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Pablo Torre
Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre and today we're gonna find out what this sound is. Right after this ad.
Mina Kimes
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Pablo Torre
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Dominique
You guys got some filter set up? Or maybe I got a filter.
Pablo Torre
You do look suspiciously right. Smooth.
Dominique
I got a filter. How do I take this off? I. I'm fine with being real.
Mina Kimes
All right. Sorry about that. Wouldn't open for some reason. I think. I think we're good now though.
Dominique
Settings.
Mina Kimes
All right.
Dominique
Video effects. Oh, yeah. It's all the way turned up. Like I'm some type of ugg here.
Pablo Torre
Mina. Dominique has had his AI touch up activated to the maximum possible.
Mina Kimes
Oh, I didn't know that was the thing. I need to. Let me do that.
Dominique
I hate that. And it's on zero now. Let's take that off.
Pablo Torre
You don't want. You don't want a little bit? Just a little bit?
Dominique
Nah.
Pablo Torre
A little, little real.
Dominique
I. I'm tired of creating these unattainable beauty standards for young black men. I am bucking the system.
Pablo Torre
You also look tired now, incidentally. You visibly real, baby.
Dominique
It's real. I am tired. YouTube One kid having asses out here acting like you tired.
Mina Kimes
Sorry, guys. I have a heart out. And I know it's my fault for starting late. Cause I couldn't get to work.
Pablo Torre
So you win one Celebrity Jeopardy All Stars championship and suddenly Mina is too good.
Mina Kimes
Not because of me. It's because of David Dennis Jr. Who himself has a hard out. It's a trickle effect of hard outs.
Pablo Torre
Hard outs all the way down. Dominique, how did you congratulate Mina?
Dominique
I don't know. Say congratulations. How did you congratulate her? Were we supposed to do something?
Pablo Torre
Forced her onto the show to make content for me. That was my congratulations.
Dominique
You use her as you do you.
Pablo Torre
The ultimate compliment. The ultimate compliment is.
Mina Kimes
It is.
Pablo Torre
I also didn't theorize before the broadcast because I had theories about what was going to happen in the championship. So confidentiality was my ultimate gift. I dare say that.
Mina Kimes
Actually more so than Pablo forcing people onto his podcast being the ultimate compliment. Paul, Pablo keeping a secret really is the ultimate compliment.
Dominique
If you know Pablo, you told him though. So, like.
Mina Kimes
Yeah. And the fact that he didn't actually do anything with it is honestly a testament to our friendship.
Pablo Torre
That's right.
Dominique
Nice job, Pablo. So how jealous are you? Let's get to the point. Let's turn it on. You look, you are.
Mina Kimes
This is why I'm so glad we're doing this with Dominique.
Dominique
Let's keep it real, man. Like, let's keep it real.
Mina Kimes
My ally, my strong soldier.
Dominique
There's nothing in you. We know you man like, and I've said this about you. Too. You are the.
Ken Jennings
The.
Pablo Torre
This is not what I'm here to do.
Dominique
Most selfish person that I actually like. I've told you this a number of times, and I know how your brain operates. I know part of you. And like, Mina won't be upset because she knows this is you too. Part of you. Especially in arenas of trivia or intellect, part of you is like, that could have been me. Right?
Pablo Torre
I need to be very clear about something, because Dominique is saying things that I'm sure the many haters and losers out there fully agree with. I am merely here to clarify that Mina did one of the great things for me in my life. We were teammates in Celebrity Family Feud, and due to Dave Chang's incompetence, he only realized late that Mina and I could not be the tag team to do the final thing. And Mina said to me in a gift that I can only aspire to repay, one day, you go do this. It'll be good for your podcast. And Chang and I tag teamed and won.
Mina Kimes
Name a coin you throw into a
Ken Jennings
fountain to make a wish. You said the penny.
Mina Kimes
Yes.
Dominique
Survey said, oh, my God,
Mina Kimes
Why?
Pablo Torre
And I have to thank Mina Kimes for that. I owe her debt beyond repayment.
Dominique
Why didn't you do this back then?
Pablo Torre
Do what?
Dominique
When that happened and it was a big deal and it was like bouncing around the Internet and everyone was like, wow, Pablo, this is pretty cool.
Pablo Torre
At that point, I said it on the episode we did about it that you did not listen to.
Dominique
Oh, yeah.
Mina Kimes
I think Pablo, though Dominique is in his retelling of the Family Feud story, is echoing your point about me, which is that my most powerful driving animus is competitiveness more so than envy. In fact, in that moment, I was very mad at Dave for being terrible at Family Feud, and that was the competitiveness. And I was happy to let Pablo finish and win the game. Cause I knew he would rise to the occasion.
Dominique
Thank you.
Mina Kimes
I'm about the team, man.
Pablo Torre
In that moment, my driving motive.
Dominique
Pablo.
Pablo Torre
Right.
Dominique
Like, in that moment, there was a choice to be made, and it was meanest to be made. She had to. She would have to defer to you. And you tried. Rather than just answering this question from the start, we could have got off this if you just honest from the start, you went a roundabout way to try to pretend like what I said wasn't true.
Pablo Torre
I.
Dominique
And then you try to put it on her and say that she's like you. But you just then told a story that demonstrated that in a moment when she could have gone for the glory and the attention and the celebration she chose to give it to your needy ass.
Pablo Torre
When I watched Mina go and dominate Celebrity Jeopardy. All Stars, there are things that I will feel this about and have felt this about, but this one was like watching my friend go to space. Like, I've never competed at this. I was entirely and purely psyched to do this podcast until now.
Dominique
No, I. I think you are. And I think you were happy for Mina. I think that you could be just as happy for Mina as me or anybody else. But I also think that this is not like going to space because you're not a astronaut. This is a game that's based on knowledge and strategy. That's something that you believe yourself to be good at. That's all I'm saying.
Pablo Torre
This is where I need to reveal to the audience something.
Dominique
Did you do Quiz bowl in high school? You look like you did Quiz bowl in high school.
Pablo Torre
And the profiling is just impressive.
Dominique
It's not profile. Call it what you want. You can't beat me. Did you do it or not?
Pablo Torre
This is where I need to tell the people who are not the three of us talking to each other that I did not do Quiz Bowl. I do think that it would be very embarrassing. This is what I did think. I thought if I get invited to do Celebrity Jeopardy, I probably shouldn't do it because there's so little upside for me. I will only reveal myself to be not only not a champion, but like, will probably embarrass myself and that'd be bad.
Mina Kimes
I actually think that that's a deterrent for a lot of people. Jeopardy. As opposed to other celebrity game shows. Right. It gives you the highest risk of exposure, especially because the questions are easier than regular Jeopardy. So not only can you be exposed as maybe not knowing stuff, but you're exposed as not knowing stuff that a lot of people at home know or think they know without sort of getting at how much harder it is in the moment and how much more nerve wracking it can be. So the risk for embarrassment in Celebrity Jeopardy Is pretty high.
Dominique
I mean, I agree. I think, I would say about Mina. The thing that I think is pretty impressive is you have the ability to turn on the back against the wall urgency, the contract year level intensity that I don't have unless I'm actually in a contract year.
Ken Jennings
Well, that's why we're.
Pablo Torre
That's why we're here. That's why we're here today, Dominique, because you are. You are. I will disclose this. You are a competitor On Sports Jeopardy. The new show hosted by Joe Buck. And you cannot talk about this, but I am spoiling every agreement that you may.
Dominique
A result of your investigative reporting.
Pablo Torre
We are.
Dominique
I haven't told anybody.
Pablo Torre
We are constantly investigating and constantly fetishizing awards in the course of investigation. And we're going to do film room because what we both have to learn from our friend Mina, I think is meaningful for you. It's news you could use as a contestant. And for me, it is something that I need to make peace with because, yeah, it's probably like 99 to 1. I'll grant you there's a 1% where I was like, oh, I'm gonna hear about this for a while. And I want to start actually with our other friend who I did think about and really felt terribly for in all of this. Celebrity Jeopardy. All star Katie Nolan. And she is how I first got into the film room at the very beginning of our decision as a show to really commit to doing celebrity game show journalism. Because it was Mina. It was Lisa Ann Walters from Abbott Elementary. It was the semifinal of Celebrity Jeopardy. All Stars. Mina. And this happens.
Ken Jennings
A blue white supergiant that will go out a supernova. Rigel shines on in this constellation known for a three star fashion accessory.
Mina Kimes
Rigel shines up this constellation known for a three star fashion.
Ken Jennings
Mina.
Mina Kimes
What is a. I don't understand the question.
Ken Jennings
The fashion accessory is a belt because this is Orion.
Mina Kimes
Oh, okay.
Ken Jennings
Rigel is found in Orion. But you only lose 1,500.
Mina Kimes
That's right. Now you're tied with me, tied with
Ken Jennings
Katie for second place. Solidarity.
Mina Kimes
What happened that's actually not shown on the tape is we went to a, I think commercial break not long after that. Cause I remember I had to do an interview when I was like, way down. You do two interviews, right? In Celebrity Jeopardy. And the first one I think I was either winning or whatever. The second one I had just completely. The reason I was down is I had gotten two daily double. I suck at daily doubles. Which I've learned in the process of doing Jeopardy. By the way. Something about that with the lights and the timing where my brain just completely glitches. And what happened there is we went to break and there's break between the tapings. And Katie leans over and gives me a pep talk that's not shown on camera. And she's such a good friend in that moment, I wanted to highlight it. She leans over and she's like, hey, just play your game. This isn't over. And it's really True, there's three rounds and triple jeopardies were so much more that really the first two rounds don't matter that much. And she says that to me and like, it was so sweet and nice. I wish it was shown on television because it really helped calm me down after I was so awful in that, I think Double Jeopardy round.
Dominique
If I'm ever on Jeopardy. I would love one day to be on that show in some capacity. However, I'd say that me and A demonstrated again, like, share the spotlight. I think this episode is not going to be about Jeopardy. It's going to be about Pablo learning from Mina to be a better human.
Pablo Torre
Well, this takes us to Final Jeopardy. Here are the stakes. Lisa Ann, 9600. You 8000. Katie Nolan 5100. For people who are not familiar with, again, the behind the scenes stuff, what is the vibe before that last moment?
Mina Kimes
So you get a pen and paper, pencil and paper, and you get to work out the math of your wagering. And I, I don't know what Katie and Lisa Ann, if they had noticed that I was literally filling my entire page up with calculations. But I was like. Because this was the exact scenario that I had prepared the most for. So going into the Jeopardy. Quarterfinals and semifinals, I really didn't prepare at all. It was like during the football season, I showed up. I didn't think anything of it, but there was one thing I prepared for going into this game, which was Final Jeopardy wagering. Which folks who are really into Jeopardy. Or who compete on Jeopardy. Spend a lot of time thinking about this. It is arguably the most important thing you can prepare for in Jeopardy because it's the only thing you where you know what's gonna happen versus the categories. So Final Jeopardy, the way it works is first place is kind of the only known variable. If you're in first place 99 times out of a hundred, certainly in celebrity Jeopardy, they're just gonna bet to double up second. Now folks say, well, what if you know second place is gonna do the strategy? You don't. You can't. You don't do it right? Like, if you're in first place and you have a lead, you simply cannot bet anything other than against the possibility of second place doubling up on you. Does anyone have any questions before I keep.
Pablo Torre
Yeah, who are the. You keep on referencing folks? Say, who else is talking about this?
Mina Kimes
So my, in my research, I had just kind of like was searching for Final Jeopardy strategy. I came across some really helpful Reddit threads where people had laid out different scenarios. There's also a great website I found. It's the first one that comes out when you search for wagering strategy that laid out every possible scenario. I actually spent time in my trailer before Jeopardy. The only thing I did was practice some scenarios with hand and paper just to. To see how it would go. So anyways, that's first place. Second place is where things get really interesting. If you are in second place and you are over two thirds of the way to first place, which is what I was and I realized at the end there, right, you should bet $0. Now you also have to bet to cover third, which is what I did. And third place we'll get to that is the complete wild card in all of this. But the reason why you don't bet much money and potentially $0 if you don't have to cover third is your only chance of winning is if first place is wrong. Right. Like, and because you have so much money, first place has to bet a lot, which Lisanne Walter did to cover you. So if you bet zero or very little money, if they're wrong, which is your only chance, you have to live in that world. If you're right, you'll win. But if you're wrong, you will also win because of what first place had to do, was forced to do. And ultimately, that's the scenario that played out with me and Lisa Ann. We were both wrong. We can get to Katie in a second. And because she had to bet, I think she bet $7,000 to cover me. She fell down below me.
Dominique
Put much more like simply is the only way you can win is if first place loses. Because if first place gets it right, it doesn't matter what you bet. Right. And so. And then.
Mina Kimes
Yeah, but it's hard, honestly, like, it is hard to go up there and bet $0 and people don't do it.
Pablo Torre
This brings us to what happened.
Ken Jennings
Let's see how this goes. Katie Nolan's in third with $5100. Squinching up her face a bit, she wrote down Alexa and she's correct. A nod to the Library of Alexandria. That's why it's named Alexa.
Mina Kimes
Hey. Hey.
Ken Jennings
How much did you wager, Katie? Okay, you didn't wager a thing. You still have $5100. Mina Kimes was in second place with $8000. Did she know it was Alexa? Ah, she guessed. Claude, how much did you risk? Another small wager, $2,210. She now has $5,790. Lisa Ann Walter had the lead coming into final Jeopardy. Did she think of Alexa? What is Babylon? No. How much did you risk? Oh, a big wager. The biggest one takes you down to 2,600. And Mina Kimes, you're going to the celebrity Jeopardy. All Stars final.
Mina Kimes
I didn't get it.
Ken Jennings
Congratulations.
Mina Kimes
Okay, so, yeah, Katie did get the answer right, and she bet $0. And she has talked about how she went back and forth on what to do the final of Celebrity Jeopardy. Last season, I risked it all and I got it wrong, which means I ended with zero. This year, I get to the end, I'm like it. I'm just gonna risk it all. I risk it all as my wager. And I'm sitting there, and then I go, don't make the same mistake twice. So I had to call them over and go, can I change this to zero? And at first they were like, no. And I was like, no, please, I don't. They had to, like, consult to see if it was allowed. They changed it to zero for me. Mina goes, I didn't even get it right. I was like, I know. Are you trying to turn me into the joker? I know. You didn't even get it right. And I said in the aftermath, like, you gotta. Everybody's like, it's so obvious you should bet at all. It is not obvious. Like, why would Katie think in. Why would anyone think in Celebrity Jeopardy that second place would not bet at all? Because I. And I've watched some celebrity Jeopardy. Games. They usually do, right? Like, typically, I. I went back and looked at Ike Barinholtz, who we're going to talk about his final. Patton Oswald bet it all. And second, like, it is not at all unreasonable for third place to think that first place and second place would cancel each other out. And Katie also correctly knew her only chance is if we were both wrong.
Dominique
It's. I mean, it's the obvious situation where your instinct is, if you're trailing, like, I gotta go for it. Like, that's your. I think, while it seems obvious now that Mina's explained it to you, if you were put in that situation, your instinct is always like, damn, I'm in second place. I gotta catch first place. Like, if I double my score, I won't catch him. But what the hell? I gotta try to catch them and then hope they get it wrong and fall underneath you. But you have to understand that no matter what, they have to get it wrong. So if they get it wrong, what's the least amount that you can put at risk to still put yourself ahead of?
Pablo Torre
But this is the thing where this Katie got the answer right. And that sucks so much to just,
Mina Kimes
like, the awful watching it.
Ken Jennings
But. But.
Pablo Torre
But it speaks to, like, the whole thing of this is a game in which the meta of the game is actually essential in ways that are beyond merely knowing the right answer. I'm so impressed in the NBA, in the NFL, when there is, like, this optimized strategy that for some reason has not become obvious to everybody else. And so the time in which you can benefit from both having the knowledge and the strategy. Mina, like, this is the thing that blew my mind. I'm like, how the amount of time that goes to the strategy, that's what blew me away and really impressed me is like, how you. How you did all that stuff that no one ever saw that part.
