I just finished watching an old friend of mine compete on Jeopardy.  (She got second place.) It reminded me how much I hate it when the audience claps after the “Daily Double” pops up.

Mind you, they’re not clapping after the contestant has successfully answered the question...they clap before the question has even been asked.  It’s just a ritual for everyone in the studio to applaud whenever the Daily Double graphic appears on the screen.  But why?  The Daily Double is not telling them nice things about their personality.  It is not doing their laundry.  It’s not actually benefiting them in any way. It’s simply an aspect of the game--entirely neutral.  This is like standing around on a street corner and applauding a lamp post.

I was very disappointed that my friend couldn’t answer my single biggest burning Jeopardy question: what does everyone talk about when the show is over and all the contestants stand around chatting with Alex Trebec?

“I don’t remember,” she said.

That is just lame.  I’d like it if Alex said “You, on the left.  You annoyed me the entire show with your rapid blinking eyes.  Are you on drugs?  And you, returning champion--you are an insufferable twit.  I’m tempted to use my power as host to accuse of you of cheating and kick you off the show.  Greg’s friend totally should have won.  I mean damn, she even knew that ‘cater’ is an archaic reference to the number ‘four.’ If it wasn’t for my cue cards, I wouldn’t have known that one.”