New ‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Jake DeArruda Compares Ken Jennings & Mayim Bialik, Explains How He Beat Troy Meyer
Current Jeopardy! champion Jake DeArruda is opening up about his experience on the show and how he knocked off super-champ Troy Meyer in last Friday’s (January 27) game.
DeArruda, a delivery dispatcher from Ludlow, Vermont, shocked viewers on Friday’s episode when he beat fan favorite Meyer, who had amassed $214,802 during a seemingly unstoppable six-game winning streak. In a series of blog posts, DeArruda shared his thoughts on the game, along with his views on the show’s hosts and past players.
Upon arriving at the studio for his pre-game prep, DeArruda said he found out the name of the current champion, Troy Meyer. He admitted that his “eyes widened” as he recognized the name from the rankings of the World Quizzing Championships and other online trivia games.
“Long story short, Troy is a far superior pure trivia player than Cris Pannullo,” DeArruda said, referencing the reigning champion on the broadcast episodes at the time. “He’s the top player on LearnedLeague – a league with hundreds of the best past, present, and future trivia champions, and has won the league multiple times. ”
He wondered if playing Meyer would be worse than playing Pannullo, who had won 21 games in a row. “Probably not, actually, as Troy has less buzzer experience, from multiple weeks prior (this was the first tape day since before Thanksgiving) and had yet to go through the grind of playing five games in a day yet.” (Meyer had won just two games when DeArruda first arrived on set).
DeArruda also said he and the other contestants were told who their host would be, stating that “everyone collectively cheered when Ken Jennings was announced as our host for the tape week.”
While he said he didn’t want to get into the whole “hosting debacle,” he confessed to having prepared by watching Mayim Bialik hosted episodes to learn her cadence so that he could better manage his buzzer.
“It’s obvious to close watchers that she mispronounces words, blows through punctuation, and is genuinely inconsistent in her pacing,” DeArruda explained. “Ken, meanwhile, has been in trivia for most of his life, so he knows the proper words to emphasize and generally seems consistent with his pacing. This is important for buzzer timing purposes.”
However, it wasn’t just the buzzer technique that helped DeArruda beat Meyer; he also got lucky with some of the categories.
“Do you ever hear about how much luck is needed to win? Before I flew out, my dad joked about how I should hope to hit a Cliff Clavin board and we determined what would be on mine. Sports, world capitals, country music, Taylor Swift early album cuts, something like that,” he wrote.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted at my luck. There are five clues about COUNTRY SONGS staring at me in the most important 20 minutes of my life.”
As for the Final Jeopardy, DeArruda thought he had lost when a category about World Cinema came up. He was certain Meyer would know the correct answer. “All scenarios where Troy can win the game hedge on him being correct,” DeArruda said. “And he wasn’t.”
“It honestly took me a minute to register that he had been wrong… Otherwise, I would have had a hard time keeping my poker face, knowing I had the game won given that Troy, as I predicted, bet everything.”
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Conversation39 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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G
I can't stand the way he talks and answers questions. Very annoying.
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O
I agree! I hope he doesn't stick around.
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LouLou
I think he may be on the autism spectrum.
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G
I so agree with you. He comes across as a big jerk and cannot believe he has many friends.
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G
I agree. I love watching Jeopardy, but this guy is annoying, quirky. I don’t want to see much of him.
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B
I agree wholeheartedly. Hate to be judgy, but it's super distracting. He would make a good match with Matea, though.
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A
Out of Ken and Mayim, I have to admit, I usually prefer Ken.
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P
Who asked?
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O
This article contains a contestant's critique of one of the show's hosts. It's not like Antonio's comment came out of left field.
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G
I think they are both good.
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K
You may think that. But I know that Ken is better. MUCH better.
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P
I really liked Buzzy Cohen.
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O
Looks like Jake removed the bulk of the criticism on his blog, perhaps out of pressure from the producers or others. He described Mayim's hosting as "inexperienced" and "inconsistent", slamming her mispronunciations and lack of preparation while noting the importance of developing a buzzer timing based on the host's speaking cadence. The contestants for that tape day even cheered as Ken was announced as the host for the session. Jake's observations are ones that hardcore fans and longtime prospective contestants have been aware of all along, but the executives insist on Mayim for God-knows-whatever reason. I'll leave that speculation to more enlightened minds.
