Chuck Forrest
{{Short description|American game show contestant|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Chuck Forrest
|image =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|6|3}}
|known for = 5-time Jeopardy! champion and former record holder
|}}
Charles “Chuck” Forrest (born June 3, 1961{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-29-tm-1565-story.html |title=Backstage At Jeopardy!; Tune in for the nervous hopefuls, the hard-working researchers, the well-dressed host and the amazing winners on the smart set's favorite game show |last=Biederman |first=Patricia Ward |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 29, 1989 |access-date=August 24, 2010}})
is an American attorney and game show contestant who at one time held the record for the largest non-tournament cash winnings total on the syndicated game show Jeopardy! The Los Angeles Times called him "the Alexander the Great of Jeopardy! players." The producers of the show regarded Forrest as one of the best and most memorable contestants of the 1980s.Alex Trebek and Peter Barsocchini, The Jeopardy! Book (HarperPerennial, 1990), p. 129: "When you survey Jeopardy! contestants, fans, producers, and staff on the subject of the best players ever seen on the show, two names continually emerge: Burns Cameron from the original show and Chuck Forrest from the new show." He is widely regarded by other elite Jeopardy! players to be one of the most formidable contestants ever to play.Trebek & Barsocchini, p. 68: "The contestant everyone still remembers from the new version of the game is Chuck Forrest, the 1985 Tournament of Champions winner. He was so good that he basically intimidated the other contestants in the tournament; you could hear them backstage talking about who might take second place, because they just about assumed Chuck would win it all." See also Michael Dupée, How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win! (Citadel Press, 1998), p. 36: "Mr. Forrest was so brilliant that he did not need to use much strategy to crush his opponents."
Career
=Appearances on ''Jeopardy!''=
==Initial run==
Forrest, who was described at the time as a law student from Grand Blanc, Michigan, had a series of victories in Season 2 of Jeopardy!, starting on September 30, 1985. After four games, he set the regular play cash winnings record, with $60,000.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=294 |title=Show #279 – Thursday, October 3, 1985 |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} When Forrest went on to play his fifth game on October 4, 1985, he broke his own cash winnings record, with 5-day cash winnings of $72,800. Under the Jeopardy! rules in effect at the time of Forrest's victory, he retired undefeated. His record lasted until early in Season 6 of Jeopardy!, when Bob Blake won $82,501.{{cite web|url=http://www.jeopardy.com/showguide/halloffame/50kplus/ |title=$50,000 Plus Winners |accessdate=August 22, 2010 |publisher=jeopardy.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314084333/http://www.jeopardy.com/showguide/halloffame/50kplus |archive-date=March 14, 2014 }} Blake's record lasted until the middle of Season 6, when Frank Spangenberg accumulated a 5-day total of $102,597.
==Tournament of Champions==
Forrest went on to win the 1986 Tournament of Champions. In the quarterfinals, which was the first round, he defeated Guy Tonti and Gary Palmer.1986 Tournament of Champions (Palmer advanced as a "wild card" high scoring nonwinner.) In the semi-finals, Forrest defeated Jay Rosenberg and Gary Giardina.[http://www.oddchange.com/jdoc/toc2.html Oddchange-1986 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120918115028/http://www.oddchange.com/jdoc/toc2.html |date=September 18, 2012}} In the two-game final, Forrest defeated Paul Rouffa and Marvin Shinkman, adding another $100,000 to his total cash winnings.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=1292 |title=Chuck Forrest's Tournament of Champions Final |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} That final series was featured in a July 29, 1989, PBS documentary called Wise Guys, a behind-the scenes look at the program.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/07/28/a-peek-backstage/ |title=A Peek Backstage |last=Kogan |first=Rick |author-link=Rick Kogan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 28, 1989 |access-date=April 25, 2015}}
==''Super Jeopardy!''==
In the 1990 Super Jeopardy! tournament, Forrest was defeated in the quarterfinals, or the first round, by Dave Traini. That appearance added $5,000 to Forrest's total winnings.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=1940 |title=Chuck Forrest's Super Jeopardy! Quarterfinal |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} Traini would eventually become the third-place finalist.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=1022 |title=Super Jeopardy! Final |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} In the 2002 Million Dollar Masters tournament, Forrest lost his semi-final to Bob Verini, picking up another $25,000 in the process.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=561 |title=Chuck Forrest's Million Dollar Masters Semifinal |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} Verini placed third in the finals.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=566 |title=Million Dollar Masters final |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} In the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Forrest received a bye into Round 2 in recognition of his former regular-play cash winnings record. However, Forrest came in third in his Round 2 game and received another $25,000 ($10,000 as a runner-up and another $15,000 for the 2nd round bye). The scores were $0 for Forrest, $28,200 for the winner Phil Yellman, and $12,999 for Lara Robillard.{{cite web |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=304 |title=Chuck Forrest's Round 2 Game |publisher=J! Archive |accessdate=August 24, 2010}} There were no "wild card" spots for nonwinners in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, meaning neither Robillard nor Forrest had a chance of advancing to Round 3. Yellman, coming in second in round 3, lost to Pam Mueller along with Brian Moore.[http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=310 Phil Yellman's Round 3 UToC game] At the end of Super Jeopardy, Forrest's total cash winnings totaled $227,800.
