.... Deliberately tossed the game? I don't just doubt it, I say there's no way that happened. Did you ever see him let up at the end of a game to let someone have a chance to get back in the plus column? I didn't. He never let up a bit, he's not going to totally tank all of a sudden.
I read an interview earlier today, James said that
during the game, he didn't think in terms of $, he considered them "points" and he was going for the max points.
I found that interesting. I can see where it helps you stay focused on the game, and not be distracted by what those $ mean to you - just go for max points, it's a game!
I saw Emma lose in her game 3. As I mentioned, while I'm somewhat well rounded in knowledge, but far, far from a trivia expert, I'm surprised when I know a response that the players miss. But the Final that she missed, I was thinking they gave a number of clues within the clue, I was 100% certain the response was Woody Guthrie.
Steinbeck called him “just a voice and a guitar” but said his songs embodied “the will of a people to endure and fight against oppression” — Boettcher gave an incorrect answer, “A. Guthrie.”
Singer, guitar, fighting oppression? I recall the photos of W Guthrie with a guitar with the words "This machine fights fascists" written on it. And "Steinbeck" narrows the time period.
Arlo Guthrie? She's involved in library sciences, she should know the time frame of Steinbeck. I am actually embarrassed by the limited reading I've done, but I have read much of Steinbeck, and you would know the time frame just by the subject matter, even if you only know of him, or of the movies made ("Grapes of Wrath" - dust bowl).
Seems an odd one to miss. But it raises another question. Would "Who is Guthrie" be accepted? I've noticed that contestants get dinged for adding extra info if it is wrong, but not always if it is missing. Sometime in play, Alex will ask for more - recently the response needed to be Vitamin B12, someone responded "What is Vitamin B", Alex said something to indicate that more was needed, and the follow up response from the same contestant was accepted: "What is Vitamin B12".
But in the game James lost, the final answer "Who is Marlowe?" was accepted, yet James (correctly) responded "Who is Kit Marlow?". Now, what if "Kit" was wrong? Why would James add "Kit" - wouldn't "Marlow" be enough? Why risk getting that added detail wrong? From a pure optimization view, it would seem that there is no gain to adding "Kit", only potential downside.
I can see where Teddy vs Franklin, or George W vs George H is needed. But how many "Marlow"s would apply to a Shakespearean clue?
edit/add: So while Alex can ask for more during play, how does that work for Final?
-ERD50