‘Jeopardy!’: 3 Big Bets Don’t Pay off in Final Jeopardy Stumper
This… Is… Jeopardy!
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the April 19 episode of Jeopardy!]
Another day, another Final Jeopardy stumper. None of the contestants in the April 19 episode of Jeopardy! answered the final prompt correctly. Another thing they had in common: their big final bets that didn’t pay off.
Playing in tonight’s episode was Deb Bilodeau, a winemaker from Oakland, California; Devin Lohman, an architectural designer and masters student from Peachtree City, Georgia; and Ben Spilsbury, a sales engineer from Long Island City, New York. Deb was the returning champ with one-day winnings of $16,601.
The winemaker enjoyed a strong lead throughout the first two rounds of play, which in a fun moment for us, included a TV category that featured New Girl, The White Lotus, 90 Day Fiancé, and more. By the first break, the winnings were: Deb $3,800, Devin $1,000, Ben $1,400. Going into Double Jeopardy (which featured a movie comedies category with a cameo from Ike Barinholtz), the scores were: Deb $7,600, Devin $1,800, Ben $1,600.
Double Jeopardy proved to be a lucrative round for the players. Through Daily Doubles and a slew of correct answers, Devin was able to take the lead. Heading into the final round, Deb was in second and Ben was in third. The scores: Devin $20,600, Deb $18,800, Ben $4,400. But all three of them would lose most, if not all, of their winnings before the game’s end.
The category was “Lives of the Poets.” The prompt: “At a seminary that classified students’ degree of faith, Emily Dickinson was ‘without’ this, which she compares to a bird in a poem.” The answer Ken Jennings was looking for was “hope.” Ben’s response was “faith.” Betting $4,399, he went down to just $1. And he still ended up in second place.
Deb guessed “doubt,” but they bet it all, losing the entirety of the $18,800 winnings and their chance at becoming a two-day champ. Devin’s response was “God.” He bet $19,400, leaving him with $1,200. It’s not often that a dollar amount that low wins the day, but win, it did!
Devin will return for the April 20 episode, where he hopefully won’t wager quite as much.
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