Mina Kimes
I mean, it honestly isn't that much time. Like, you just have to, like, I was literally the night before, I was like, oh, this is what I should do. And the other thing I want to add is, like, I really didn't want to be in third place because of what we're describing with Katie, because I didn't feel there was an optimal betting strategy in third place. I read all the. Like, to be clear, in third place, if you are playing third place and you are in regular jeopardy, you should anticipate second place doing what I did and then do the complicated math to figure out how far second place will fall and how far first place was fall. But why would you think that in Celebrity Jeopardy? Like, I. And I was thinking that too. I was like, if I'm third place and it's celebrity Jeopardy, I am not. I'm gonna assume second place bets at all. Like, I would. So I just want folks to lay off her. I don't know. I. I was upset by, like, her, and I texted a lot afterwards, and I just, like, felt so awful the way it all played out, especially because she was so sweet to me during the taping, and she's my friend. But I also want to emphasize, like, what she did was not everybody's hounding her. And I don't think it's as obvious as people think. That's all I want to say.
Pablo Torre
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Dominique
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Pablo Torre
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Mina Kimes
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Pablo Torre
What happens in sports, Dom? In real professional sports, right? It's like you narrowly win something and you're like, oh, I got away with one. And that's where I just laugh at what Mina does once she has survived a near death experience like that.
Mina Kimes
So I wrapped up taping. I was shocked. And then they told me the final is not going to be for two months. And then I they told me getting into the final, you get $200,000 if you win, you're charity dust, right? If you win, they get a million dollars. My nonprofit and I've been playing for them and I've raised money for them. I've done some stuff with them over the years, and I played for them last time. It's called sila. And we can talk about them at some point in the show, but they are here in Los Angeles. They are a small nonprofit that is double their operating budget.
Pablo Torre
It's wild.
Mina Kimes
And so I thought. I remember in that moment thinking, okay, so if I win this silly game, they can. This is gonna completely change the trajectory of. Sorry. I felt like I'm sounding self aggrandizing, but it is a big freaking deal for them. All I have to do is outwork everyone else for two months. And just the mental calculus. I was like, do whatever it takes to win this. Don't just show up next time. I think the hardest part of studying for certain things, and I'd like to hear your guys's thoughts on this too, is not the actual studying, but knowing how to study. Does that make. Especially for something like Jeopardy. It's like, what do you even do to prepare? It reminds me that's the hardest part on this show.
Pablo Torre
I say all the time when Dominique's on what his AOL screen name was to give you a sense of, like, how committed a person can be to a goal and how to practice and prepare for something. Because that, to me is still the gold standard. Is like, I'm gonna do this. I need to do this. I'm gonna be NFL bound, whatever the number was. And I'm gonna.
Dominique
I mean, it becomes your identity, that point, which is probably pretty unhealthy and unsafe going forward. But Mina's identity a little bit better than mine. I'm a sacrifice so I can save people. I was like, let me get this money and these girls also.
Mina Kimes
I wanted to win. I wanted to win. I did want to win. I am very competitive. We. We know that about myself. But Pablo's talking about how you had, like, the goal. You make it in the NFL. Yeah, like, a lot of people want to be in the NFL, but, like, you, not only do you have to be willing to put in the time, you actually had to figure out how to spend that time, how to optimize that time. And I think that was the hardest thing for me with Jeopardy. Prep is like, even knowing what to do. I was fortunate in that I had two people, both named James, who I was able to connect with and lean on in this process early, who kind of helped me chart that path of studying. Because if it was just me, I don't think I would have known how to prepare. For Jeopardy.
Dominique
It's a weird conversation to have. And as a sports person, I, I think I could. It's a pretty good parallel because, yeah, it's about the focus and the commitment and the hard work. And then it's also about knowing the right things to do. Like, I, I, when I was going to college, I, I played a bunch of positions in high school. I got offers to play different positions in college. And there were different positions that would have been more glorifying, a little easier or whatever. It's like, no, corner's the hardest position to play. It's the most difficult. And it's most likely I can come in and start and make an impact. So I decided after scoring a bunch of touchdowns and I was going like, I'm be a corner. And then I decided I'm going to go to Maryland because I think their corners stink. And I could, I could start right away. And that was like the first decision for me that felt like a series of decisions that made it feel less and less like fun football game I love and more like strategy, job like optimization. And generally one of my major critiques about sports in life right now is like, all of our drive to like, optimize everything. I got into it with one of my Silicon Valley friends. Cause he tracks his sleep and calories and everything. And it's like, I was out there for the super bowl and we went to dinner and he was like, you gonna have me drinking, it's gonna up my sleep score. I was like, what your sleep score? We have a good time, baby. Let's be happy.
Mina Kimes
This is why Dominique and I are so similar. Don't you feel like for me, balance in life is figuring out which things you wanna optimize and which things you don't. And I think being so, like, dialed in, in other parts of my life allows me to be more relaxed in others. Do you feel the same way?
Pablo Torre
Unfortunately, I too, tell Liz this is what being chill is. Me working really obsessively on a story we're doing to the detriment, admittedly, of just like, focus on other things. For me, I think work ethic is one part of it, obviously, and certainly, like, the horsepower is another part of it, intellectual or physical. But the other one is just like, obsession and like, being really invested in trying to do this thing you set out to do. Like, I actually enjoy that process. It's not like I am miserable when I'm working on something that I care about. I'm like.
