Jeopardy!
is one of the longest-running and most beloved game shows in television
history. One major draw is that fans love playing along at home, testing their
knowledge on a variety of different topics from history to pop culture.
Of course, armchair Jeopardy! contestants don’t have as
much at stake as the people who make it onto the show, and they don’t have
as much pressure to perform well. Statistically, certain topics are easier to
get right compared to the hardest topics that almost no
one can master.
And then there’s one topic that Alex Trebek had to dumb down
because literally no one could get a single answer correct.
RELATED: A ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Awkwardly Broke 1 of Alex Trebek’s Unwritten Rules
Jeopardy! has a unique format compared to other game shows
Instead of trying to guess the answer on Jeopardy!, contestants attempt to guess the question. This takes a bit of getting used to and forces show participants to rethink their approach to trivia facts.
Only smart
people make it onto the show but being the most well-read person in the
room isn’t a guarantee of success. Jeopardy! contestants also must be able
to think — and press the buzzer — quickly, plus they need the element of luck
on their side. The categories change with each episode and while they seem to
be getting easier over the decades, it’s still a difficult game.
Notoriously difficult ‘Jeopardy!’ categories
The format for Jeopardy! has remained the same over
the years, but categories shift with the changing interests of the audience.
Still, writers for the show know they can’t make it too easy to win, which is
why they include clues from the most challenging categories, according to Reader’s
Digest.
The hardest categories include Canadian Cities (which Canadian
host Trebek must appreciate), National Marine Sanctuaries, Foo Fighters (about
the band), States That Flow Together (“Each correct response will be two
states. The last letter of one state will be the first letter of the adjoining
state”), The Roosevelts, Classical Music, Video Games, Movie Title Math, and
Journalism Clichés.
Still, the difficulty of the category depends on the specific knowledge of the contestants. English majors might have dominated the journalism clichés category while a classical music scholar could have easily gotten all the clues in that domain.
The hardest category on Jeopardy!
The most difficult category on the show had to do with football
trivia. During one episode of the show, no contestant was able to get a single
answer correct until finally only the $1,000 clue, the most difficult, was left
on the board.
Longtime host Trebek made a joke out of the whole thing. “Let’s look at the $1,000 clue just for the fun of it,” he quipped. “If you guys ring in and get this one…I will die.”
The next time “Football” appeared as a category, Trebek made
it easier for contestants so he wouldn’t have another awkward situation. “Now,
last year, we had some difficulty with the football category,” he said. “So, we
thought we would try it again, but in this category it deals entirely with
referees’ signals. And I’m going to be giving you three players the signals.
OK?”
He then proceeded to act out the signals to help contestants get the right answer. It worked.
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