posted
My father says that Jeopardy provides the contestants the "questions" to the answers prior to the show. He says that this is done by providing the contestants with the reference materials from which the answers are gleaned. So, say there is a topic about Volcano's ... then the contestants are given an amount of materials that contain information that has the Question to the Answer in the topic reference material. It is not blatant - but if they study the materials, and can remember it, the info is there. Is there any truth to this ... I have look at the sony Jeopardy gameshow site and cannot find in the rules anything. I have gone on forums where there are former Jeopardy contestants and they maintain there is no prep prior to the show. My father states that it says it in the disclaimer at the end of the show. If it is or is not true - I just want to know to clear up the matter. Thanks!
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The closest I got to Jeopardy was a contestant try-out, but as far as I know, nothing is offered to contestants. It certainly wasn't offered to contestant wanna-bes!
-------------------- "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."--George Bernard Shaw Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002
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BrainDamage
I'll Be Home for After Christmas Sales
posted
Sounds like a game show that aired a while back (50s or 60s). The contestants they wanted to win were given the correct answers. One guy was promised to win a certain amount of money over a certain number of days. Before the "agreement" was finished, the producer decided that the guy wasn't bringing in the ratings anymore and so deliberatley gave him the wrong answer to a question, thinking the guy wouldn't do anything about it since they were doing something illegal. The guy ended up suing anyway and the whole scandal was revealed.
Posts: 146 | From: Orlando | Registered: Jun 2003
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Sara at home
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
Hollywood Squares provided their celebrity contestants information about the questions they would be asked.
quote:"The areas of questions designed for the celebrities and possible bluff answers are discussed with some celebrities in advance. In the course of their briefing, actual questions and/or answers may be discerned by the celebrities." --disclaimer that ran in the closing credits of each broadcast
-------------------- Assume that all my posts will be edited at least once. Dyslexic -- can't spell, can't type, can't proofread. Posts: 8317 | From: Reading, PA | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by BrainDamage: Sounds like a game show that aired a while back (50s or 60s). The contestants they wanted to win were given the correct answers. One guy was promised to win a certain amount of money over a certain number of days. Before the "agreement" was finished, the producer decided that the guy wasn't bringing in the ratings anymore and so deliberatley gave him the wrong answer to a question, thinking the guy wouldn't do anything about it since they were doing something illegal. The guy ended up suing anyway and the whole scandal was revealed.
That would be 21, which was the roots to the movie Quiz Show. There was also a spinoff of that scandal, where the contestants were given their own questions prior to the test, and told to memorize them. The first player got every single one wrong.
-------------------- "To be or not to be! That is the question! Now, will you answer, dare, double dare, or take the Physical Challenge?" --Mark Summers as Hamlet Countdown: 177 days and counting... or less. My blog. 14 keyboards owed. Posts: 5584 | From: Ohio | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by BrainDamage: Sounds like a game show that aired a while back (50s or 60s). The contestants they wanted to win were given the correct answers. One guy was promised to win a certain amount of money over a certain number of days. Before the "agreement" was finished, the producer decided that the guy wasn't bringing in the ratings anymore and so deliberatley gave him the wrong answer to a question, thinking the guy wouldn't do anything about it since they were doing something illegal. The guy ended up suing anyway and the whole scandal was revealed.
The show you are describing is "Twenty-One."
I have never heard of "Jeopardy!" supplying contestants with reference materials. From time to time, one hears rumors that certain categories are geared to specific contestants' areas of expertise--for instance, more "woman-friendly" categories so that there will be more female champs. Or, when Eddie Timanus (sp.?), a blind sportswriter, stirred up interest some time ago, sports turned up as a Final Jeopardy category.
I very much doubt that the humongous winning streak of Ken Jennings is scripted in any way, though!
-------------------- Si hoc comprehendere potes, gratias age magistro Latinae. Posts: 1720 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Chuck
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
J! can't be scripted...following the late 50s big money quiz scandals, Congress passed a law in 1959 to make rigging a game show in any way a crime.
posted
I've known somone who was on Jeopardy and he wasn't given any aswers (questions?). Too bad... He was a member of the SCA at the time and missed a question about the middle ages (the Weird Al song "I lost on Jeopardy" got played and sung around him a lot that year).