Mina Kimes
But I think it is really important you are not like that in every other part of your life at all. Like, you're like a. Yeah. Socially, you're like a very relaxed person. Go with the flow. I don't know, I just think that, you know, there's definitely. Dominique, you're definitely right. Like, being obsessive about work can kind of drain some of the fun for sure. But I think it also opens you up to be more relaxed in other realms of your life.
Dominique
The idea of, like, trade offs in general is something that comes up for me and just about everything that I talk about and think about. And it's a helpful way to think about everything for me, at least right now. And I think you're making it clear that those trade offs come and I think while I'm listening to Pablo. So, to be honest, as long as I had known Pablo, I had never seen that particular gear until this, this show that he wanted to launch. And I was like, oh, he got a little bit of dog in him, I guess, because Pablo was always, like, clearly very smart and very talented writer, but was always the guy that was like, I'll go with it. I want to have fun. But more jokes than, like, analysis when you're working with him like that. That was Pablo. That was who he was. And then all of a sudden it was like. And he was always available. Like, you call him, you want to hang out, Pablo's free. Pablo's ready. Pablo's going to dinner. Pablo's going to a game.
Mina Kimes
We really are always fighting for dinner.
Dominique
And then, and it's like Pablo would call, you just want to talk. And then he started his show. Then it was like, Pablo's calling because he's trying to mine you for an idea. Pablo doesn't care about anything.
Mina Kimes
Guys, we're talking right now, baby.
Dominique
We're talking right now.
Pablo Torre
B.
Mina Kimes
The feeling I despise most in life is feeling unprepared.
Pablo Torre
Well, this is why Mina, according to, of course, Ken Jennings, the host of Jeopardy. Is quote, out here buying Jeopardy. Buzzers on the dark web.
Mina Kimes
So I mentioned that two James's were influential. So I want to talk about James Tyler in a second, who works at ESPN and who was massively important in this for me. But the first person I was introduced to was James Holzhauer, who is one of the most winningest contestants of all. I think he's won the most money, right, like, per game of all time, arguably revolutionized the game with some of his tactics. Was a little bit, you know, divisive. I love watching him play. I just. He's super cold. His sports better anyway, so my agent represents him. When I told him I was in the finals, he asked if I wanted to do a zoom with him. He graciously spoke with me and the number one thing we talked about was the buzzer because it is the thing that trips people up the most in jeopardy. It is the number one reason why people who are come in knowing all the answers lose. The way it works is you cannot buzz in too early or you get locked out, but you want to buzz in obviously faster than everyone else. It's like a weird little device. There's nothing like it. It's kind of like a video game controller and buzzing is unlocked, meaning you can buzz in when the lights go on or when Ken Jennings stops answering the question. So I felt that I was not great at buzzing. I still felt like that the first two games and Jeopardy. James gave me a link to a buzzer that I was able to buy for I think like about $80 on the Internet somewhere. And it's a little different from the Jeopardy. Buzzer. It has a little less give, but it's a good practice tool. And then he also sent me a book by G. Holtz Nagel about buzzing.
Dominique
What the.
Mina Kimes
It's an 80 page book about buzzing. So the other thing he did was he sent me a list of books that you thought would be helpful, which.
Dominique
Can we take a second please, for the buzzer? A moment for the buzzer conversation. So there is to tie this back to the other thing that Mina was saying about like a level of preparedness. And it's a very sports concept of like, give it your all, push through whatever difficulty, do the best you can, study hard and you can honestly and like earnestly feel that you've done that without then also having the creativity and ingenuity to find a different level. So like the concept from a sports standpoint is like, lift as much as you can when you're tired, keep running. Like, keep doing that. Like this is a different level. Maybe everybody's doing it wrong. Maybe I can find another way to even work harder.
Pablo Torre
There is a thin line between mean has optimized Jeopardy And Mina's doing Spygate. Now she's doing Jeopardy. Spygate.
Mina Kimes
Most Jeopardy contestants, I came to learn a lot of them own this buzzer. People who are serious about Jeopardy. Buy the buzzer. I think everything I did, by the way, is completely of normal for people who are in regular Jeopardy. I think the only thing that makes it weird is that it's celebrity Jeopardy.
Dominique
I think that the people who get on normal Jeopardy. This is their moment. This is their. Like, this is their chance of a lifetime, right? Like, this is. They've been trying to get on Jeopardy. This is a chance for them to make a lot of money and have big success. People who are on celebrity Jeopardy, it's like, hey, let me promote my movie and maybe win a couple bucks for charity.
Mina Kimes
One of the celebrity Jeopardy. Producers told me something the other day, which was, no one who competes on Jeopardy. Actually wants to be on tv. They just want to play Jeopardy. Which just cracked me up. It's not really even about the money for a lot of them. Like, they just want to win Jeopardy. Because they're all people who, like, love trivia.
Dominique
So the other thing I just realized, I would. Sorry. I just realized that I would not like Mina, the person who is Mina for rec sports. Like, that's. It's like Mina came to the rec sports league with all the headbands in the fancy shoes, training all season to. To. To win the men's league title. And I'm like, what is this? Get a load of this, mother. It didn't.
Ken Jennings
In the chain of Southern lit, his library at Roanoke has the last novel he read, William Styron's Lie down in darkness. Mina.
Mina Kimes
Louis Faulkner.
Ken Jennings
That's correct. For 500, the Gobi Desert stretches 500,000 square miles between China and this landlocked country.
