NEW YORK (AP) — "Jeopardy!" champ Arthur Chu, who won big money while taking heat for his
renegade style, has been defeated.
Chu
finished in third place with zero dollars on Wednesday’s edition of the
syndicated quiz show. He had reigned for 12 days. His total winnings
were $297,200.
"A great run," summed up host Alex Trebek.
Chu was unseated by Diana Peloquin of Ann Arbor, Mich., who led for the day with $15,700.
Chu
had struggled for much of the show when, in Final Jeopardy, he risked,
and lost, his entire day’s bankroll — $6,400 — on the question: "He was
the last male monarch who had not previously been Prince of Wales."
Only Peloquin had the correct response: George VI.
The
30-year-old Chu, a resident of Broadview Heights, Ohio, has described
himself on Twitter as "mad genius, comedian, actor and freelance
voiceover artist."
He applied a "mad genius" approach to
"Jeopardy!" brinkmanship. He ditched the time-honored practice of
polishing off each category’s questions one by one. Instead, he took a
hopscotch approach to his category choices, which tended to keep his
opponents off-kilter.
He also concluded that the bottom rows of
the game board are most likely to contain the hidden Daily Doubles, and
he played accordingly.
Chu’s strategy fueled indignation from
"Jeopardy!" traditionalists, who contended that such an aggressive style
was somehow unsportsmanlike and exhibited a lack of respect for the
game.
Chu "rejected the unwritten rule that the guy or gal with
the most facts wins," said "On the Media" host Brooke Gladstone on an
episode of the public radio show last month, "and replaced it with the
appalling idea that you can outwit your opponent with the wily
application of game theory."
It was a style much different from
that of legendary know-it-all Ken Jennings, who a decade ago set a
"Jeopardy!" record with 74 consecutive victories while winning $2.5
million.
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www.jeopardy.com
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