Arthur Chu is now afour - timeJeopardy!champion , and will return to the show in three week . ( There ’s aBattle of the Decades tournamentstarting next week that interrupts his rivulet . ) A few hr before his fourth winnings aired , I spoke with Chu to ascertain more about his polarizing strategy , what he ’s forgotten in the three month since he taped his episodes , and where his married woman Eliza keeps her meteorite .
On Preparation & the “Full-Court Press” ofJeopardy!
Higgins : What did you do to prepare for the show ?
Chu : I did a destiny to train for the show . As presently as I get the call , I ask myself , " Do I feel ready ? " And the answer was " No . " So it became , " Okay , what do I have to do to feel quick ? "
I had very little beforehand knowledge other than just look out the show . So I jumped in and started Googling . And thank goodness we live in the cyberspace age , because there ’s a surprising amount of information online aboutJeopardy!strategy . The game ’s been around for30 years now in its current version , and there are a lot of people with a lot of opinions , so I started sifting through them .
I noticed some interesting things . Everyone ’s talking about my scheme on the show , it seems , but I did n’t make anything up — I just read people ’s observations online . In 1985 , the second year of the Alex Trebek variant of the show , this guyChuck Forrestreally master by ricochet around the categories , and they call it the " Forrest Bounce . “There ’s no logical reason to do what mass normally do , which is to take one category at a time from the top down . Your only point of control in the secret plan is your ability , if you get the right solution to a question , to take the next head — and you give that force up if you make yourself predictable . The more irregular you are , the more you put your opponents off - balance , the longer you may keep an initial vantage . Multiple the great unwashed over the class have used [ the Forrest Bounce ] and yet most hoi polloi have n’t used it . When they programmed the computerWatsonto maximise its chances of winning , it did the Forrest Bounce . And it specifically did Daily threefold hunt . Watson knew that the bottom two rows of theJeopardy!board are more potential to contain Daily Doubles , and it knew that whoever gets the most Daily Doubles is the most potential to deliver the goods the game — that ’s just statistical analysis . So it was program to hunt down those Daily Doubles , and I reckon I had no reason not to do that .
Someone on Twitter said it was likeJeopardy!Sabermetrics , which I retrieve is a cute analogy . Malcolm Gladwell wrotean article about basketballa while ago , it pay off pretty famous , though it was attacked by a lot of hoops fans . I love nothing about hoops , so I do n’t know if it ’s accurate there , but I recollect it ’s accurate forJeopardy ! . He was saying that in basketball , whoever decides to originate a full - court press gains this big vantage . A full - court pressing can negate a slew of the disadvantage you might have against a team that has more athletic thespian , or the great unwashed who are just better — who have a in high spirits shooting pct . Just like that , you may contradict a lot of your disadvantages in noesis if you just use a strategy like the Forrest Bounce and the other players are n’t quick for it .
Most hoi polloi do n’t do [ the Forrest Bounce ] , for whatever reason . It ’s this matter that ’s waiting to be exploited . Whether it ’s out of a sense of sportsmanship , or a sense of tradition , or because it ’s more strenuous to do a full - motor hotel press , to be mentally bouncing around the circuit card , it ’s harder for you too — it ’s justmore hardfor the other people . If you ’re uncoerced to put in that effort , you greatly increase your chance of winning the game .
So I do believe that , whether or not the full - court press thing is on-key for basketball , the eq of doing a full - judicature press inJeopardy!is doing the Forrest Bounce and hunting for Daily Doubles . It greatly increases your hazard of winning the game if you may deplume it off , and I saw no reason not to do it .
On Flashcards & Becoming a “Jeopardy!Machine”
Chu : As far as prepare forJeopardy ! , I did await upRoger Craig , who was a passably famousJeopardy!contestant ( and a computer scientist ) , and who talked about how he developed an algorithm to scrape through theJeopardy!Archive , which is all sports fan - made , and it ’s crazy that people put this much energy and vividness into it , archiving all the clue that have run , and then figuring out which category are most potential to come up in the first rhythm of Jeopardy , which one fall up in Double Jeopardy , which ones in Final Jeopardy . I figured out what knowledge is the most valuable forJeopardy ! , and then matched that up to my own deficits in cognition , and just hyper - focussed on boning up on those specific areas of knowledge . I do n’t experience anything about computers and I ’m belike way lazier than Roger Craig , so I did n’t do it with his numerical preciseness , but I did count up , okay , these thing are always onJeopardy!Of these things that are always onJeopardy ! , these are the comfortable to remember . You be intimate , it ’s not everything . There ’s a certain bias , there ’s a ethnical bias to what they put inJeopardy ! . US Presidents are very of import . State Nicknames , which are a affair that nobody has any practical reason to know , but they keep work back to that to generate cue .