Mina Kimes
Mina, what is Mongolia?
Ken Jennings
Right again. Though associated with the bike, this company, founded in 2012, offers a rowing machine that works 86% of your muscles in just 15 minutes.
Mina Kimes
Mina, what is Peloton?
Ken Jennings
Peloton also has a rowing machine. Arkansas jazzed up pickles by mixing in this drink that comes in packets. And all we can say is, oh, yeah.
Mina Kimes
Nina, what is Kool Aid?
Ken Jennings
Right.
Mina Kimes
I actually think, Dominique, there was a moment in that show that, like in the finals that captured exactly what you're describing where both Ike Barry Noltz and Steven Weber look at me. My agent Mike was like, well, I represent James Holzhauer if you ever want to talk to him.
Dominique
Wow.
Mina Kimes
So I actually connected with him a little bit, and he gave me some. Some buzzer advice that I will not be sharing. Shout out.
Ken Jennings
James, you've gone to great lengths, I think, to work on your buzzer technique.
Mina Kimes
I also bought a buzzer.
Ken Jennings
You bought a buzzer?
Dominique
Bought a buzzer.
Mina Kimes
It's different. You bought a buzzer.
Pablo Torre
Buzzer.
Dominique
It's different.
Pablo Torre
You bought a buzzer. Buzzer. It's different.
Ken Jennings
GG
Mina Kimes
Yeah. I think there somebody also Noticed there was a moment where they kind of show the cross talk before going to break where Ike was like, what the hell? Who's lovely? I so lovely. The other thing James did was give me a list of books which I have them all here. There's more, you know, books on kids books, books on like history. And then I.
Pablo Torre
This 1910s is what the title of this.
Mina Kimes
These books were amazing. I found they're by the company that used to make BrainQuest. Yeah. And it's just like a 500 page book about world history and US history. So, you know, this was all during the football season. I traveled to Monday night for NFL Line Live. Every game. And leaving football, you have football to watch, but when you're going to football, you don't have football to watch. So I would just read these books on my plane trips during the football season as I was preparing.
Pablo Torre
Which is to say that all of this paid off.
Ken Jennings
Judy Garland is to Liza Minnelli as Melanie Griffith is to her. Ike, who is Tippi Hedren? No, I'm sorry, Mina, who is Dakota Johnson? That's correct. Cutie is Liza's mom. Wrong direction. Don't get mad, get everything was a tagline to the film adaptation of this novel about a trio of spurned spouses.
Mina Kimes
Mina, what is the first Wise Club?
Ken Jennings
Right? This psychic waitress pays a visit to club Dead where vampires like her BF Bill Compton can sip true blood.
Mina Kimes
Mina Uasuki Stackhouse.
Ken Jennings
That's correct. For $1,500.
Pablo Torre
And I was looking, I was like watching this happen and I was looking like, when are we gonna get the heat check? When are we going to get Amina Kimes heat check. And anyone who has watched this show or done television with Mina Dominique knows what Mina's confidence really sounds like, because it sounds like this.
Ken Jennings
It would be especially appropriate to use this cockney greeting with California's Gavin Newsom.
Mina Kimes
Mina, what is. Hello, governor.
Ken Jennings
Oh, man. It's like I'm in London. That's amazing.
Mina Kimes
Okay, so that, that moment right there at my watch party, everybody was like, Ken wants me to. To win. When he laughed at my stupid joke. That's true. But I did, I did. I did want to mention the other. The other thing I did to prepare the other James, if that's okay. So my friend James Styler, who edits soccer at espn is a former Jeopardy. Competitor. He won a regular Jeopardy game. He is an absolute gem of a human being. And the last time I was on, he was so encouraging and he was like, if you ever want to Train. His words, we can train. And I was like, it's fi. It's over. It's fine. The second time I remembered that. And when I made it to the finals, I said, hey, so how about that offer? So in that process, I discovered that a lot of Jeopardy. Competitors are in discords. And James is friends with many other former Jeopardy. Winners, including some who have won quite a few, and that occasionally we'll get together to play old Jeopardy. Games. And he said, we will play with you. So for about four hours a week, Saturdays, when my kid was napping in particular, I would use my buzzer. So this is how I got good at the buzzer, actually. And they all had buzzers too. And we would do what they call Fight Club, which is play Jeopardy. Via zoom. And I would get my ass kicked by these guys. And I'm not revealing all their names. They're like a data analytics person in Vancouver, a doctor in Toronto. He's just like, you know, a principal. Like, just smart people with real jobs. And they would just smoke me in Jeopardy. And it was super dispiriting. But they kept saying, mina, like you are playing Jeopardy. Was like, freaks. When you play with celebrities, it's going to be taking off the weighted vest. I didn't believe them until I showed up and realized that basically getting my ass kicked Rocky style for two months had actually made me stronger as a player.
Pablo Torre
Turns out the first rule of Jeopardy. Fight Club is not the same as the first rule of Fight Club. Fight Club.
Mina Kimes
I want to thank them mostly because they're just. They did it for no reason other than to help me and also just because I. I mean, I'm sure they enjoyed beating my ass.
Pablo Torre
It builds to a final Jeopardy that I gotta say, as a guy who has. Because of his friends Katie and Mina and Tim Simons, by the way, who Mina destroyed en route to this championship. I've watched so much, so much celebrity Jeopardy. And this was again, a beautiful scene because of Mina's friendship and also deeply anticlimactic.
