If you've had any ear to the news the last two weeks, you are almost certainly aware of the story of the outgoing champion on the show, Cindy Stowell of Texas.
Stowell was a lifelong fan of the show, and had, as a life ambition, to make it onto the syndicated version of the show.
Then cancer struck. Stage IV and terminal, and she was notified as such.
Stowell had one final chance to be on Jeopardy! before the cancer would take her this year. Passing the online contestant test in the early summer, she petitioned the show's producers that, should she make the contestant pool, that she be allowed to play as soon as the schedules would allow, owing to the fact her time on Earth was not long.
Stowell was directed to an in-person interview and practice game in Oklahoma City, another part of the audition process. She took part, and passed.
To their credit, the producers of Jeopardy! acceded to her request, getting her on the show at the next available space for her to play, in a taping in August.
Stowell fulfilled her dream of being on the show, and eventually, through a combination of quite-obvious skill, and some luck and Houdini stuff, she won six times, pocketing over $105,000 in the process.
Very few people at the show knew that Stowell was battling a high fever, on pain medications, and, on top of it all, facing terminal Stage IV cancer.
Alex Trebek knew, a few staffers, that was it... None of the contestants knew, no one else did either.
And yet, the games were kept fair and, at least on the show, no mention of the cancer was made until after Stowell's final appearance, when she was defeated on Wednesday night, December 21st.
Anyone who's followed the story knows what happened: Just eight days before the first of her programs was to air in syndication, on December 5th, Cindy Stowell's cancer felled her.
The Jeopardy! website immediately did a tribute to Stowell, before she even started, and added a second part to it once Stowell's defeat had made sufficient air not to be a spoiler. The Jeopardy! Archive, a fan-driven recap site, where all of the questions and answers and scores of most of the matches on the show, changed their direct front page to a memoriam tribute to Stowell. (It is unknown at this time how long that tribute will remain active, but it is as of the writing of this post.)
(This veteran of the Ken Jennings spoilers also wants to give a compliment to the increased security and NDA threats around unaired results -- only one aspect of Stowell's shows was revealed, and I'll get to that in a second.)
And I share the sentiments of a huge game-show fan friend of mine who watched five of the seven matches with me: For what Alex knew and the grace with which he handled it all, give him the Daytime Emmy.
After Stowell's time on the show was completed, according to the show, she fell ill in the hospital. The show scrambled, as quickly as they could, to complete as many of her episodes as they could, so she could see them before she died. (They succeeded in getting three to her.)
They also accelerated the process of contestant eligibility verification so that they could give her the prize money she had won ($105,803) -- which she said she wanted donated to cancer research. According to a New York Times article, that charity is the Cancer Research Institute, with credit to KXAN for the information. To my understanding, the family has asked any tributes be made in donations to same.
It is hoped from both myself and my friend an additional amount will be added, because, according to the show's website, Stowell would have been effectively a lock for this year's Tournament of Champions, had she survived to see it. Stowell is not listed on the Tournament Tracker the show provides, for obvious reasons. However, had she been on the list, she would be the seventh seed for 12-13 available slots. (Ironically, the champion she defeated is the third seed on that list, with seven wins.)
Alex Trebek, as I said before, handled this with wonderful grace. He didn't need to make a statement to the press on Stowell's death, but he chose to do so anyway:
From the show's website:
“When Cindy Stowell taped her appearance on Jeopardy!, she had Stage 4 cancer. Competing on Jeopardy! was a lifelong dream for Cindy, and we’re glad she was able to do so. Sadly, Cindy died on December 5. Our condolences and best wishes to her family and friends.” – Alex TrebekBut Trebek and Jeopardy! did not see that as sufficient tribute. The one thing "spoiled" from Stowell's appearances on the show was a statement Trebek made to the show's fans, edited into post-production for the show which aired on the 21st -- this is a non-affiliated party's YouTube copy of it, and I hope Sony will allow it to remain or replace it with the same statement on the official show account:
One thing the official show account on YouTube HAS done (and it's also on the contestant/tribute page the show has on it's website for Stowell) is this interview about her experience on the show. As an increasingly-jaded game-show fan of four decades, thank you Cindy. Godspeed. And I leave my readers with, as the show says, her own words...
No comments:
Post a Comment