Jeopardy! producers reveal Adriana Harmeyer’s ‘refreshing’ strategy as she wows fans with biggest streak in a year
MULTI-DAY Jeopardy! Winner Adriana Harmeyer has been praised for her unique gameplay.
The Jeopardy! contestant was discussed on the official show podcast, and the producers gushed over her success.
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Adriana Hermeyer has won 9 games in a row, and her tactics were analyzed on the Inside Jeopardy! podcastCredit: Jeopardy
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The hosts said Adriana’s gameplay was ‘old fashioned’ – playing on knowledge rather than gamblingCredit: Jeopardy
On the Inside Jeopardy! podcast on June 10, Adriana was discussed by Sarah Whitcomb Foss and Buzzy Cohen.
Sarah is a producer on the show, while Buzzy is a past contestant.
Adriana had just won eight days of Jeopardy! in a row at the time of recording – at that point close to besting Buzzy’s nine – and the two podcast hosts were very impressed by here tactics.
“You’re playing the old fashioned way, taking categories in order,” Adriana was told by Ken Jennings in a post-game clip.
The new television star replied, “I like to know what the category means before I get into the heart of clues, so far that’s worked out alright for me.”
Buzzy then praised her old-fashioned gameplay style to the podcast listeners.
“Yeah, we haven’t really had someone who’s played as straight-ahead as Adriana,”
“I know Alex would have loved a player like Adriana because there was nothing he appreciated more than a player who took a category in order,” said Sarah, referring to the late and great show host Alex Trebek.
“She’s really honoring the writers,” Buzzy gushed.
“Thank you Adriana. I’m not judging. But it has been refreshing to see this and to watch her be so successful in doing it, and wanted to know what a category means before she gets to the heart of clues,” added Sarah.
TROPHY TACTICS?
Much like the pros said, Adriana has a very clear approach to playing the trivia game.
Jeopardy! critics roast contestant’s performance when gifted ‘dream categories’ and joke ‘I’d never go in public again’
Fans of the show have called her sneaky and intelligent, but there are no wild tactics behind her game.
Unlike many other successful players, Adriana plays the board from the top to the bottom without hunting out the Daily Doubles.
Not a gambler, the fan fave relies on her huge scope of general knowledge to get a huge amount of answers right without risking her wins.
On Reddit, big fans of the show have praised her for her logical approach.
Jeopardy! Universe
Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:
Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.
Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.
Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.
Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.
Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.
Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.
Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, host and airdate TBD
Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.
Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.
“Adriana is a sneaky ice cold player. She’s not DD-hunting that much and not very aggressive with her wagering but by the end of DJ, she has a runaway game!
“Just pure buzzer skill and huge knowledge base. I hope she continues her streak, I would love to see how far she can take this!” one fan said on Reddit when Adriana managed six wins in a row.
“I think she is playing intelligently. By Double Jeopardy, it has been mostly clear that she can beat the other contestants on knowledge or the buzzer, or both. So she can hedge her bets on DDs somewhat so it gives her a better chance to come back from a miss,” said a second.
REIGN OVER?
Despite the fact that Adriana relies on correct answers to get to the top, she was recently threatened by another very knowledgable contestant.
On Monday, she smashed the six-day barrier by winning nine games in a row.
Despite her massive achievement, however, one of her competitors managed to beat her correct answers.
Her rival Aaron Lemos gambled small on the In Double Jeopardy! round, only betting $1,500 of his $7,200.
He got the correct answer, but his small wager put him at $10,700 to Adriana’s $12,100, leaving him at second place.
Had he put more money into his guess, he could have beaten Adriana to first place.
On top of that, Aaron got 20 correct answers and 3 incorrect answers, while Adriana got 17 correct and 6 incorrect.
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Fans have said the same about Adriana, and praised her for not chasing Daily DoublesCredit: ABC
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Adriana relies on knowledge but was recently nearly beaten by a contestant with more correct answers than herCredit: Jeopardy!