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B
This is my main criticism about how this whole situation was handled. The executives cared more about who they wanted to see in the position rather than who is best suited to help the contestants succeed. It’s tough to have a presentable product if you have players who are not in a position to do as well.
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P
Except it's....not true? One of the Second Chance contestants who played under Ken & Mayim said on reddit that Ken had to retape more readings of clues because of his mispronunciations? And just yesterday Ken mispronounced "intraprovince" saying the "tr" like the french do without an aitch. And it was Mayim that had the history of hosting, or "presenting", prior to Jeopardy, not Ken.
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R
Ken Jennings is the GOAT of Jeopardy. He should be the only host….period!
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O
He is horrible to watch. He mimics the young ladyfrom Canada, big winner. Name???
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G
I hope he loses soon because he is not fun to watch.
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O
My thought from day one, he needs to lose before he he gets into the TOC.
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R
Mattea Roach
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O
Jeopardy’s head writer is Billy Wisse. Google his mother and learn her background, then you’ll find out why Sony chose one of the hosts that they did.
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B
Suddenly everything just clicked.
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P
My take on Jake. This guy is hard to take. Yes he is smart. I know it's not nice to mock someone for their manyourisoms but he had no problem criticizing Mayim's hosting .So Jake I hope you loose soon.I to like Ken .I'm not crazy about all these actors taking these hosting jobs.The only one I really love is Leah Remini. She is so good what a hoot she is.
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C
I AGREEEEEE so much about Leah Remini on People Puzzler! She is absolutely AWESOME and they all love her and seem to have a great time! She's REAL, and they don't force the contestants to act like fools. They have actual fun.
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J
A league with trivia 'champions'? Next thing you know, Jeopardy is going to have to start enforcing rules to weed out 'trivia professionals.' 😂😂
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B
Gosh, am I that naive? Here I've always thought that Jeopardy! was, basically, any person's game to have a chance to win. But, there are pros and semi-pros?! ["Take the test any time, anywhere" maybe takes the serendipity out of it.]
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R
I guess it is unfair to throw stones at those who act and react naturally in the the heat of the moment, in situations that I will never experience, but this guy is as hard to take as Mattea was. Ready for him to be gone.
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R
He is arrogant. He will not have much of a following with the attitude. I will not watch it as long as he is on. I record it and check each day and then on the day he loses, and one day he will, then I will watch how arrogant he is that day. Then to slam Mayim like that - I want to say to him "you are a drop in a big pond, but people have known her for years and years. You will be forgotten. People who watch Jeopardy support the humble ones, not the arrogant ones.
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R
Not arrogant, I’m pretty sure. On the autistic spectrum, I think.
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G
He doesn't come off as a jerk at all to me. He's a little different for sure.
Have to agree with him that Ken is the better choice for host. He knows the game inside and out.
Good luck to him!
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P
He is beyond annoying! His reactions and mannerisms are immature and l dont recall anyone laying down on the desk with their elbows...hope we dont have to see him too much longer!
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N
I can get passed Jake's facial expressions even if I look away from time to time. He's a bit too critical and errogant for my taste.
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P
I agree. He contorts his face makes horrible movements. He's very difficult to watch.
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C
It’s it me but Jake and Mattea Roach could be brother and sister
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R
I believe he might be on the autism spectrum. I enjoy watching him. Go Jake!
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My son said Jake is autistic. I was commenting. (I’m 70) “the hands, the face! This kid is annoying.”
My son, a hiring manager with a large financial institution in Northern California said, “I’ve seen him. He’s autistic.”
“Go Jake!” That’s from the both of us.
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O
I agree that I did not like DeArruda when he was on, but if he is indeed autistic that makes a difference.
But he did say something that is true...
Regarding Mayhem Bialystock,
“It’s obvious to close watchers that she mispronounces words, blows through punctuation, and is genuinely inconsistent in her pacing,” DeArruda explained. “Ken, meanwhile, has been in trivia for most of his life, so he knows the proper words to emphasize and generally seems consistent with his pacing. This is important for buzzer timing purposes.”
100% on the nose.
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G
I enjoy watching Jake! It's refreshing to see someone willing to be themselves, not being worried about appearing different. It's really interesting to read his assessment from behind the scenes. And to be from Ludlow and a graduating class of less than 30! I believe the town has 1 stop light. Go Jake!
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G
He appears to be on the autism spectrum. GI'm sure you don't mean to be unkind, but you really should have considered the strong possibility that he is neurodivergent.
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