Ken Jennings
It's the name of an 1873 novel subtitled A Tale of Today, a period of US history, and a TV drama that debuted in 2022. Thirty seconds, finalists. Good luck. Ike Barinholtz had $5,100 coming into final. What response did you think of? You wrote down what is the gilded age? And that is correct. The Mark Twain novel, the historical period, and the new hit show for HBO. So you're going to be adding to that 5100 Ike. In fact, you'll double it. 10,200.
Dominique
Okay.
Ken Jennings
Will it be enough? Let's find out first, starting with Steven Weber. 10,700. Did he think of the gilded age things to come? No, unfortunately not. What did you wager, Steven? You'll lose 8,000. Leaving you with 2,700. So this tournament comes down to Mina Kimes. 12,500. Did she come up with the gilded Age? She has it. What did she wager?
Mina Kimes
Eating grin.
Pablo Torre
Ugh. Just
Ken Jennings
8910 takes in a $21,410. You're the winner of celebrity Jeopardy. All Stars. Congratulations on winning the.
Pablo Torre
I just gotta say, the acting. The acting.
Mina Kimes
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay, so folks have asked me about this, and so Ceela had a watch party, and they sent me reaction videos from the party, and they were all like, no. And I didn't realize until watching it back that I had the producers all say, don't give it away if you know it. And I think I leaned into the not giving away a little too hard because they were genuinely upset in that moment.
Pablo Torre
I was not fooled, Dominique. I was not fooled.
Dominique
I mean, I guess maybe if I didn't know Mina and I was watching, I would say that's incredible acting. But I think I also knew the results. So I was watching to see the bad acting. And then after that, we saw a momentary glimpse of the true Mina before she went into fake humble. Yes, because that was the best one.
Pablo Torre
She was like, show that.
Dominique
She was like, I might lose. Gotcha, motherf ckers. Oh, look at me. I did it. It was ridiculous.
Mina Kimes
You know what, folks? People did notice was because they showed the whole final Jeopardy. Clips here. I wrote it down immediately. So I kind of gave it away because I, you know, I didn't. And then I tried to do a fake thinking face for like, 30 seconds or however long it is. But the entire time I was thinking about after I won, I was already thinking about, like, I got. I was like, I'm going to call Sila, the woman who runs it. And I was thinking about exactly what I would say on the phone call to tell her I won because I knew I'd won and it was right. And I was just, like, fantasizing. I was pre fantasizing about the call that I would get to make in a half an hour.
Dominique
Can I say something else that I realized as we were talking about this is. It popped into my head listening to Pablo earlier and also listen to how Mina prepares that we used to joke back when I played football is like, I'm glad football exists because I don't know what else X person would be doing if they didn't have football. I heard the same thing when Pablo was talking about enjoying the misery of like preparing for something. And I was like, I'm glad Pablo found his thing. Cause if he didn't find his thing, he would have found somewhere to put all that. Goddamn. It may not have been great.
Pablo Torre
It would have been a very different. Yeah, a very different bunch of people that would be willing to hang out with me, I think.
Mina Kimes
Yeah, you know, who wishes that Pablo had found something else. Oh, the mentalist.
Taylor from Total Soccer Show
Hey everybody, this is Taylor from the Total Soccer show, and this episode is brought to you by Hotels.com the summer of soccer is right around the corner and if you aren't using hotels.com to book the experience of a lifetime, it's worth asking why? As a member, you save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world and earn rewards on every single stay. Which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. So whether you're following your team across North America this summer or planning a well earned escape after being glued to football for weeks on end, make sure you book on hotels.com and start earning rewards. Because when it comes to hotels, it's all in the name.
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Pablo Torre
Today we'll attempt a feat once thought impossible. Overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing a SOFI personal loan.
Ken Jennings
With it, you could save big on
Pablo Torre
interest charges by consolidating into one Low
Dominique
fixed rate monthly payment.
Pablo Torre
Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan. Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more. Loans originated by Sofi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. How heavy is this trophy? Can we watch? Can we Just watch. Because every good sports movie, of course, culminates with a proper ceremony.
Mina Kimes
I'm crying, actually. I don't know if that they didn't really show in on the broadcast. I started crying.
Dominique
Is fly, though. I love that.
Mina Kimes
It's the hardest I've ever smiled in my life.
Dominique
It's an incredible trophy.
Pablo Torre
I was gonna say, I asked you
Dominique
a couple days ago, did you get to keep it?
Mina Kimes
Yeah, I haven't added it to my TV backdrop.
Pablo Torre
But you have it. You have it in your house.
Mina Kimes
Yeah. I'll get it. Get it. I'll go ahead. One second. Maybe your listeners can debate for me. Is this too douchey to include in my TV backdrop? I haven't been able to decide.
Pablo Torre
Hold on. Put it square in front of the camera so we can fully put it on the pole take in.
Mina Kimes
Is this douchey for Mina to add?
Dominique
You're asking a cornerback? Nah, put that up. You want it? Put that up.
Pablo Torre
Did you dent the J?
Mina Kimes
It's like, oh, my God. Okay, I fixed it. Probably my kid.
Pablo Torre
You fixed it?
Mina Kimes
Fixed? Yeah, yeah.
Dominique
You gotta put that up, man. I mean, people put. People put Emmys up behind them. This is.
Mina Kimes
Well, I do that because everybody does that at espn.
Pablo Torre
I've never seen this before. This trophy has three different punctuation marks in it. Question mark, exclamation point at hyphen in all Stars is an incredible, I think, singular aesthetic. It is so blinged out.
