‘Jeopardy!’: Is Drew Basile the Most Polarizing Player Ever?
Survivor alum Drew Basile continues to dominate the Alex Trebek Stage as he became a six-day Jeopardy! champion on Wednesday night (June 26), but his gameplay style and emotional reactions are dividing fan reaction.
After ending the 15-game streak of Adriana Harmeyer last week, Basile has started to rack up an impressive run of his own, clinching his sixth win in a row on Wednesday. However, some viewers think he is “arrogant” and doesn’t show enough humility, especially when it comes to congratulating his opponents.
“There’s a difference between healthy self-confidence and egocentrism. He lost me when didn’t even shake the hand of the man with whom he tied in Final. An air of real narcissism,” wrote one commenter on the Jeopardy! Instagram page.
“A sore winner,” said another, referencing how Basile often pumps his first or claps for himself when he gets an answer right or wins an episode.
“He is so full of himself. You don’t clap for yourself and make it look like your padding [sic] yourself on the back every time he wins,” added another.
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Basile will surely take the criticism in his stride, as he faced similar comments last year when he competed on Survivor 45. During his time on the long-running CBS reality series, Basile was part of the dominant Reba 4 alliance, which controlled most of the game. His overconfidence led to him being blindsided by his own allies when they voted him out at the final six.
However, not everyone is a Basile hater, as some Jeopardy! fans jumped to his defense.
“Maybe it’s the Survivor fan in me, but I find Drew absolutely fantastic to watch on my screen,” wrote one viewer on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum. “He’s young, excited, energetic, and should absolutely celebrate winning a life changing amount of money and doing fantastic on a game show.”
“Absolutely! I’m a big fan of Drew,” replied one commenter. “Him getting excited or showing emotion just adds to the excitement of the game. Jeopardy is a competition after all, it’s fun to see people show some excitement and you see how invested they are”
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“I like him. I’m usually not someone who likes over- excited, but I think he’s like nerd next door where his emotions are genuine and of a competitive nature,” added another.
Another fan addressed Basile’s over-enthusiastic celebrations, explaining, “It’s like the same mentality traditionalists have regarding the bat flip in baseball or Tiger’s fist pump in golf. If you do more than Adriana’s slight head nod, when she would get her responses correct, you are a maniac and poor sport. Drew’s just a typical nerd, maybe not as self aware as he should be, but certainly not deserving of hate.”
Still, others weren’t convinced, with one fan writing, “I’m in the opposite camp. I find his mannerisms out-of-step with Jeopardy‘s usual buttoned-downed form of sportsmanship. He first came across as a not-likeable frat-boy type with a bit of good luck.”
Another added, “I truly respect his knowledge and competitiveness. That said, he’s one of the first contestants from the age of social media, and he really acts like it. The irrationality of the rage I feel when he squints then looks around, right to left, at no-one and nothing in particular, in a really affected Instagram pose manner – I don’t know where that rage comes from but it is real.”
Fortunately for Basile, he has the backing of his fellow Survivor stars, including host Jeff Probst. Many former Survivor castaways jumped in the Jeopardy! Instagram comments to congratulate Basile on his success.
“WOOHOOO!!!!!! I am so proud of you @drewbasile45 Let’s gooooo!!!! My @survivorcbs Final 6 bestie for life!!!” wrote Survivor 44 contestant Jaime Lynn Ruiz.
Meanwhile, Basile’s fellow Survivor 45 castaway Katurah Topps wrote, “Wow, i never realized while playing #Survivor that the tall guy who would wake up in the middle of the night offering to solve math problems would end up in the jeopardy TOC!”
“THAT’S MY CHAMP RIGHT THERE,” added Survivor 45 contestant Brando Meyer.
Tune into Jeopardy! tonight to see if Basile can keep his streak going.
What do you think of Basile? Are you a fan? Let us know in the comments below.
Jeopardy!, Weeknights, check local listings
Conversation18 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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R
Get a life people! Just enjoy the competition and appreciate those whose knowledge and ability to draw from it in an instant makes them successful under pressure. Mannerisms are irrelevant.
10 4
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R
Oh, please. We can express our thoughts and opinions about contestants if we want to. Get out of here with your virtue signaling.
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R
Impressed by his knowledge, but can’t wait until he is defeated.
6 2
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R
Seriously does every motion or blink need To be scrutinized! He’s a smart guy and he makes me smile! Continue on Drew. Be enthusiastic about it! You are killing it and making the game exciting !!
7 4
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R
The arrogant beanpole is finally gone 🙂
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R
Do you think he could be on the Autism spectrum. Acts like it sometimes.
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R
You know what would be interesting? For this site to one time feature an article that talks about a popular Jeopardy champion, how much people enjoy them and want-... yeah, that'll never happen. First, because no one would click it, and second because, I've come to accept, Jeopardy fans are the biggest complainers who like to hear themselves talk (and sometimes I'm one of those, too) of any show on television. Clearly, no one is good enough for every portion of the viewers. They're either too smart, or not smart enough. Too boring, or maybe too emotional. They talk too much, or don't talk enough. Are phonies who thank everyone only because it makes them look good, or egotistic jerks who only think of themselves. When did this show go from being a quiz show built around people with some knowledge about a lot of subjects to a dating app where people rush to swipe left every show because they saw a pimple on the chin of whomever happens to be champion that night?
3 2
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R
he's kind of a dooche bag unfortunately
8 7
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R
I think there is a rule that every single day, TVINSIDER has decided they must have a "Jeopardy" story and so this is today's story.
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E
Yeah, exactly. Polarizing? Definitely. But most polarizing? Not even close. People have very strong opinions about contestants, and no qualms about shouting them to the rooftops.
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R
I am really enjoying him on the show. Most of the contestants have been so boring with no personality lately. This is the first tme in a long time I have been looking forward to watch everyday.
4 4
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R
He’s young, he’s energetic, he’s psyched. What’s wrong with that? By the way, I never saw Adriana congratulate or acknowledge any of her opponents.
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R
He's very young and he's happy and excited to be winning. He doesn't bother me at all. Need more tolerance in this world!
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R
Have you seen how football and soccer players react after scoring? Drew isn’t doing anything different than they are in his sport. He is the new young Jeopardy player.
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R
Jeopardy has turned into the brown stuff you see in the toilet bowl
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R
Too much self- congratularltions are too much. I won't be watching Jeo]ardy until Mr. Brasile loses.
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R
Oh, it's too soon to quit yet. Give it at least this week. I watched Ken for way too long and then I still had to wait for a few months till he was gone. I don't mean he was obnoxious to watch. I was just maddened by watching him knock down people who were surely deserving of a chance, at least - day after day, and this was just shortly after they had eliminated the 5-game limit. It's been a different Jeopardy world since then.
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R
I love him! Loved him on Survivor.
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