==Battle of the Decades==
Forrest returned for the Battle of the Decades tournament on February 3, 2014. He became a quarterfinalist, defeating India Cooper and Jim Scott. Cooper returned for the quarterfinals as a standby contestant. On May 9, Forrest competed against 1990s champion Mark Dawson and 2000s champion Colby Burnett. Forrest won the game by $900, while Burnett in second place, moved on as a wildcard. Forrest competed against Ken Jennings and Russ Schumacher in the semi-finals on May 12 and briefly led in the Double Jeopardy! round, but ultimately finished in second place to Jennings, who moved on to the finals.{{cite web |title=The CEO who devised a winning 'Jeopardy' strategy |url=https://www.thedailyworld.com/life/the-ceo-who-devised-a-winning-jeopardy-strategy/ |website=thedailyworld.com |date=June 11, 2019 |accessdate=February 25, 2020}} Forrest earned $25,000 in that appearance{{cite web |title=Show #6836 – Monday, May 12, 2014. Battle of the Decades semifinal game 1. |url=http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=4503 |website=j-archive.com/ |accessdate=July 22, 2020}} bringing his all-time cash winnings on Jeopardy to a grand total of $252,800.
="Forrest Bounce"=
Forrest implemented a strategy known as the "Forrest Bounce" in his play to potentially confuse opponents, a strategy that is now commonly used by contestants.{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Bob|title=Prisoner of Trebekistan|year=2006|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=978-0-307-33956-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/prisoneroftrebek00bobh/page/85 85]|quote=In September of 1985 [Forrest] pioneered a technique (still called the 'Forrest Bounce') in which he selected clues not in simple vertical lines but by hopscotching back and forth across the game board, continually changing categories.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/prisoneroftrebek00bobh/page/85}} See also Dupée, op. cit., p. 69. (Forrest referred to the technique as the "Rubin Bounce" after a law school friend, Donn Rubin, who first suggested it.Forrest, Chuck and Lowenthal, Mark (1992). Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions. Grand Central Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-446-39352-2}}, {{ISBN|0-446-39352-5}}.) The Forrest Bounce is applied in the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! rounds with the player in control of the board "bouncing" between different categories rather than continuing through individual categories in sequence. According to Forrest, "The basic point is, you know where you're going next and [your competitors] don't." Host Alex Trebek has expressed aggravation with people who use the Forrest Bounce, noting that the show's writers purposely set up the clues in each category to flow when picked sequentially; he noted in a 2018 interview that Forrest failed to win the Tournament of Champions using the Forrest Bounce, vindicating Trebek's feelings on the topic and his suspicion that Forrest was "trying to disrupt" the game.{{Cite web |last=Marchese |first=David |date=2018-11-19 |title=Alex Trebek on Retirement, His Legacy, and Why Knowledge Matters |url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/alex-trebek-jeopardy-in-conversation.html |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=Vulture |language=en |quote=What bothers me is when contestants jump all over the board even after the Daily Doubles have been dealt with. Why are they doing that? They’re doing themselves a disservice. When the show's writers construct categories they do it so that there's a flow in terms of difficulty, and if you jump to the bottom of the category you may get a clue that would be easier to understand if you’d begun at the top of the category and saw how the clues worked.}}
Personal life
Forrest is from Livonia, Michigan. He attended Birmingham Seaholm High School, Yale University, and University of Michigan Law School.{{cite web|url=https://www.hometownlife.com/story/entertainment/2021/08/03/campaign-supports-birmingham-grad-jeopardy-champ-future-guest-host/5375130001/|website=Hometown Life|title=Campaign supports Birmingham Seaholm grad, big Jeopardy! champ as future guest host|first=Susan|last=Vela|date=August 3, 2021|accessdate=December 12, 2022}} Forrest and Mark Lowenthal, a five-time champion in Season 4, co-wrote the 1992 book Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions. Like Forrest, Lowenthal won his Tournament of Champions.{{cite news|last=Brennan|first=Patricia|title=Man Wins Jackpot on Game Show|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 2, 1988|page=y.05}} A revised edition of the book was released in 2017 as an Amazon Kindle book.[https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Jeopardy-Champions-Mark-Lowenthal-ebook/dp/B073HYVHZ6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8>
In 1992, Forrest was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, entering the Republican primary for Michigan's 9th congressional district, which at the time included his home town of Grand Blanc.{{Cite episode|title=House banking scandal give newcomers a chance|station=CNN|airdate=April 17, 1992}} He finished third, with 9,875 votes.{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=364540|title=MI District 09- R Primary|website=Our Campaigns}} As of 2014, Forrest is a lawyer with the International Fund for Agricultural Development.{{cite news |newspaper=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2014/02/21/arthur_chus_dangerous_game_of_jeopardy.html |author=Vinay Menon |date=February 2, 2014|accessdate=May 23, 2014 |title=Arthur Chu's dangerous game of Jeopardy!}}
See also
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=3348972}}
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{{succession box | before = Paul Boymel | title = Biggest regular play winners on Jeopardy! by season | years = 1985–1986 | after = John Ryan}}
{{succession box | before = Jerry Frankel | title = Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner | years = 1986 | after = Bob Verini}}
{{succession box | before = Paul Boymel
Jerry Frankel | title = All-time Jeopardy! biggest winner | years = 1985
1986–1990 | after = Jerry Frankel
Bruce Seymour}}
{{succession box | before = Paul Boymel | title = All-time Jeopardy! regular play winnings leader | years = 1985–1989 | after = Bob Blake}}
{{s-end}}
{{Jeopardy!}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Chuck}}
Category:Contestants on American game shows
Category:International Fund for Agricultural Development people