In the world of Jeopardy!, dominant superchamps like Amodio are known as buzz saws, and they are a source of immense dread and anxiety among contestants who are getting ready for their day on the stage. With Holzhauer’s total of 32 wins now in reach, he is quickly emerging as a candidate to anchor the show during the most tumultuous period in its 57-year history-an anchor who just so happens to have lights-out buzzer timing and the sort of trivia knowledge that makes his fellow contestants shake their heads in amazement. Throughout all of it, though, Amodio has quietly carried on winning. But recent turmoil-beginning with last season’s raucous guest rotation and culminating in Richards’s stepping down last month just nine days after being named the new permanent host-has kept the spotlight thoroughly on the other side of the stage. Longtime host Alex Trebek was fond of saying that the show’s contestants, not its host, were the program’s stars. He’s also tacked on two more hosts: Mike Richards and, beginning Monday, Mayim Bialik. He now stands at 23 wins and $825,801, a streak and regular-season total that are good for third place in show history, behind just Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer. He closed out Jeopardy!’s 37th season last month as an 18-time champion, then last week kicked off Season 38 by blazing through five straight eye-popping runaway victories. Then it was David Faber and five more wins, then Joe Buck, and, well, you get the picture. He came back to find LeVar Burton at the lectern, and won five more games. This spring, Amodio, 30, walked into the Jeopardy! studio, where Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts was taking a turn as the show’s guest host. “It’s a miracle that anybody ever wins multiple games,” he says. If you would like Matt Amodio to tell you the secret to winning on Jeopardy!-or, better yet, the secret to winning more than $800,000 and a vaunted place in the quiz show’s record books-he is sorry to say that he can’t be of much help.
0 kommentar(er)
