‘Jeopardy!’ Run Ends for Cindy Stowell, Cancer-Stricken Champion - Polidicks

[t]https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/12/18/us/18JEOPARDY-01/17xp-jeopardy_web1-master768.jpg[/t] [quote]Cindy Stowell had Stage 4 colon cancer when she recorded episodes of “Jeopardy!” in August and September, [B]competing on painkillers and developing a fever that caused makeup artists to rush onstage during commercial breaks to clean up her sweat.[/B] Ms. Stowell never got to see her appearances as they were broadcast on TV. [B]She died at age 41 on Dec. 5, just over a week before her taped episodes began showing.[/B] But once the world saw her compete and heard her story, she inspired fans unlike any contestant in the quiz show’s 33-year history. [B]Her run ended on the Wednesday episode, culminating a six-game winning streak that placed her among the year’s top performers. [/B]Before dying, she pledged to donate her more than $123,000 in winnings to the Cancer Research Institute.[/quote] [quote]Mr. Saunders, who has run the fan site since 2012, said a lot of the game show’s biggest fans tend not to favor specific contestants, focusing instead of playing along at home. Though the show establishes a brief back story for each player, the stories typically produce mild rooting interests, if anything at all. But Ms. Stowell’s story blew that sentiment away, as fans hoped to see her on their screens for as long as possible. And even without her story, she was a great contestant on the merit of her skills alone, he said. Just 38 contestants have won six or more episodes since 2003, when the show removed a limit of five victories. “[B]She has played the game as well as, if not better than, most contestants I have seen in the past decade, not to say nothing of the condition she was in when she was playing[/B],” Mr. Saunders said.[/quote] [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/us/-jeopardy-cindy-stowell-death.html?_r=0[/url] My family and I are pretty religious Jeopardy watchers and we knew about the news before the episodes aired. But tonight marked her final appearance, and after the show Alex Trebek made a special statement to give her a sendoff, explaining the situation. It's a damn shame because winning 5 games qualifies you for the tournament of champions and she would've been damn good.

Rest in Peace. I have so much respect for people who, even in their weakest and most vulnerable, show such incredible strength in helping others. We've lost someone who is evidently one of our best.

To honor her they should make an annually donation spree giving money to research against cancer. Fuck cancer. It is taking the best of us.

I feel so bad for making fun of Alex's awkward post-commercial break interactions with her

My father told me about this when we watched her first appearance the other night (we're behind because we record the episodes and watch them later). I wish he had waited until after her run to let me know about it. I know that she's done something admirable and I feel a bit selfish for admitting it, but I would have rather been sad in retrospect instead of having to watch this play out week after week. Ignorance is bliss in this instance. Although I guess I would have found out here anyway, after having only watched 2 of the 6 episodes, so I suppose it's a moot point after all. Rest in peace.