Sometimes even the brainiacs don't win

Game show news is really slow on the day after Christmas. So I picked up the first item I could find in Google News. It's a cautionary tale.

The linked story tells how Lanier Heyburn (see screenshot) finished last on Jeopardy. This is not a tragedy. Somebody has to finish last on every ep. The cautionary part of the story is that Lanier Heyburn is a "neuroscientist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research."

In other words, she's a brainiac. And she still whiffed on Jeopardy. To be fair, she was tied for second with a respectable total of $9,000 going into the final clue. She missed on the Dred Scott decision, though, so she went home with the pity thousand for third place.

It just shows that general smarts are no guarantee of success on the game show with a Peabody. You've got to have a mind littered with reams of trivia. It also helps to be quick on the buzzer.

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: