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Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:12 pm
by kristinsausville
jeff6286 wrote:I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I've never seen it addressed before, and hopefully Rex or seaborgium will know the answer. When the TOC participants are "sequestered" for the quarterfinal games, are they prohibited from having cell phones with them? I had wondered in the past if a friend or family member watching from the audience could ever try to signal somehow to a contestant and give them some sort of guidance on what kind of score they would have to beat to get a wild card. It would be even easier for someone to send a text message telling a player in the 5th QF game exactly what number they had to beat, so hopefully the show has some provision in place to prevent this. If they do prohibit or collect cell phones during this "sequestered" period, is that the only time, or is it against the rules to have a cell phone on you during any appearance on Jeopardy? Or any other game show for that matter? Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
I guess this is as good a time as any for my first post, given that I've been lurking since late July. :oops:

I'm Justin Sausville's wife, and as you know, he was in the 5th quarterfinal game of the most recent TOC. He was in the green room for the entire day and he was not allowed to have his cell phone with him. As a contestant guest, I was not allowed to have my cell phone (or camera) with me either. The first contact he and I had all day long was after the last game filmed; we couldn't even see each other during the lunch break. There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:27 pm
by jeff6286
kristinsausville wrote:
jeff6286 wrote:I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I've never seen it addressed before, and hopefully Rex or seaborgium will know the answer. When the TOC participants are "sequestered" for the quarterfinal games, are they prohibited from having cell phones with them? I had wondered in the past if a friend or family member watching from the audience could ever try to signal somehow to a contestant and give them some sort of guidance on what kind of score they would have to beat to get a wild card. It would be even easier for someone to send a text message telling a player in the 5th QF game exactly what number they had to beat, so hopefully the show has some provision in place to prevent this. If they do prohibit or collect cell phones during this "sequestered" period, is that the only time, or is it against the rules to have a cell phone on you during any appearance on Jeopardy? Or any other game show for that matter? Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
I guess this is as good a time as any for my first post, given that I've been lurking since late July. :oops:

I'm Justin Sausville's wife, and as you know, he was in the 5th quarterfinal game of the most recent TOC. He was in the green room for the entire day and he was not allowed to have his cell phone with him. As a contestant guest, I was not allowed to have my cell phone (or camera) with me either. The first contact he and I had all day long was after the last game filmed; we couldn't even see each other during the lunch break. There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
I was worried that no one had ever given this subject as much thought I had, but now I feel much better. I was thinking about some sort of hand signals, but I never even considered the idea of blinking in morse code. That is pure diabolical genius. :P Thanks for the information, and I guess it's good to know that the Jeopardy! powers-that-be are as vigilant as they can be to ensure a level playing field. You can't be too careful these days.

alietr wrote:
jeff6286 wrote:
alietr wrote:I wanna work live there.
In the locker? Or in the room with the locker in it? Or in the green room?
The studio, damnit, the studio! (Grumble, grumble someone's trying to rack up some penalty points ...)
*gulp*

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:34 pm
by dhkendall
jeff6286 wrote:Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
The penalty is immediate death, the more torturous the better.

Not for having a "cheating phone" with you on the WWTBAM set, but that's for having a Lady Gaga or Katy Perry ringtone. Can be used on people outside of the WWTBAM studios too.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:43 pm
by Leah
jeff6286 wrote:I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I've never seen it addressed before, and hopefully Rex or seaborgium will know the answer. When the TOC participants are "sequestered" for the quarterfinal games, are they prohibited from having cell phones with them? I had wondered in the past if a friend or family member watching from the audience could ever try to signal somehow to a contestant and give them some sort of guidance on what kind of score they would have to beat to get a wild card. It would be even easier for someone to send a text message telling a player in the 5th QF game exactly what number they had to beat, so hopefully the show has some provision in place to prevent this. If they do prohibit or collect cell phones during this "sequestered" period, is that the only time, or is it against the rules to have a cell phone on you during any appearance on Jeopardy? Or any other game show for that matter? Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
In 1988, in the pre-cell-phone era, between two of my games there was a break, some of the bright lights were dimmed, and I noticed my husband in the audience and waved to him as I was being marched out with the other contestants.

