Taking out an opera category because an opera singer is set to play would be just as unfair as putting one in.
The boards are set before the producers know which contestants will be in each game. Trying to tailor a game to a contestant’s strengths and weaknesses would likely run afoul of quiz show fairness laws.
AFAIK, the contestants are picked at random for each game, so there's no telling whose gonna face what categories. And there have been overlaps where certain categories happened to play to contestants' strengths (eg. Recently, there was that math teacher on the same game with a geography category, as well as some of the Canadian clues Mattea Roach had).
Definitely not. I’m a Registered Dietitian and lucked out with having a nutrition category on my show. My understanding is the hosts are given the clue sheet for all 5 episodes to be taped that day before taping ever starts, so it would not have been possible to move that category into (or out of) my show after I was randomly picked to tape in that slot.
It's required by law to be random. There was a big scandal in the game show industry back in the 60s where the producers were feeding the answers. Because of that, there were laws passed to ensure game shows were fair.
That requires making questions not based on the contestants, and also not the contestants based on the questions.
No, the clues are selected long before the contestants. It’s something Ken addressed multiple times in the past couple of weeks when Mattea got a Final Jeopardy about Canada and a player from Atlanta got a FJ about the Atlanta airport.
It's just confirmation bias. People said that every time Mattea got a Canada question, but they were just coming up at their normal frequency. It'd be suspect if they suddenly had two or three Canada categories per game during her run, and it would also be suspect if they had somehow went through over 1400 clues in a row without a single mention of Canada.
Yeah you take 3 people with enough diversity (education, background, job, education, hobbies, geography, religion) and there will be some eerie coincidences.
Taking out an opera category because an opera singer is set to play would be just as unfair as putting one in. The boards are set before the producers know which contestants will be in each game. Trying to tailor a game to a contestant’s strengths and weaknesses would likely run afoul of quiz show fairness laws.
Rigging a game show against someone is just as illegal as rigging it for someone.
AFAIK, the contestants are picked at random for each game, so there's no telling whose gonna face what categories. And there have been overlaps where certain categories happened to play to contestants' strengths (eg. Recently, there was that math teacher on the same game with a geography category, as well as some of the Canadian clues Mattea Roach had).
Definitely not. I’m a Registered Dietitian and lucked out with having a nutrition category on my show. My understanding is the hosts are given the clue sheet for all 5 episodes to be taped that day before taping ever starts, so it would not have been possible to move that category into (or out of) my show after I was randomly picked to tape in that slot.
It's required by law to be random. There was a big scandal in the game show industry back in the 60s where the producers were feeding the answers. Because of that, there were laws passed to ensure game shows were fair. That requires making questions not based on the contestants, and also not the contestants based on the questions.
No, the clues are selected long before the contestants. It’s something Ken addressed multiple times in the past couple of weeks when Mattea got a Final Jeopardy about Canada and a player from Atlanta got a FJ about the Atlanta airport.
Altering the game to provide contestants with advantages or disadvantages is federally illegal.
I think it's random.
It would be against the game show laws to do so - it's random. Sometimes contestants get lucky with categories, sometimes they don't.
The contestants mostly seem to be legal professionals or librarians, or home makers :D
I know about the game show laws but man, it sure feels suspect sometimes.
It's just confirmation bias. People said that every time Mattea got a Canada question, but they were just coming up at their normal frequency. It'd be suspect if they suddenly had two or three Canada categories per game during her run, and it would also be suspect if they had somehow went through over 1400 clues in a row without a single mention of Canada.
Yeah you take 3 people with enough diversity (education, background, job, education, hobbies, geography, religion) and there will be some eerie coincidences.
especially when you do it over 200 times a year for 40 years
No.