Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?  (Read 2647 times)

ActualRetailMike

  • Member
  • Posts: 94
A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« on: November 28, 2022, 10:43:26 PM »
This might be one of the sillier trivia questions, but I wondered about this since around age 5 with the Art Fleming version of J!  Has there ever been a "John-John" moment on the show?

You know the modus operandi of J! since day one: the host reads the answer, then calls out the name of the contestant who buzzed in first.  A "John-John" incident would be where the last word of the clue and the called-out contestant's name are one and the same.  So the name is said twice in a row.  Hypothetical example:

John Higgenbotham:  "I'll take 60's Ballads for $200"
Host:  "The answer is.. 'He recorded a tribute to the assassinated, in a hit titled Abraham, Martin, and John.'   John!"
John Higgenbotham: "Who is… Dion?"

This of course could be any name, as long as it's the same.  Now when I first thought this up a half-century ago (there was a kid who went by John-John at a day camp I went to), the concept was of a single-word answer, and THAT being the same as the name of the contestant.  One-word answers are uncommon enough as it is, so having that be the same as the contestant would be a rare event indeed.

P.S.  Be sure to catch J! on January 19th.

BrandonFG

  • Member
  • Posts: 18171
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2022, 04:23:18 PM »
I've never seen something like this, but I wonder if S&P would allow for a clue swap to avoid such a scenario? Doesn't each category contain a sixth alternate clue?
"I just wanna give a shoutout to my homies in their late-30s who are watching this on Paramount+ right now, cause they couldn't stay up late enough to watch it live!"

Now celebrating his 21st season on GSF!

bscripps

  • Member
  • Posts: 228
  • Button-Pushing Monkey
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2022, 06:05:05 PM »
I've never seen something like this, but I wonder if S&P would allow for a clue swap to avoid such a scenario? Doesn't each category contain a sixth alternate clue?
It does.  They had to pull out the sixth clue on one of my episodes; the clue required us to identify a particular style of hat, but the picture didn't appear on the monitors.  Naturally, as soon as they stopped tape, it popped right up.  But we all had to turn around for a few minutes while they loaded the replacement into the board. 

\Waste not, want not: That discarded clue showed up on another episode several months later.
Ben Scripps. Professional button-pushing monkey.

JasonA1

  • Executive Producer
  • Posts: 3001
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2022, 06:07:09 PM »
I've never seen something like this, but I wonder if S&P would allow for a clue swap to avoid such a scenario?

They would. But in my experience, if anybody noticed, they'd likely leave it alone, namely because it happened by chance. To change it would be to deny the material intended to play simply because one contestant shared a name with the end of the clue. It creates a bizarre dilemma in which you're more or less saying as a rule, for instance, I'd never see a clue about the Argonauts if I ever got a chance to play. :)

-Jason
Game Show Forum Muckety-Muck

MSTieScott

  • Executive Producer
  • Posts: 1814
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2022, 08:14:32 PM »
Exactly. The purpose of the randomization that every game show conducts is so no contestant receives any intentional advantage or disadvantage. Removing game material because the producers know that John Higgenbotham is a contestant isn't different than adding game material because the producers know that John Higgenbotham is a contestant.

And while I can't cite specific examples, and it isn't exactly the same, I feel like I've seen a scenario similar to the following play out at least once:

Host: In Aramaic, the word for "rock" is the same as the name of this apostle.
(contestants try to ring in)
Host: Peter?
Peter: Who is Peter?
Host: Correct.

ChrisLambert!

  • Member
  • Posts: 1500
  • Overthrow, Sister Havana
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2022, 09:11:21 AM »
...good luck, Mike :)
@lambertman

gromit82

  • Member
  • Posts: 82
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2022, 11:32:52 PM »
It's not exactly what you are looking for, but I saw a clue where the contestant's name was Rebecca and she correctly answered, "What is Rebecca?" (referring to the novel). It was last year, in the game here:
https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=7151

SamJ93

  • Member
  • Posts: 789
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2022, 02:46:28 AM »
Not J! admittedly, but at 4:24 here...

https://youtu.be/EFuv79nDoXg
It was Bob Barker. He was eating a bologna and cheese-ball sandwich.

TimK2003

  • Member
  • Posts: 4282
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2022, 07:08:45 PM »
Not quite, but in the vicinity:

On the lone copy of the Who What Where game that's out in the trading circut, there was a contestant named Clare  ‐‐  Throughout the entire show when the contestants postested their wagers, Art James would say, "Clare, declare".

Mr. Matté

  • Member
  • Posts: 682
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2022, 07:41:54 PM »
Dick Clark references your hypothetical situation in the below clip, but he says that they can't change a category if mentioned beforehand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXnxwRiWDK0

ActualRetailMike

  • Member
  • Posts: 94
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2023, 10:27:17 PM »
...good luck, Mike :)
Thanks Chris!  Though it's actually my wife, Hillary, who's on the show.  Just announced it on the Show Summaries board. You might catch my pinstriped cap in the studio audience, though, for this entire week.

TLEberle

  • Member
  • Posts: 15578
  • Rules Constable
Re: A "John-John" moment on Jeopardy! ?
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2023, 11:43:43 PM »
Celebrity Jeopardy’s final had a clue on I Like Ike questioned by Mr. Barinholtz, but there were also categories devoted to George Patton and Wills.
Travis L. Eberle