There are a few specific composers they want [ you ] to hump . If they advert " a Norwegian composer”—this happened in a game , I recall the Wednesday secret plan — it will be Edvard Grieg . That ’s the method they use to pen the clue . If they observe a " Polish Nobel Prize Winner , " it ’s likely to be Marie Curie . If they mention a " Female Nobel Prize Winner , " it’sverylikely to be Marie Curie . Jeopardy!is aimed at the form of average TV looker , so they ’re not croak to ask things that are pointlessly dark , they ’re not going to go in - astuteness on any special subject , they ’re go to focus on these cultural criterion that we all know . And if you watch the show , and you may identify those , you may literally make flashcards .
So I used a platform calledAnkiwhich uses a method call " space repeating . " It keep track of where you ’re doing well or badly , and tug you to study the flashcards you do n’t know as well , until you develop an even cognition base about a particular case , and I just made flashcard for those specific thing . I memorized all the worldly concern capitals , it was n’t that hard once I had the flashcards and was using them every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . I memorized the US State Nicknames ( they ’re on Wikipedia ) , memorized the basic important facts about the 44 US Presidents . I really focalize on those . But there ’s a lot more stuff to know . I go onJeopardy!knowing that there was hooey I did n’t know . For instance , everyone laughs about sports — but I also bang that [ sports clues ] were the least likely to come up in threefold Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy and be very important . So I decide I should n’t sweat it too much , I should just recognize that I did n’t know them and let that go , as long as I can get the high economic value clues .
So that was how I prepare . I spent a lot of time watchingJeopardy ! , we actually aim TV , so I could watchJeopardy ! . We got an over - the - strain antenna , which we did n’t have before — we were watching everything on the Internet . But as everyone complains , there ’s no room to watchJeopardy!legally on the Internet . I did watch a stack of YouTubeJeopardy!episodes as well , a lot of the quondam Graeco-Roman 1 . I pass a portion of time on theJeopardy!Archive , I spent a lot of time scupper on theJeopardy!boards . I did n’t sign up or register an account until after the show air out , because I did n’t want any accusation of jockey or nonplus supporter from other multitude . I just kind of live and breathed that , studying those flashcards , watching the game , and telling myself , " This person ’s doing something right , this person ’s doing something wrong , this is what I would ’ve done in that individual ’s shoes , " and just get in that head space . For a month , that was my life . So when I flew out , it was almost like a relief . I was like , " Whether or not I win or misplace , this part of my life story ’s gon na be over and I can go back to being a normal person again . But for now I ’m going to be aJeopardy!Machine . "
Other people like Ken Jennings said he did n’t haunt over it that much — he likely is more naturally gifted at it . But I told myself , I do n’t feel like I have the innate natural endowment to do really well onJeopardy ! , but I feel like I canmakemyself winJeopardy ! , if I get really hyper - focused on the highest - leveraging affair that I can do to make myself a good player .
Getting on the Show, Quiz Bowl, andmental_floss
Higgins : So that ’s after you love you were go to be on the show . So how long did you seek to get on the show ? What was the mental process there ?
Chu : There ’s anonline test every January . Once you ’ve been told you ’ve been put in the contestant pool , you appease in that pool for a year and a half . So I take the test , I got call back for an in - somebody audition , and was told I was run to be in the contestant consortium , and that was for a year and a one-half . And I was n’t call . So the next year I auditioned again , and that prison term Iwascalled . But all that hap is you take the on-line mental testing ; if you pass , you get an email asking you to come out for one 24-hour interval for an in - person audition where they just get a room full of citizenry . They make you take a pen trial , and they make you play a mock game just to make trusted that you ’re not insane , that they can put you on television safely . And after that , it ’s like , " We ’ll keep you on Indian file and call you . " Most multitude , I conceive , never get wind back .
That ’s actually the thing — I was kicking myself , I could ’ve been preparing for a full year ! Nobody has more than maybe a 10 % prospect of being called just because they ’re in the contestant pool . So it would ’ve been crazy [ to prepare for a full year ] . The only prison term I started actively train was in that one calendar month after I got the call and fuck I would be in the show . I was driving myself crazy over that , I was like , " If only I ’d known , if only I ’d prepare , " but only a mad person would prepare to be on a game show when they do n’t even know if they ’re cash in one’s chips to be prognosticate .
Higgins : Were you on the quiz squad in high shoal or college , or anything like that ?
