‘Ottawa’ What I’m Watching: Real-life Jeopardy Much More than a Game
THE SHOW: Jeopardy, December 20, 2016
THE MOMENT: The sixth win
You could feel North America holding its breath. Cindy Stowell, who died from colon cancer on Dec. 5, was still alive on Jeopardy, after winning five games in a row. (She taped her games in August. The producers and host Alex Trebek knew of her condition; her opponents didn’t.)
But here in the sixth game, things are looking dire for the tiny, soft-spoken science content developer with the chic pixie haircut. She enters the final Jeopardy round well behind opponent Julia Kite.
The question is insanely specific: “If this U.S. state was a country, it would have been in the top 10 in gold medals with 14 — 9 of them by one man and one woman.”
Cindy unveils her answer: Maryland. Correct (Michael Phelps is a Marylander). She unveils her wager: $10,201.00. That puts her one dollar ahead of Julia. Julia unveils her answer: Ohio. America whoops.
You don’t really think of Jeopardy as a marketing mastermind, but they are handling this expertly. They kept Cindy’s illness quiet at first, then a story appeared in The New York Times, and went viral.
Now, Americans of all stripes are rooting for someone tough, humble and intelligent. Cindy’s six-day total is $103,803, which she’s donating to cancer research.
Somewhere, Charles Dickens is smiling.
Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She appears Monday through Thursday.