A producer came and sat next to him for the rest of my games to make sure there was no communication going on between us. Not that I could see him-- the lights were in my eyes, and besides, one is too focused on the screen with the clue to bother looking anywhere but at it, and, after reading it, Alex to be able to watch him say the last syllable so you can try to ring in. So they were very careful in that day and age too.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:44 pm
by mam418
kristinsausville wrote:
jeff6286 wrote:I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I've never seen it addressed before, and hopefully Rex or seaborgium will know the answer. When the TOC participants are "sequestered" for the quarterfinal games, are they prohibited from having cell phones with them? I had wondered in the past if a friend or family member watching from the audience could ever try to signal somehow to a contestant and give them some sort of guidance on what kind of score they would have to beat to get a wild card. It would be even easier for someone to send a text message telling a player in the 5th QF game exactly what number they had to beat, so hopefully the show has some provision in place to prevent this. If they do prohibit or collect cell phones during this "sequestered" period, is that the only time, or is it against the rules to have a cell phone on you during any appearance on Jeopardy? Or any other game show for that matter? Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
I guess this is as good a time as any for my first post, given that I've been lurking since late July. :oops:

I'm Justin Sausville's wife, and as you know, he was in the 5th quarterfinal game of the most recent TOC. He was in the green room for the entire day and he was not allowed to have his cell phone with him. As a contestant guest, I was not allowed to have my cell phone (or camera) with me either. The first contact he and I had all day long was after the last game filmed; we couldn't even see each other during the lunch break. There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
Welcome, Kristen! :D

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:08 pm
by Volante
jeff6286 wrote:
kristinsausville wrote:
jeff6286 wrote:I hope this isn't an inappropriate question, but I've never seen it addressed before, and hopefully Rex or seaborgium will know the answer. When the TOC participants are "sequestered" for the quarterfinal games, are they prohibited from having cell phones with them? I had wondered in the past if a friend or family member watching from the audience could ever try to signal somehow to a contestant and give them some sort of guidance on what kind of score they would have to beat to get a wild card. It would be even easier for someone to send a text message telling a player in the 5th QF game exactly what number they had to beat, so hopefully the show has some provision in place to prevent this. If they do prohibit or collect cell phones during this "sequestered" period, is that the only time, or is it against the rules to have a cell phone on you during any appearance on Jeopardy? Or any other game show for that matter? Imagine someone in the hotseat on WWTBAM, and their phone starts playing some Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. Since I've never seen this happen, I'm guessing there is a standard rule for any appearance on a televised program, but I've never seen it mentioned before.
I guess this is as good a time as any for my first post, given that I've been lurking since late July. :oops:

I'm Justin Sausville's wife, and as you know, he was in the 5th quarterfinal game of the most recent TOC. He was in the green room for the entire day and he was not allowed to have his cell phone with him. As a contestant guest, I was not allowed to have my cell phone (or camera) with me either. The first contact he and I had all day long was after the last game filmed; we couldn't even see each other during the lunch break. There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
I was worried that no one had ever given this subject as much thought I had, but now I feel much better. I was thinking about some sort of hand signals, but I never even considered the idea of blinking in morse code. That is pure diabolical genius. :P Thanks for the information, and I guess it's good to know that the Jeopardy! powers-that-be are as vigilant as they can be to ensure a level playing field. You can't be too careful these days.
- --- .-. - ..- .-. .

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:25 pm
by Budphrey
Rex Kramer wrote:Amount of suckage having to sit in the green room all day long: .
Amount of anti-suckage getting to be in a quarterfinal at all: ..........................................................................

So it's okay. It's being the alternate that sucks.
Depends on the company. And the quality of the green room deli platter. :)

One thing about being sequestered in the green room during a quarterfinal: they assign you the coolest babysitter.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:24 am
by Fleeboy
seaborgium wrote:3. First alphabetically for the first round; subsequent rounds it's whoever scored highest in the previous round.
Is this the case in all tournaments now?

In ToCs, the postitions for QF games used to be determined by regular-season winnings, as I recall.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:29 pm
by cinemaniax7
Rex Kramer wrote:The only real bother with playing last is that you get that much more time to get to know, like, and respect the other contestants that you will later be forced to grind mercilessly into gory pulps.
Mmmm. Gory pulp.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:37 pm
by Miss Mellie
mam418 wrote:
dmleach wrote:
ACW wrote:2: Is there a screen to see the other scores when wagering for DDs or FJ?
The Jeopardy! website has a 360-degree studio panorama where you can see the scoreboards the contestants use. They hang from the ceiling just to the left of the game board.
Cool! (And aw... that inspired an inordinate amount of nostalgia. Wanna go back!!)
Ditto! (Waves to the shorts-wearing sound-guy in the middle of the audience. AKA The Guy with His Hand Up My Shirt. Awkward that I didn't catch your name....)

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:05 pm
by legendneverdies
Fleeboy wrote:
seaborgium wrote:3. First alphabetically for the first round; subsequent rounds it's whoever scored highest in the previous round.
Is this the case in all tournaments now?