Chu : I was inQuiz Bowlin college , yeah . Swarthmore College . I was on the same squad as the legendaryChris White . I do n’t know if he ’s actually legendary ; Quiz Bowl ’s this kind of special environs . He was fabled among the great unwashed who knew about Quiz Bowl . I have a spate of fun Quiz Bowl story , most of them are kind of sticky . I was never a A-one - strong player in Quiz Bowl . Academically , the standard for Quiz Bowl are a slew high than inJeopardy!.But I did have a very aggressive style of play that sometimes got me in worry in Quiz Bowl , but which I call back has dish up me well inJeopardy!so far .
Higgins : So on Twitter you affirm that you actually did n’t readmental_floss , and guess on that question . First off , good guess ! Second , do you learn mental_floss now ? you could totally say no .
On Wagering Strategy & Cliff Clavin
Higgins : I suppose this has been talked to death , but I know that you looked at the wagering possibility poppycock before you make for . Is it bonny to say that you conk into the secret plan knowing , " If I get to FinalJeopardy ! , and I ’m in a good position , this is how I ’ll count ? " You already know that ?
Chu : Yeah , I had drilled that into myself . I actually invest a written play . I ’m not a sport guy wire , but yeah , it ’s a scripted play . Because I tell myself the infrangible bad thing would be topull a Cliff Clavin , [ I did n’t want to think , ] " I know I ’m gon na get this , " and then lose when I did n’t have to . If I ’m gon na miss , then I ’m go to lose because I ’m push into losing , not because of a stupid determination I made . So I ’m run to outsource that [ wagering ] decision completely , I ’m going to make that mechanical .
And Alex will kind of represent with you , I think you ’ve noticed , he attempt to get people to do exciting thing . But I tell myself , " Do n’t be tempted to switch your strategy around . give to maximise your chance of winning the game — that ’s the most important affair , because that ’s existent money you ’re playing for . "
Higgins : Just mechanically , I know you have the commercial-grade break to do your arithmetical and make your bet . Roughly how much time is it , is that actually three minutes or something ? You ’re sitting there looking at the scores and doing your math ?
Chu : An sequence ofJeopardy!generally films in about the same time it takes to watch it . It ’s a very efficient show , the " commercial break " are about as long as the commercial message really go . Now in theory , they do n’t have a time limit point — and the contestant people tell you you could take as long as you need to compose down your stake . But obviously , they do n’t want to keep everyone sit there for a long term , so eventually someone will come over and start hovering and saying " Ahem . " They do n’t force you one way or the other , that ’s an honorable standards thing , but they can countenance you know that they ’d prefer you be done .
So I cogitate that was a psychological vantage . Because I had this scripted play , I was n’t making the bighearted decisions , I was just doing the math . I knew what the play was conjecture to be . I just had to do the math and then I would write down the wager and be done with it . Other the great unwashed were still making the determination . I guess a lot of times , it made multitude believe I was more confident in the class than I was . Because I was really not considering the category , I was just consider that this is the strategy I said I would habituate disregardless of the class , but it psychs multitude out when they ’re agonizing over something and they see someone just write down a number and be done with it .
Part of it was , I come off on the show as a little minute robotic . [ Laughs ] But I was on the show , and I had practise everything , I had practice everything , I was going to play the biz to make headway — I was n’t feeling affair out the way some other hoi polloi were , and I opine that psyched some citizenry out , and I suppose it pisses some people who watch the show off , for which I apologize , but I ’m playing for money up there , you jazz ?
On Playing the Part of aJeopardy!Player
Higgins : go into your first game , what was your sentiment process ? Take me through that minute .
Chu : The moment when the secret plan actually start ?
Higgins : Yeah , how scarey is that ?
Chu : It was an adrenaline rush , I wo n’t lie . I follow so muchJeopardy!before then , I could hear the theme birdcall in my head . But to in reality believe it was happening was so surreal to me . To keep myself from freaking out , and because I ’ve act as in theater before , I say to myself , " I ’m playing theroleof aJeopardy!contestant , and this is a TV show aboutJeopardy ! . We ’re going to pretend to playJeopardy!now . But this is n’t real . I ’m act the role of aJeopardy!contestant and there ’s a guy playing Alex Trebek , and as an thespian I have to portray the persona of somebody who is confident and on their game , and fake that . “I reckon , oh , I can wangle that because I ’m an thespian . So that was what kept me from losing it , but it also meant that , to an extent , I was take in this persona that I ’d built up in my head . Like , aJeopardy!champion would n’t freak out , aJeopardy!champion would n’t hesitate . AJeopardy!champion would grit their teeth and lean in , be tiptop - focused and engaged , and so that ’s the version of me that multitude are seeing on TV .
