Althouse: She had a good feeling about it.

November 8, 2010

She had a good feeling about it.

That's all.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...: I thought this all went away after that thing in the movie Quiz Show.; 11/8/10, 10:53 PM
Irene said...: A trip to Grenada!! That's another reminder of Ronald Reagan.; 11/8/10, 10:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: This contestant must work cross word puzzles as fast as her pencil can fly. She will use up all of the cross word Puzzle books on Granada and then get bored.; 11/8/10, 11:07 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Saw this earlier today. I puzzled over the board for a moment, and realized that there are very few contractions that go blank, apostrophe, blank, blank.

I considered "I'll" until I realized that there was already an "L" on the board, so I'm not exactly a WOF genius.

I narrowed it down to "I've got a" and "I've had a" before I decided to quit.; 11/8/10, 11:29 PM
q12345q6789 said...: I saw this last week while visiting the "in-laws" and... it still keeps popping into my head fully 4 days later! I can't imagine W.o.F. would risk impropriety at this point - seriously it has it's viewership locked down. But, yeah, the apostrophe was the key here.; 11/9/10, 12:41 AM
Ben Morris said...: She explains how she solved it in an MSNBC interview:
http://frothygirlz.com/2010/11/08/caitlin-burke-solves-wheel-of-fortune-puzzle-with-one-stinking-letter/
She says she had it figured out before the other guy even guessed 'R', and was afraid that he was going to get it before she got her turn. Seems highly plausible to me.
Ironically, it would probably be more impressive (though less dramatic) if the puzzle were shorter: the spaces are extremely valuable information.; 11/9/10, 3:41 AM
Peter Hoh said...: I vaguely remember a skit (SCTV, SNL?) -- or maybe it was a part of a stand-up comic's routine -- about what would happen if they let Jeopardy contestants play Wheel of Fortune.; 11/9/10, 7:36 AM
ndspinelli said...: I've watched the clip a few times. My gut tells me there is something amiss here. I was a PI for many years, but the book Blink helped me understand instincts and gut feelings in general, and personally.; 11/9/10, 8:10 AM
KCFleming said...: Watch Second City Television's High Q, where high school student Catherine O'Hara answers the question too early, and repeatedly.; 11/9/10, 8:24 AM
jungatheart said...: Anal bum covers, for 600, Alec.; 11/9/10, 8:29 AM
jungatheart said...: Alex.; 11/9/10, 8:30 AM
Old RPM Daddy said...: The comments in the Youtube site were the best part of the whole post: "You could just TELL she was cheating!" versus "Oh, she wasn't either, go put on your tinfoil hat!" etc. It occured to me that maybe folks who were so quick to cry conspiracy were actually upset that the contestant appeared to be more clever than they were.

I'm no authority, but my guess is that American quiz or puzzle shows are designed so that the average viewer playing at home won't be too far behind the winning contestant. By contrast, I remember a British quiz show when I was assigned to the UK some years ago. It was called Mastermind, and featured scholars answering questions about a topic they'd studied heavily for months.; 11/9/10, 8:36 AM
Banshee said...: Word puzzles like this can be solved either analytically, or in an intuitive flash; either way it can be done rather quickly. Frankly, as somebody who frequently "just knows the answer" in a flash, I didn't find it weird at all.

What was unusual was that she had the courage to go with her answer. A lot of people second-guess themselves out of quiz competitions. Getting an answer quickly or hitting a buzzer quickly is just mental reflex; venturing an answer when you could take a minute to check further takes guts.

What was hilarious was her slightly ditzy, unfocused look. Apparently this was either her look of concentration or her poker face, and I sincerely hope it's not mine! (Though I suppose it's better than a female friend of mine, who looks ready to attack somebody whenever she's concentrating....); 11/9/10, 8:40 AM
Anonymous said...: My Wheel highpoint was getting "Rose Parade Grand Marshall" after the first contestant put some R's on the board. It can be done.; 11/9/10, 2:07 PM