Arthur Chu wins on 'Jeopardy!,' advances in Tournament of Champions
Arthur Chu failed to tell how he once exploded Alex Trebek's head.
Chu, an 11-time Jeopardy! winner, was back on the game show Tuesday night for this year's Tournament of Champions, and contestants are invariably asked to share some anecdote.
Chu told how a Taiwanese news service turned him into a kind of animated "super villain," at one point resembling the Joker of Batman fame.
The Swarthmore grad neglected to mention how violent the cartoon gets. The Joker mows down "haters" with a submachine gun. Chu's tendency for "cutting off Alex Trebek" in conversation is turned into a starburst of blood. Then his "unorthodox strategy" of using the "Forrest Bounce" – jumping around the Jeopardy! game board – was illustrated with Chu hopping on a copy of a Forrest Gump book before beheading his opponents.
In real life, Chu slaughtered the competition figuratively.
His first three selections were from the middle of three different categories, a practice some viewers find maddening ... or the work of a "mad genius."
Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings was probably kidding with this tweet:
Chu, who has stepped up his tweeting this week, responded by knocking another show:
Chu answered 25 questions correctly, including a $3,000 Daily Double, while his opponents were a combined 22 right and 7 wrong, according to an archive of the show.
Chu bet nothing in Final Jeopardy, still got it right, and finished with $21,000, automatically qualifying for the semifinals next week.
The answer was: "As of 2013, this 3-letter verb common in sports, theater & politics has the largest entry in the online OED," or Oxford English Dictionary. (Correct question below.)
Today's contest, airing locally at 7 p.m. on 6ABC will feature the show's winningest woman ever, Julia Collins of Illinois.
Thursday, college tournament champ Terry O'Shea, a Princeton student raised in Bridgewater, N.J., will have her turn.
For more about Chu and O'Shea, see "Arthur Chu returns"
The correct Final Jeopardy response: "What is run?"
Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com. Follow @petemucha on Twitter.