But I had to suppress a lot of emotion in rules of order to be able-bodied to represent the game , as the biz actually started .
Also , the atmosphere in there is really dry . So every time I walked to that podium I get a unchanging jar . I just severalize myself that was a ripe luck thing .
On Forgetting
Higgins : You taped the appearances in , I recollect , November . In the time between tape and airing , how much did you leave — that when you ’re watching TV , you remember , oh , that ’s a affair that bump ?
Chu : passably much everything . If you surprise me today and told me I had to playJeopardy ! , I would bomb out . I have to admit , it was a cram style of learning , and once I was done , I was like , " I do n’t even desire to think about this crap anymore , " so most of the knowledge has flown justly out of my fountainhead . I [ watch the show and think ] , " How did I know that ? I must have study that at some point , but I do n’t recall it . "
I retrieve the basic outline of how the games fit , patently , because I retrieve how much money I made , because that was very important . [ Laughs ]
I did forget a quite a little about the little item . The things that people find when they watch the show are things that I was n’t call back about at all . Like my press — I stuffed whatever clothes I could into a suitcase that equip the minimum acceptable touchstone . [ I call up , ] " I ca n’t think about what I ’m gon na wear , they said land a shirt and sleeper , so I ’ll contribute a shirt and tie-in ! "
The [ contestant ] story , that was the least important affair for me . I was like , " Okay , I have to have some stories . I ’ll just write down some things that sound like they ’ll make good television receiver , " but I did n’t really practice that . So now I catch myself , and I think , " Oh , I look so inapt . " bad of all , I ’m presenting myself as an actor , and yet I did not design for how to face myself charismatically and deliver these great , moving language about my life or whatever . And I ’m just mumbling because I ’m actually think about what just happen in the game . I was think , " Why does this have to happen in the eye of the biz ? You ’re disturb my stream of consciousness!“Literally , I do n’t remember the other objector ' report . I ’ll hold myself by saying they tell us to do this!It makes me voice like a douche , but they told us to do this — that when the other contestant were talking , I was bet at the table and thinking about the plot . So this feel like the first time I ’ve really heard these stories . It ’s like , " Oh yeah , she teaches French , cool , I did n’t remember that she did that . Oh yeah , he ’s a fraud investigator , I remember that about him . "
WhatJeopardy!Champions Do All Day
Higgins : On the day when these show have been ventilate , what have you been doing ? Are you just going to work as usual ?
Chu : Yeah , going to work , come back home . in reality mightily now I’min a playatActors Summit Theaterin Akron . And I am missing the livetweet , I missed the livetweet on Thursday dark , and I have a [ house ] show again tonight [ Friday ] , that ’s why I ’m twirp on Pacific clip at 10:30 instead of 7:30 . It is , in reality , really weird . It ’s like I subsist in a dissimilar world now than last week . Last workweek the grownup thing that I was doing was that I was in the [ theater ] show . This workweek , when I come to the show , everyone wants to talk aboutJeopardy ! , but the show must go on .
I ’m try on not to let it take over my life , but my phone just keeps blowing up with tweet and retweets and it ’s hard not to read them . I have n’t made any architectural plan or anything , about , like , gosh , now I have a bunch of Twitter follower , what do I do with this interview ? The whole thing was , " Hey , even if I drop off , at least I ’ll have been on idiot box and tell I ’m a voiceover artist and gotten some sort of work from that , so here ’s hoping . "
Higgins : Have you gotten any voiceover pass yet from being on the show ?
Chu : I’ve had a few people call me , I ’ve had a few people find my website and say they want my information . Nothing in term of actual work yet , but some stuff that ’s promising . Some hooey that ’s local , most of this attending is still local , it ’s Cleveland people who ’re get excited about it . A lot of people who readErfworldare really excited about it , that ’s the web comedian that I do voices for . It ’s a small task , but it ’s a geek niche audience and a lot of people read it .
On theJeopardy!-verse
Higgins : Until yesterday , I was n’t aware of how intense theJeopardy!blogging and tweeting and hooey was . The last time I was really engaged in the show was when Watson was on , and before that , Ken Jennings . To what extent do you abide by this onlineJeopardy!-verse ?
Chu : In the month that I was studying , I follow it pretty intensely . I watchedJeopardy ! . I madeJeopardy!a can’t - miss appointment , and I say the blog , and I read the board religiously , because I was like , " This is where my head has to be . " Afterwards , I did n’t even desire to think about it and I dropped it . I did n’t even watchJeopardy!except occasionally , because I want to get back to doing other things that I completely countenance go during that calendar month .
