Here's the rundown of the comedy of scorekeeping errors in
Season 2, game 2:
Problems begin in clue 4, when Alex negs Susan for $400 on what probably should have been an acceptable response, or at least a BMS. That's an $800 swing but not necessarily a scoring error.
At clue 9, the +$100 button, not the +$300 button, is hit for Dave's correct response, bringing his score to $600 instead of the $800 it should have been.
Then at clue 11, the +$100 button, not the +$400 button, is hit for Sara's correct response, bringing her score to $200 instead of the $500 it should have been.
So going into the first break, the scores read Sara, $200; Dave, $1100; champ Susan, $300.
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Coming back from the first break, scores have been accurately corrected with no explanation.
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The round proceeds, and the scorekeeper hits the +$300 button twice for Susan's correct response to clue 16, giving her +$600 instead of the +$300 she was entitled to. Her score now reads as $1300 instead of $1000.
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This error propagates through to the end of the Jeopardy! Round. Note, the only certain scoring problem at this point is that Susan has $300 more than she should have. Hitting the Daily Double at clue 26, the scores are not corrected for Susan's wager, so she wagers based on an inaccurately high score. The round ends with the scores displayed as Sara, $2500; Dave, $600; Susan, $1500, when they should have been Sara, $2500; Dave, $600; Susan $1200.
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Standing in front of the game board for the return from the second break going into Double Jeopardy!, Alex delivers this:
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know how you feel about commercials, but here on Jeopardy!, we love them, because with all the electronics we use on this show, the breaks are the only time we have to make corrections. We were having some problems with our scoring readouts in the first part of the game, but the scores as they appear now are correct..."
CUT TO: the contestants, where their readouts now read Sara, $2000; Dave, $600; Susan, $1700.
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WTH? So instead of taking the $300 she never earned away from Susan, they gave her an extra $200, and then robbed her challenger Sara of $500 for good measure. Is there any explanation for this? I considered that perhaps the judges reconsidered Susan's response of "Queens" in clue 27, utilities $500, which could account for the swing. But there is no questioning that
Fresh Kills Landfill was in Staten Island, not Queens, two boroughs that are not adjacent to each other. Clearly, the judges did not just throw the whole clue out, because Dave did not get his $500 back for his incorrect response. Did the judges somehow find some reference that inaccurately stated that the
Edgemere Landfill in Queens was larger? We are left to speculate. In any case, the scores are wrong going into Double Jeopardy!, with Susan now having $500 more than she should and Sara having $500 less.
So let's take stock here:
Actual scores, according to gameplay, at the end of the J! Round:
$2500; $600; $1200
Displayed scores, post-"correction":
$2000; $600; $1700
Next we have DJ! clue 11, an $800 clue, which Sara gets right, but for which she is only credited $200, bringing her score (as displayed) from $3600 to $3800. So now Sara is $200 behind what the show thinks she ought to have and $700 behind what the Archive thinks she ought to have.
Then come the last two clues of the DJ! Round, clues 23 and 24, which Susan gets in on, but for which her score changes not. She earns $200 for clue 23 and loses $1000 for clue 24, but her displayed score remains at $2700. Alex reads of the scores for the end of the DJ! Round:
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CUT TO ALEX, WITH APPARENT EDIT: "And, that means that you'll all be playing Final Jeopardy! in just a moment, but I spoke too soon about the scores, they have changed again. Let's see, they are now correct: $4800 for Sara, $3800 for David, and $2900 for Susan."
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So let's take stock again:
Actual scores according to gameplay at the end of the DJ! Round:
$6100; $3800; $1600
Scores as adjusted according to DJ! Round gameplay starting from the "corrected" scores at the end of the J! Round:
$5600; $3800; $2100
Scores as displayed during FJ! and upon which the contestants based their wagers:
$4800; $3800; $2900
Does anyone have any theories as to how
Jeopardy! might have arrived at the final scores, based on the gameplay?
Sara was only awarded $7,800 for her win, but she should have been awarded $9,100. There was no correction at the beginning of the next game.
PS Yep, I've double checked every single clue in the show, the Archive accurately reflects what aired on TV, although what happened in the studio is anybody's guess.
