hiatus. Reports consistently say there are a total of 46 taping days each year (for the past 30 years). James was on for 32 games, which would be, at most, 8 taping days (that would work out to be his first show was the 5th show taped on day 2 of that week's taping; then 30 shows over two days the next 3 taping weeks; then the 1st show taped on the first day of taping his final week of taping. I've seen things that say his first taping day was February 5th, and last night's show was taped on March 12th. Alex announced his cancer diagnosis on March 6th, so James gave him the card that his daughter had made less than one week later - on the first day of taping following the announcement.

I thought that Alex teared up, too. He loves his champions.

I love it that Alex is thrilled when people win major money. He has seen a lot of winners over the years.

I hope to see James back at the championship rounds. I'm not as crazy about Emma.

Maybe she'll grow on us. :-)

I, for one, will miss James. He was smart and exciting. Emma needs a bit more personality. She could stand to smile, as an example ;) But she is smart.

I thought the same about Emma. She seems a little stiff.

Trying again: Does anyone have a link to where you can watch the full episodes streamed?

I received an e-mail from jeopardy giving a YouTube link to the episode in which he lost. It's only up until Friday.

Jeopardy James last game