So I was somewhat out of the grummet when the shows started airing , but obviously I did want to know what masses were saying . Eliza , my wife , was much more active on Twitter than I was , and she start seeing all these tweets come up , and she depart retweeting them , because they were screaming . I was just floored — I was like , " Oh my God , the great unwashed have strong opinions about me ! " I do n’t fuck if it was actually a conscious decision , butthere was a tipping point when I realized I had two choices : I could either go into my eggshell and not acknowledge this , and wait for it to blow over it ; or I could engage it , and milk it , andjump into the eye of the storm . And before I knew it , I was jumping into the eye of the storm . I do n’t regret it . At the very least it ’s been screaming .
On the Money
Higgins : You’ve won something like $ 82,000 as of last Nox [ this name has since increase ] . Do you gestate the money to substantially change how you live your life-time ?
Chu : The way that I live my life , no . If I did , I ’d in all likelihood be making a bad decision . You might have notice that people say I ’m aggressive . I’m aggressive , but also very conservative onJeopardy!When I had the confidential information , that was the important thing . I ’d think , " All I ’m plump to do is protect this lead . I ’m not going to take any unneeded risks . " I ’m that sort of person in veridical life too .
So , yeah , $ 82,000 is a peck of money , but is it enough money that you’re able to retire ? Of course not . Is it enough money to guarantee you security department for more than a year or so ? No . So it ’s money that takes a lot of insistency off me , but I ’m not going to make any freehanded purchase .
I think the bountiful matter that money grease one’s palms you is security and peace of mind , and my wife feels the same elbow room . She always wanted to be a writer , this was her passion , but she could n’t make herself do it , because even with money in the bank building , how can you quit a line and take the air away from it — and not hump if you ’re able to make out back , if you endeavor to spell and it does n’t pan out ? The more money we have in the camber , the more clock time she has to cipher out what she wants to do with her life sentence and how to manage her impairment . So for me , that ’s very authoritative . It ’s lead to exchange myoutlookon life history because I ’m not going to change the fashion Ilivemy life . I can keep doing what I do now . I like my caper , I like the way my life history is lay up , and now I know that if something happens , I do n’t have to vex , because I have money in the bank . To me , that ’s worth manner more than corrupt a sauceboat , or going on some outgo fling that ’s go to make me happy for six months .
I will say this now : It ’s very important to me to give some of that money back . I will not complain about paying taxes on it , and I will give a big chunk of it to causes I think in . How often do you get a chance to actually make a divergence with something like that ? So I did stand for it when I said the fibromyalgia thing [ on Thursday ] .
On Reactions from Twitter
Higgins : What ’s the craziest thing someone has tweeted at you ?
Chu : There was actually someone who said thatJeopardy!“used to be a gentleman ’s game and you ’ve ruined it . " I think that ’s why my admirer created that"Are You Not Entertained?!“meme . If you do n’t desire [ my playing elan ] to be legal , make it against the rules . Otherwise , for God ’s sake , I ’m the one gladiating — I’m the one fighting for my life out there , and you think the path I do it is n’t entertaining?“Are you not entertained ? Is this not what you came here to see ? "
Higgins : What ’s the nicest thing someone has tweeted at you ?
Chu : I feel kind of bad becausepeople saw my betting to tie as a humanitarian gesture , someone say , " Your stake onJeopardy!restored my faith in humans . “[Read more about the strategy . ] There was someone else who said , " This is everything that ’s wrong with the Millennial Generation , everyone gets a booty . " Wow , okay .
But yeah [ laughs ] , citizenry have been call me King Arthur . “I would follow this mankind through the gate of Hell!“I favorited that one .
Higgins : So where do you keep the meteorite ?
Chu : Oh , it ’s not that big , it ’s about the size of the palm of your deal , so it ’s actually on a small stall on Eliza ’s bookshelf . And her bookshelves are her most prized possessions . She has this enormous playscript collection , I think it outweighs our other possessions . It surely felt like it the last sentence we move . It ’s sustain pridefulness of plaza , right under the lightsaber I got her when I proposed to her , but that ’s a whole other story .
Higgins : We really appreciate your metre . Got anything to promote ?
Chu : You know , the thing I chiefly need to do is voiceover and performance . I ’m not a Hollywood pro , but I would like masses to check out myYouTube channel , watch out the stuff I ’ve done forErfworld , learn out myvoiceover site , and I hope , if not toextendmy 15 minutes of celebrity , at least to leverage it into steady work doing clobber that I ’ve been dreaming of for a while .
