Tons of Jeopardy! contestants have talked about how the hardest part of the game show isn’t knowing the correct response, it’s managing the buzzer while sweating under the hot studio lights and knowing that all your friends and family will be watching at home. As someone who gets anxious ordering in the Taco Bell drive-thru line, that sounds like a lot of pressure. Everyone who gets on Jeopardy! is obviously intelligent — sometimes, it’s the other non-smartypants factors that get to them, or it’s just not their day.
It definitely wasn’t Erin Buker’s day. She nearly set an unwanted record on Monday’s episode of Jeopardy! when she finished with the second lowest total in the game show’s history with negative $7,2000. She was only 200 dollars away from tying the lowest score, set by Patrick Pearce in July 2021.
What happened? “It was a day to forget for Erin indeed! Unfortunately, they taped what little I was able to forget about it,” she wrote on the Jeopardy! subreddit. “When it came to the buzzer, I was my own worst enemy, frequently buzzing in midway through the clue as if my thumb had a mind of its own. There’s something uniquely frustrating about knowing answers, but not having the wherewithall to ring in at the appropriate time to answer them. That was my defecit and I own it entirely.”
Despite her negative score, Buker has a positive attitude about her time on Jeopardy!. “All in all, it was still a great experience,” she wrote, adding, “All I know is that when the WOAT tournament rolls around, I’m a shoe-in!”
(Via Reddit)