Category: Notable locals.
Clue: This Quest professor made it all the way to the semi-finals of legendary game show Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions.
Answer: Who is Andrew Haringer?
That’s right, Haringer made it to the final week, despite losing his game a week earlier, because he had won enough as a runner-up during opening play. Unfortunately, he ran into a Jeopardy buzz saw by the name of Matt Jackson.
“When he hit the Daily Double on show tunes, I knew I was toast,” Haringer said.
The semi-final aired on Nov. 18. Haringer and the other semi-finalist were not within striking distance of Jackson by Final Jeopardy, although Haringer is not really surprised that Jackson, who had won 13 games in a row before being defeated in regular play, was the favourite to get to the finals.
Jackson, in turn, went on to lose in the two-day final to the other favourite, Alex Jacob, a currency trader and former professional poker player whom Haringer described as “the perfect Jeopardy player.”
The Tournament of Champions experience was special for Haringer in many ways. For one, he was inspired by being around so many other top players, with interests in a broad range of topics.
“You get to play against people who are all really good,” he said.
It also provided him with unique behind-the-scenes look at the TV show.
“Another cool thing is I got to meet some of the writers,” he said.
He learned a lot of about how the writers form questions in an attempt to produce a show that is challenging yet does not lean too heavily on the obscure.
Going back for the Tournament of Champions was a little different from playing on the regular show because for the opening round, the players had to be sequestered. Instead of checking out the competition, they had to stay in a back room and watch movies, although once the semi-finals started, they were allowed to watch the other shows.
The reason they could not watch the other opening matches was so they could not influence their Final Jeopardy bets in an attempt to simply get a high enough tally to qualify for the final week of matches.
Haringer admits the strategy of betting low did influence his decision during the opening match, as he was able to make the semis with a high enough second-place score. Still, had he bet higher to win the opening match, he might have delayed a showdown with either Jackson or Jacob until the final.
Haringer could tell that Jackson and Jacob were special players, especially with their timing on the buzzer, and they were all business when it came to the game.
“Alex and Matt, they were in the zone,” Haringer said.
The game at that level, Haringer admits, becomes a “weird exercise in focus,” with so much depending on knowing when to relax and when to be on edge, as well as a developing a keen sense of when to ring in for an answer, but on the whole he was happy with his performance.
“I still felt I played well under the circumstances.”
