Short Commentary: "Jeopardy!" Fans Speak Out On Arthur Chu Performance

While I was perusing through game show news headlines and updates earlier this morning, there was one that caught my eye and I felt compelled to add my two cents on the topic that has gone mainstream overnight: "'Hero-Villain' Jeopardy! Contestant Returns to Game Show Feb. 24”. Yesterday, ABCNews.com published an article concerning Arthur Chu, a compliance analyst and voiceover artist from Broadview Heights, OH, and his performance on Jeopardy! within the past four days. So far, Chu has amassed a grand total of $102,800. According to Twitter, there were viewers who were less than impressed by his unpredictable and unorthodox approach to playing the game, which is essentially randomly selecting questions. For example, one viewer tweeted, "Who is this dude that ruins the organization of the #Jeopardy board by hunting down the Daily Doubles? You give me a headache”. On the flip side, their are other fans are commending him as a “hero” for his Final Jeopardy wager that made another contestant $26,000 richer.  

Here’s my brief take on this "issue": 

I believe more people are more vocal about Chu's performance because it extremely deviates from how one would normally play the game, by usually going category-by-category. Honestly, I don’t see how Chu’s gaming style is any different than Ken Jennings' or any other champion’s method of playing Jeopardy! If anything, it’s more interesting to watch the Chu employ his strategy by seeking out the Daily Doubles for himself (considering he gained control of 8 out of 12 DDs thus far). Chu’s strategy sort of resembles a more sinister and sadistic version of the “Forrest Bounce”, a technique named after notable Jeopardy champion Chuck Forrest. This strategy combined fused with his quickness at the buzzer is a recipe for success and is working well with him so far. This takes me back to when a lot of avid fans disliked Colby Burnett because of his overconfident demeanor, despite him backing it up by winning the 2012 Teachers’ Tournament and the 2013 Tournament of Champions. With this being said, I don’t believe Chu will win more than four more games because he has proven to fall short in the Final Jeopardy! rounds by forcing a rare tie in his second game and narrowly escaping a loss on Friday’s show. But, who knows? We could have another Jeopardy! juggernaut in the making. Chu will resume his tenure as the reigning champion on February 24. Check your local listings and take a look at Chu's fourth game in the video below and judge for yourself.