As others have mentioned there are some major laws/regulations concerning game shows. I believe them to be more or less on the level. With that said people are still people and some people may try to cheat. A friend of mine and his partner were on Hollywood Squares a couple of years ago. The partner liked the female contestant and would nod or shake his head to let her know if the answer was true or not. They got in a little trouble for that but is was basically a "stop doing that" repremand. Still they couldn't have been too horrible because the were brought back for the final show (although I do think there was a time they were banned from it because of their behavior... not the nodding behaviour but some disruptive behaviour from prior shows). And yes, the celebrities are given scripted "answers". They also upset some people when they were on Celebrity Fear Factor and my friend once twirled his winning partner/contestant around on Pyramid nailing an Osmond in the nuts. BTW that shows on the level (as I think most shows are). The major warning he got was to let the contestant lose on his own because he slipped up once and accidently gave the answer. Perhaps there are some people who are not game show material.
Last note: My family is of the opinion that it is easier for men or people with ethnic names to get picked for The Price is Right. I don't know if that's true (I can understand them wanting to balance things out a bit) but my white, female aunt has probably been on the show a dozen times (she's a flight attendant and she like going on games shows).
The only shows I can speak of personally are the All New Let's Make a Deal which seems on the level but its difficult to get picked for (to actually play the games) even if you humiliate yourself to get on the dealers floor. The other was a local (FL) morning show that ran a "mock" game show. It was rigged but we were all to dumb to know it. I was on a friday the 13th show and one of the questions was Spell triskadecaphobia (probably mispelled). The other two people had missed it so I gave it a try... what I didn't realize was the host shaking their head and looking in the direction of the monitors which had the word written across it. But please note that this "game show" was much like the Jaywalk All Stars. We were given promotional stuff but there weren't any real prizes. We basically just did it to show how smart we were... ok, we were just there to be laughed at. Hey, its all good and I still have my coffee mug and totebag.
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What is the use of women?" Steve W. from JREF's 'This is no fun' Posts: 7622 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Nope. A guy I was stationed with got on the special military tournament a few years ago. He got knocked out in the first round. He didn't get any sort of prep on the questions themselves, just more on how to play the game, and a few tips on how to mug for the camera.
-------------------- Meanwhile, at stately Wayne Manor... Posts: 1316 | From: Oregon | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I know they didn't supply any matierial on Win Ben Stein's Money, but he was super protective on keeping the money for himself, after all. Game Show Network's Cram does provide study matierial, but it's not secret since they show that portion of the game.
Also, Hollywood Squares did provide answers to the questions for Charley Weaver (one of the celebrities) after he sadly started to go senile.
Posts: 722 | From: Colorado | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tantei Kidbocha: I know they didn't supply any matierial on Win Ben Stein's Money, but he was super protective on keeping the money for himself
(snip)
Also, Hollywood Squares did provide answers to the questions for Charley Weaver (one of the celebrities) after he sadly started to go senile.
You do know that "Ben Stein's Money" was not really Ben Stein's money, don't you? If you watch the credits there's a disclaimer that "Ben Stein's Money" was the name given to the prize money. I don't think he got any more or less money based on his performance.
Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the celebs on Hollywood Sqaures were/are normally supplied with the answers: their performance doesn't affect the outcome of the game.
-------------------- Come on, come on - spin a little tighter Come on, come on - and the world's a little brighter Posts: 5595 | From: Columbus, OH : The Soccer Capital of America | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by chillas - back from the grave:
quote:Originally posted by Tantei Kidbocha: I know they didn't supply any matierial on Win Ben Stein's Money, but he was super protective on keeping the money for himself
(snip)
Also, Hollywood Squares did provide answers to the questions for Charley Weaver (one of the celebrities) after he sadly started to go senile.
You do know that "Ben Stein's Money" was not really Ben Stein's money, don't you? If you watch the credits there's a disclaimer that "Ben Stein's Money" was the name given to the prize money. I don't think he got any more or less money based on his performance.
Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the celebs on Hollywood Sqaures were/are normally supplied with the answers: their performance doesn't affect the outcome of the game.
Actually, from what i can recal teh money was advertising money that was given to him to put up, and whatever he did not loose, he kept. It led him to take the show too seriously, which was a problem for awhile. So while it want his money per say, it was given to him specifically to give away.
