Jeopardy! Winner Victoria Groce Endorses the Rock Band Method

“I received recognized for the initially time at the coffee shop yesterday,” Victoria Groce states, laughing. “The barista introduced about my drink and explained, I know it currently transpired, but excellent luck tonight.” It was a fantastic working day to have a Deuxmoi moment: Groce gained Jeopardy!’s inaugural Invitational Event on April 9, needing only the minimum a few online games to go away Amy Schenider and Andrew He in the rearview of her cat-eye eyeglasses. If you did not know Groce’s name until eventually the tournament, which reunited about two dozen nicely-acknowledged contestants, we’ll forgive you and blame the passage of time. Groce to start with appeared on the demonstrate back again in 2005 when she set an finish to David Madden’s historic earn streak in spite of getting rid of the following recreation, she became steadily omnipresent in the quiz group in the ensuing several years, culminating in her 2022 selecting on The Chase, ABC’s quick-paced quiztravaganza. Like Kacey Musgraves on Nashville Star, Groce simply grew to become a lot more renowned right after she still left her debut stage.

Groce is now $100,000 richer and has a location confirmed in the forthcoming Jeopardy! Masters match, wherever she’ll compete in opposition to her mate and Chase colleague James Holzhauer. We’ll just take “Fun Rivalries” for $1,000.

You are nicknamed “the Queen” on The Chase. What must be your Jeopardy! nickname?
Jeez, I’m not ready for this line of questioning. You just cannot nickname you, can you? I experience like it’s in opposition to the policies. My sister did begin contacting me “Vickipedia” right after the episodes taped. Probably that could operate.

When the tournament was declared, you tweeted, “no one particular is extra astonished this occurred than I am.” How so?
I gained one particular recreation. They were being inviting 27 folks out of 40 several years of the show. When I received the contact, they said, You are a giant-killer and that was a big offer. Realistically, I’m guaranteed it was simply because of The Chase.

Michael Davies has expressed interest in finding people who performed Jeopardy! a although in the past and have potentially develop into far better gamers in the interim to appear back. A good deal of men and women are fascinated in obtaining a way to return, particularly those people who performed as teenagers and school students. You are a fully different person when you perform as an grownup. I never experience a great deal of continuity among myself then and now. I’m confident I’m identical in a great deal of methods, but I was quite disorganized and experienced a challenging time sticking to points then.

Obtaining not played at the rear of a lectern in nearly two many years, did you appear in emotion at a downside?
Oh, certainly. The buzzer is so essential. If you just can’t get in, that’s it for you. Sorry, you are completed. We’ve all seen men and women enjoy Jeopardy! who have deep sets of know-how but they just cannot get in. I had no way of understanding if that would or wouldn’t be me. There is a e-book named Tricks of the Buzzer that I go through. One of my friends who’s attempting out for the show lent me the buzzer he got for schooling, so I did educate my fingers a bit. But the total of rhythm games I have played in my daily life is fairly disturbing. They’re catnip for me. I’ve played a ton of Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution.

Is there a correlation among Rock Band end users and Jeopardy! champions?
Truly I think there is. The ability is equivalent in so numerous approaches. It is not the exact same physical motion, but it is specifically the similar mix of anticipation and extremely exact timing. If you can learn “Pretend We’re Dead” by L7, you will master the buzzer. A good friend of mine also acquired me into Cytus. It is a mix of wacky Japanese submit-apocalyptic soap opera and a rhythm recreation. That is what I was participating in in the lead-up to the match.

You designed your initially look on the display in 2005, which was an fascinating era in its background: You were being publish-Ken Jennings, but ahead of the reign of super-champions and sportsification began to decide on up. When you returned for this tournament, was Jeopardy! continue to recognizable from what you remembered?
The Jeopardy! I appeared on, not actually. But I was not unfamiliar with how it was currently being played now. I’ve experienced some great good friends turn out to be contestants above the years. For illustration, at the time I performed, it was not strange to go top rated to bottom. It was not unheard of or groundbreaking, but it was uncommon, specifically when individuals grabbed the Each day Doubles. Gamers are far more possible to do that now, for excellent rationale. If you are heading to depart anything on the board, you’d relatively it be a small-benefit clue than a higher-worth clue.

There’s also far more willingness for gamers to be very intense on Every day Doubles, which I credit rating to James Holzhauer. If somebody had wager five digits on a Everyday Double when I was on in 2005, it would’ve been hugely surprising. I bear in mind betting $7,800 on mine, and at the time, I feel, it was the major Day-to-day Double for the complete period. Alex Trebek was like, “Oh!” And then you seem at this Invitational Tournament and a 5-digit wager is usual. People who are statistically minded will at the very least look at the massive guess if they’re forward.

The Chase has turn into an incubator of sorts for the ideal Jeopardy! gamers just after their operates. You, Ken, James, and Buzzy Cohen have all been concerned. How does your mind operate in another way for that display?
The Chase is two online games in one particular that involve really distinctive expertise. My partner likes to review it to chess-boxing. You have bought your multiple-selection questions and they can get quite obscure. A large amount of that skill is finding within the writers’ heads and figuring out what the appropriate solution in a several-decision would be. And then you have the immediate-fireplace speed quiz at the finish, which receives a bit nearer to Jeopardy!. They’re transferable competencies. What is most valuable with the “final chase” stuff is the speed of it. If you can figure out the reply to a Jeopardy! query appropriate absent and foresee when you’re heading to buzz in, you’re in much much better form than if you are contemplating the full time.

Do you believe Jeopardy! would profit from having additional “quiz” specialists and personalities as contestants, or is it basically a detriment?
You’re likely to get vastly unique views on this. It is dependent on what the gamers want out of the practical experience. Obtaining a few actually skillful and evenly-matched contestants is what would make for exciting game titles. It is far more vital than acquiring one human being who’s otherworldly in expertise. I like observing persons slug it out with fantastic technique and not have a ton of errors. That’s additional pleasing as a viewer. But there are people today who actually love to view someone who can get 20 or 30 online games in a row.

You are heading to be competing against your fellow “chaser” James in the Jeopardy! Masters event. Will you be reciprocating his signature trash converse?
He may try to trash-talk me, but I in all probability will not trash-converse again. You may perhaps have figured out that is not my style. I’m quite significantly a mom. Consider your mother seeking to occur for James Holzhauer. It just does not get the job done.

I had quite confined time to get ready, because I got referred to as for the Invitational about a few weeks in advance of it taped, which was the identical for everybody. You cannot come to be a total different participant in that quantity of time. You can certainly coach your self into staying a terrifying Jeopardy! player, but it takes extra than a several weeks. You are seeking at a couple of decades. I have been attempting to do the job on wordplay stuff typically. I’m hoping that if I can excitement in on a lot more wordplay and truth clues that I would not have gotten without having analyze, I’ll be delighted with myself. That’s not unrealistic for the quantity of time I have.

What’s the one category you would wipe the board clean with?
You would have a pretty hard time stumping me on cookbooks. I accumulate them. I’m a seriously avid cook dinner, so I purchase and look at quite a few out from the library. I’d say I read through five for each one particular I own.