‘Jeopardy!’ Star James Holzhauer Reacts After Mattea Roach Drama
The semi-finals got underway in the Jeopardy! Masters tournament on Monday (May 22) night, and James Holzhauer continued where he left off, racking up more wins and topping the leaderboard.
However, for a moment, it seemed like Mattea Roach was going to beat the self-styled game show supervillain. In the second game of the night, Roach made an impressive comeback in the Double Jeopardy round, landing on two Daily Doubles and boosting their total to 26,800, while Holzhauer stood at 18,800 and Andrew He at 6,400.
This meant for the first time this season, Holzhauer was not leading going into Final Jeopardy. Unfortunately for Roach, they failed to answer the final clue (This 16th-century ship got its name from the crest of Christopher Hatton, which featured a deer). Holzhauer and He both answered correctly (the Golden Hind), giving the former a winning total of 24,700 while Roach dropped to 15,999 (He finished on 12,484).
“Look at Mattea making this game interesting!” wrote one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.
“Even with the loss, that was probably the best performance against James of the tournament and Mattea did great,” said another viewer. “Sucks that they lost but I hope them being the only person to be leading James going into FJ this special gives them the respect they deserve against the naysayers.”
“Bummer Mattea’s great performance didn’t materialize into a W. They did a fantastic job,” added another.
Even Holzhauer praised Roach, taking to Twitter after the episode to share his thoughts. “@mattearoach turned both of these halftime scores into commanding leads at the end of Double Jeopardy,” he tweeted alongside a photo of the episode’s stats. “Do not piss off a Canadian, no matter how friendly they seem.”
.@mattearoach turned both of these halftime scores into commanding leads at the end of Double Jeopardy.
Do not piss off a Canadian, no matter how friendly they seem. pic.twitter.com/gQddhDX4Vp
— x – James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) May 23, 2023
It was a great night for Holzhauer all around, as he also won the first game of against He and Matt Amodio. It was especially impressive as Holzhauer was trailing going into the Double Jeopardy round but shot into first place after a pair of True Daily Doubles. All three players got the Final Jeopardy! clue correct, but He and Amodio didn’t have enough to beat Holzhauer’s score of 30,401.
The second semi-finals take place tonight (Tuesday, May 23), followed by the finals on Wednesday, May 24. As of now, the semi-finals leaderboard looks like this:
1st: James Holzhauer (6 points, 2 wins, 49 correct)
2nd: Andrew He (1 point, 0 wins, 29 correct)
3rd: Mattea Roach (1 point, 0 wins, 20 correct)
4th: Matt Amodio (0 points, 0 wins, 11 correct)
Jeopardy! Masters, May 23 & 24, 8/7c, ABC