-------------------- W.W.F.S.M.D? But this image of Bush as some sort of Snidely Whiplash tying the fair maiden to the railroad tracks is beyond the pale. - Joe Bentley Posts: 2311 | From: Minnnesota | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
It seems like they've been adjusting the categories lately in order to get Ken Jennings to lose. For example, last week there was a category about beer. (Jennings, being a Mormon, doesn't drink.) Oddly enough, I think he swept the category, but his performance has been suffering lately due to not knowing the answers.
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posted
In one of the magazines, Jennings said that his wife is helping him study for the alcohol-related categories. He mentioned using flashcards to memorize brand names.
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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Bowling Pete
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
There was a bad show on the Game Show Network like this. Two groups of two would be given material to study over night, and they would be quized on them the next day.
posted
Actually, Mr. Jennings himself has attributed his more difficult shows lately to the Jeopardy staff allowing contestants more time to practice with the buzzer and having the same guy control the lockout function during the practice games and during the actual games.
The Jeopardy staff that decide what the clues will be and the staff that decide which contestants will play when, are segregated from each other. The contestant staff have no idea what the clues will be and the clue staff have no idea who the contestants will be. Any pre-Jennings corrolation between contestant's knowledge and clues is a coincidence.
Now it's still probably a coincidence; though the clue staff must know that Jennings will have a long run and there's a chance clues written today will be in front of him in a few weeks.
Contestants on Jeopardy are not provided with any clue-related material before games. The only thing they get is green room snacks, and paperwork to fill out.
-------------------- A Lie can run around the world before the Truth can get its boots on. - Terry Pratchett
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions; but everyone is not entitled to their own facts. - Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan Posts: 2495 | From: Connecticut | Registered: Oct 2000
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quote:There was a bad show on the Game Show Network like this. Two groups of two would be given material to study over night, and they would be quized on them the next day.
I forget what that was called.
The show was called "Cram".
-Le Chevalier Blanc
-------------------- -Le Chevalier Blanc
"Chivalry is not dead - it's just paralyzed from the neck up..." Posts: 9 | From: Sunnyvale, CA | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Yeah, and not that they would just be quizzed, but that they would be quizzed while going through physical challenges like walking in an exercise-wheel-type thing fast enough to keep a lightbulb burning...
It was a really stupid show, hosted, IIRC, by Kennedy.
Welcome to the boards, Le Chevalier Blanc!
-------------------- "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."--George Bernard Shaw Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002
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From a book I have called "Library of Curious and Unusual Facts: Hoaxes and Deceptions," on page 26, with an article titled "Quiz Skids."
There's a nice big article about the show Twenty-One, how the cheating was done and everything.
"...But as Van Doren's fortunes rose, Stempel brooded about his loss, which had been no accident: The show's producers had told him to take a dive, and, as usual, had supplied Van Doren with all the answers he needed, plus a script on how to deliver them with maximum drama. Stempel chafed, then began to tell journalists the show was rigged. When the Manhattan district attorney announced an investigation, the producers of 21 desperately contacted contestants they had prepped and begged them to deny the charges. But the jig was up. In the course of grand jury hearings and a subsequent congressional investigation, it became clear that 21 was one of many rigged television quiz shows, including the other blockbuster, the $64,000 question."
Morrigan
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quote:Originally posted by AnglRdr: Yeah, and not that they would just be quizzed, but that they would be quizzed while going through physical challenges like walking in an exercise-wheel-type thing fast enough to keep a lightbulb burning...
It was a really stupid show, hosted, IIRC, by Kennedy.
Welcome to the boards, Le Chevalier Blanc!
I kinda liked Cram, it was hosted though by Graham (get it?) Elwood. Kennedy host a show called "Friend or Foe"
-------------------- W.W.F.S.M.D? But this image of Bush as some sort of Snidely Whiplash tying the fair maiden to the railroad tracks is beyond the pale. - Joe Bentley Posts: 2311 | From: Minnnesota | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by AnglRdr: Yeah, and not that they would just be quizzed, but that they would be quizzed while going through physical challenges like walking in an exercise-wheel-type thing fast enough to keep a lightbulb burning...
It was a really stupid show, hosted, IIRC, by Kennedy.
Welcome to the boards, Le Chevalier Blanc!
I kinda liked Cram, it was hosted though by Graham (get it?) Elwood. Kennedy host a show called "Friend or Foe"
Indeed you are correct! I wish I had more time to watch game shows, cuz I love 'em so much.
-------------------- "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."--George Bernard Shaw Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002
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