‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Explains Their Final Jeopardy Wager in Champions Wildcard Finals

Isaac Rouse October 18, 2023, 7:30 pm

Jeopardy October 18, 2023 Lucy Ricketts, Josh Saak, and Sam Stapleton — Jeopardy! Inc.

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, October 18, 2023 episode of Jeopardy!]

The first game in Jeopardy!’s first-ever two-game Champions Wildcard finals featured yesterday’s winner, Lucy Ricketts from Atlanta, Georgia, going against the returning Josh Saak, a traffic engineer from Boise, Idaho, and Sam Stapleton, a college consultant from Los Gatos, California.

Although it takes plenty of skill to get to this point, audiences were still amazed by the stiff competition across the board, making for an entertaining tipping point. But it was during Final Jeopardy that decided who would walk away a game-one winner.

The first Daily Double was revealed before the commercial break, which saw Lucy add $1,000 to her $400 score. However, by the time we made it to the first break, Sam was already in the lead with $4,600, followed by Lucy at $4,400 and Josh at $800. However, going into Double Jeopardy, Josh jumped to the lead with $5,000 and Lucy in last place with $4,400.

During Double Jeopardy, Lucy claimed the second Daily Double but was unable to answer correctly, dropping her down $4,000. Meanwhile, Sam got the last Daily Double, which he answered correctly, adding $4,000 to his total score. Going into Final Jeopardy, Josh had the lead with $16,600, followed by Sam at $12,600 and Lucy at $9,200.

It all came down to the final wagers in Double Jeopardy for our champions, as everyone was able to land the correct answer to the “Natural Landmarks” category. Sam only risked $2,600 of his total. Meanwhile, Lucy was able to add $5,000. However, Josh retained his lead by betting the most at $8,600.

Several folks on the Jeopardy! subreddit praised the stiff competition between the three competitors but also touched on the final wagers. However, Sam came in to give his own perspective on the game. After thanking everyone for watching and praising his peers, Sam noted, “I know some are likely to question why I didn’t bet bigger on Final Jeopardy.

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He explained that he’s “seen all the analysis that suggests being aggressive is the preferred strategy, and that there’s always time to make up ground in the second game. In fact, before this game Josh was even talking about how Buzzy Cohen famously won it all in his TOC after finishing day one with $0. So it was definitely on all of our minds how different the dynamic is for a two day game.”

He then mentioned the Final Jeopardy. “When we got to FJ and I saw the category, I took a LONG time to decide on my wager. On the one hand, I was definitely thinking “Fortune favors the bold,” and strongly considered a $10k wager. (I never considered going all in – Buzzy Cohen, I am not.).

After listing a bunch of reasons, he ultimately decided, “while I had an opportunity to make a big move with a big bet, I also had an opportunity to completely take myself out of the game.”

The three will face off again tomorrow, where tonight’s scores will be carried over into tomorrow’s game: Sam’s $15,200, Josh’s $25,200, and Lucy’s $14,200. Sound off below on who you think will win it all.

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