What can contestants on Jeopardy do, after they buzz in and realize they don't know the answer, to throw off the other contestants?

Asked by Ltryptophan (12091

) March 13th, 2010

I was thinking saying something completely absurd. Or if you were extra clever an answer that might lead the other person astray. After watching Jeopardy for years it seems lots of contestants just stand there petrified waiting for the beep, so someone else gets a shot. I understand that during that time they are thinking about what the right answer is, but many of these questions are obviously not something that is just on the tip of their tongue. I don’t know if it is five seconds or what that they have, but couldn’t they say “Penis” or something so the next guy is too busy laughing to answer correctly.

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5 Answers

A clever strategy indeed. I’m not sure it would work though. The people on that show are pretty quick. They have been thinking of their own answer for the 5 seconds already and probably have it in their mind already. If they don’t think they know, they don’t push the buzzer.

LuckyGuy (43880

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Fart?

ucme (50047

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Give a partial answer as though you know the right answer, it’s on the tip of your tongue, but can’t remember the rest.

For example, if the question was something like “This Robert Frost poem is <whatever>” and you can’t remember the answer but you know it’s not Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, you buzz in and say “Stopping by…uhm… stopping….. uhhhhh <BUZZZZZ>”. Your opponents don’t know the answer, but they think you knew which poem it was, and they know the full title, so they buzz in and say it.

MrItty (17416

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