In ToCs, the postitions for QF games used to be determined by regular-season winnings, as I recall.
The last TofC had the players stand in their podiums for QF games based on previous winnings, so that's still the case. SF games still place the players at podiums based on the player's QF score, and Finals' player position are based on their SF score. For the UTofC, each day had the contestants change podiums, so Ken picked first one day, Brad on another, and Jerome on the other.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:59 pm
by katiedidwhat
Miss Mellie wrote:(Waves to the shorts-wearing sound-guy in the middle of the audience. AKA The Guy with His Hand Up My Shirt. Awkward that I didn't catch your name....)
His name is Mitch -- same as my youngest son, which is why I remember it. I apologized for the difficulty one of my outfits caused, and he chuckled and said that if he could mike a bikini, a dress was no problem. I responded that I hoped the bikini wasn't for Jeopardy, and he told me that it was for a movie.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 6:48 pm
by Miss Mellie
Thank you!! (I did wonder, after the fact, what happens if you're wearing a dress!)

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:50 pm
by seaborgium
legendneverdies wrote:
Fleeboy wrote:
seaborgium wrote:3. First alphabetically for the first round; subsequent rounds it's whoever scored highest in the previous round.
Is this the case in all tournaments now?

In ToCs, the postitions for QF games used to be determined by regular-season winnings, as I recall.
The last TofC had the players stand in their podiums for QF games based on previous winnings, so that's still the case.
Uh, Krizel-Kunzen-Pahk? In all the other match-ups, alphabetical order and winnings order happened to coincide, but we've got QF3 with contestants in reverse order of winnings to prove alphabetism.

edit: I've just looked through the Archive going back a few years, and it looks like ToC 2004 was arranged by winnings, and all the rest since have been alphabetical. College Championship 2004 was not alphabetical, but all subsequent ones have been. The last non-alphabetical Kids' Week was December 2000, and the last non-alphabetical Teen Tournament was November 1999.

With the exception of one QF in 1989 (in which 5xer Cigus Vanni got the far left while 4xer Bruce Cox, who had won a few thousand more, got the middle), all the ToC QFs from 1987 to 2004 were arranged by winnings.

1986 had one 5xer per QF, and each got the far left podium while the two competing 4xers were arranged by winnings. Three of the QFs were still highest to lowest from left to right, but Gary Giardina with $32k was on the left while 4xer Harvey Becker with $55k was in the middle, and Donald Burgo with $26k (lowest 5-day total ever) was placed ahead of Mark Leinwand and Beryl Arbit, who each cleared $40k in four wins.

I can't discern any rhyme or reason in 1985's arrangements. I know they appeared in chronological order (i.e. first three 5xers in QF1, last three in QF5), but they're not arranged within QFs chronologically, alphabetically, or by winnings. (Genova-Beraru-Moser and Fauman-Tupper-Rogitz work out as being by winnings, but the rest don't; Beraru was the first 5xer, but she's in the middle; and none of the arrangements work alphabetically.)

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:45 pm
by thejeopardyfan
katiedidwhat wrote:I apologized for the difficulty one of my outfits caused, and he chuckled and said that if he could mike a bikini, a dress was no problem. I responded that I hoped the bikini wasn't for Jeopardy, and he told me that it was for a movie.
I apologized to him too! I used the word "complicated," and he said something like what he'd said to you - that he'd put microphones on outfits much more complicated than mine.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:12 am
by dhkendall
seaborgium wrote:In all the other match-ups, alphabetical order and winnings order happened to coincide
goforthetie must be on to something then:
goforthetie wrote:Boo! Alphabetically early names already have enough advantage; they don't need any more pandering.

goo.gl/SlUoO

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:27 am
by Fleeboy
Thanks as always, seaborgium, for your research!

I've forgotten if lectern assignments for the first round of the UToC were preassigned, or if we drew for position before taking the stage. Glancing at a dozen or so of the matchups, there appears to have been no pattern. Can anyone refresh my memory?

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:28 pm
by Vanya
kristinsausville wrote: There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
You could have coughed.

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:50 pm
by kristinsausville
Vanya wrote:
kristinsausville wrote: There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
You could have coughed.
Ha, didn't think of that one!

Re: 3 Utterly Random Questions

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:51 pm
by Volante
kristinsausville wrote:
Vanya wrote:
kristinsausville wrote: There was no way to pass any information to him regarding how the wild card standings were looking at that point. He couldn't see me in the audience from the stage so even some sort of blinking code wouldn't have worked. ;)
You could have coughed.
Ha, didn't think of that one!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ingram did.