Mina Kimes
There's a lot going on. I haven't won a trophy this big in a long time. And I gotta say, it felt pretty good. I also got to do the giant check yesterday, guys.
Pablo Torre
I was gonna say, is there a giant check?
Mina Kimes
Yeah, that's fun. It's a pretty big moment for me too. Yeah, the ABC in LA here came out. We did like a little check presentation. The check was signed by Ken Jennings, which doesn't like legal, but it's fine. I love the but for people who live in la, SILA is like truly one of the most amazing organizations. It's the tiniest nonprofit. They have like five employees and hundreds of volunteers and they run drop in centers for homeless folks around Los Angeles in East la. And they're going to get to open an entirely new one now with this money, they're buying a van, emergency care, food, hygiene kits, things like that. In the past, I had helped them raise money to have a mobile shower program. But they also do all this like nerdy stuff that people don't talk about. When you think about the housing crisis in Los Angeles, for example, to apply for housing. And something they do is they help a lot of people who want to apply for housing. You need an ID to need an id. You need a birth certificate. You need a birth certificate, you need an address. And so they're able to help people actually, like, get on computers, do this, like paperwork, have an address that they can have it sent to. And that's the kind of stuff nobody talks is really, really important, those services. And just getting to see them do that firsthand and knowing what they're gonna do with the money has been just one of the most magical experiences of my life. So, sela, please check it out. Sela Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles. Thank you.
Dominique
Pablo didn't follow up because he's a journalist. But you said that it's been a long time since you won a trophy this big. What was the other trophy?
Mina Kimes
The second grade spelling bee trophy which has come up recently. Transitioned that photo.
Pablo Torre
Yeah.
Mina Kimes
Cause I've been a spelling bee next
Pablo Torre
year with Dominique hosting the show. Oh.
Dominique
I mean, I do everything, man. What can I do?
Pablo Torre
You know what, guys? The word that I want to spell at the end here is F, R, I, E, N, D S, H I, P. It's beautiful.
Mina Kimes
It's really good. Thank you.
Dominique
Bye.
Mina Kimes
Bye, guys. I gotta go.
Dominique
All right, See,
Pablo Torre
This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media production and I'll talk to you next time.
Taylor from Total Soccer Show
Hey, everybody. This is Taylor from the Total Soccer show. And this episode is brought to you by Hotels.com the summer of soccer is right around the corner. And if you aren't using hotels.com to book the experience of a lifetime, it's worth asking why? As a member, you save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world and earn rewards on every single stay. Which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. So whether you're following your team across North America this summer, or planning a well earned escape after being glued to football for weeks on end, make sure you book on hotels.com and start earning rewards. Because when it comes to hotels, it's all in the name.
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Mina Kimes
Summer smells like citrus in the sun Turn your home into a daily getaway with Pura's new summer Collection. Find your flow and fragrance, and explore the scents@pura.com.
Podcast: Pablo Torre Finds Out
Air Date: May 26, 2026
Guests: Mina Kimes, Domonique Foxworth
Host: Pablo Torre
This episode dives deep into the culture, nerves, strategy, and psychology of celebrity game show competition—specifically, Mina Kimes’ triumphant run on "Celebrity Jeopardy! All Stars." With fellow game show nerds and close friends Pablo Torre and Domonique Foxworth, the show uses a film-room style “talkumentary” approach to analyze not just how Mina won, but what it takes to excel at the highest levels of televised trivia. The conversation ranges from psychological preparation and optimal strategies to debates on competition, friendship, and sports-like obsession—with a healthy dose of playful self-mockery and behind-the-scenes stories.
What Really Decides a Championship: Wagering!
Memorable Betting Drama
The Buzzer: Jeopardy’s Secret Boss Level
Micro-Optimization vs. Spygate
Mental & Time Management Lessons
Celebration, Acting, and Charitable Impact
Is It Douchey to Display Your Trophy?
| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|------|--------| | 03:43 | “I'm tired of creating these unattainable beauty standards for young black men. I am bucking the system.” | Dominique | | 10:08 | “Jeopardy gives you the highest risk of exposure…so the risk for embarrassment in Celebrity Jeopardy is pretty high.” | Mina | | 17:24 | “If first place gets it right, it doesn't matter what you bet... The only way you can win is if first place loses.” | Dominique (on Final Jeopardy betting logic) | | 26:24 | “The hardest part of studying…is not the actual studying, but knowing how to study.” | Mina | | 33:30 | “The number one thing we talked about was the buzzer... It's the number one reason why people who are come in knowing all the answers lose.” | Mina (on prepping with James Holzhauer) | | 39:55 | “What is... Hello, governor.” | Mina (her “heat check” mic drop answer in the championship) | | 44:46 | “She was like, I might lose. Gotcha, motherf---ers! Oh, look at me. I did it. It was ridiculous.” | Dominique (on Mina's fake Final Jeopardy tension) | | 50:01 | “...in LA, SELA is like truly one of the most amazing organizations... For me, just knowing what they're gonna do with the money has been just one of the most magical experiences of my life.” | Mina (on her chosen charity) | | 51:47 | “The word that I want to spell at the end here is F R I E N D S H I P. It's beautiful.” | Pablo (ending on a note of camaraderie) |
This episode is not just a Jeopardy "film study." It's a revealing, highly entertaining exploration of competition, preparation, ego, generosity, and what it means to truly want something—for yourself, your team, and your community.