‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Thrilling Champions Wildcard Final
Spoiler Alert
This… Is… Jeopardy!
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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, November 8, 2023 episode of Jeopardy.]
On the third anniversary of Alex Trebek‘s death, Jeopardy! fans were treated to a thrilling Champions Wildcard final. The game was a close call throughout, leaving fans equal parts excited for the winner and sad for the runners-up. At stake was a $100,000 grand prize and an invitation to the next Tournament of Champions. Who walked away victorious?
Battling it out in this round of the Wildcard Tournament finals was returning players Jilana Cotter, Emily Sands, and Aaron Craig. Jilana had $3,000 in winnings carried over from the November 7 game (the first of two final showdowns). Aaron had $10,000, and Emily had a whopping $30,400.
As host Ken Jennings said, Emily and Jilana were “jockeying” for the lead for much of the game. The scores at the first break were Emily with $3,600, Jilana with $3,200, and Aaron with $4,600. Heading into Double Jeopardy, Aaron stayed around the same score with $4,800, Emily jumped up to $6,200, and Jilana was in the lead with $7,200. Aaron fell far behind by Final Jeopardy, his score being -$2,800. He was cut from the final round as a result.
Not a day goes by where we don’t think about you, Alex ️ pic.twitter.com/Hj6g5NejAJ
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 8, 2023
Emily had $16,200 going into the final, and Jilana had $24,000. Final Jeopardy stumped both of the finalists, but it was their wagers that sealed their fates. The final category of the tournament was “Explorers.” The final clue read: “Perhaps inspiring a line two centuries later, in 1774, he wrote that he was headed ‘farther than any other man has been before me.'” The answer Jennings was looking for was “Who was Captain Cook?”
Jilana went big with her bet. She bet it all and lost it all. Emily wagered $4,401, taking her down to $11,799. Add their winnings from the night before, and their totals were Emily at $42,199, Jilana at $3,000, and Aaron at $10,000. Emily won the tournament, the $100,000, and the spot in the Tournament of Champions. Aaron came in second, winning $50,000, and Jilana finished in third, earning her $25,000. Fans were delighted by the tough competition.
“Jeopardy would be the most riveting show on TV if they always had contestants that were as good and evenly matched as Jilana and Emily,” one fan said on the Jeopardy Reddit page. “That was a nail-biter till the very end, and I wish there’s some way both of them could have won.”
“It’s rare that I’m equally as happy for who won as equally as unhappy for who didn’t,” another replied. “Stings to see Jilana get cut short in second place, but Emily was just as strong as she was two and a half years ago and we finally have another woman in the ToC!”
“I would argue that Jilana was/is the better player,” one fan shared. “The board didn’t go her way the previous game and a silly mistake in Final Jeopardy cost her doubly…and she STILL had a chance to win today. Emily is phenomenal as well and not an undeserving champ, just feels like we deserved two champions this round.”
“I feel that. I think both are pretty evenly matched and equally deserved it,” another Reddit user replied. “It’d be cool to see Jilana get another invitation to JIT or something, though that’s up to the producers. I was really rooting for her to emerge from a first game loser to a TOC player, but she didn’t quite get there. It was a really strong rally though.”
“Congratulations to Emily on victory and advancement to the Tournament of Champions, to Jilana for keeping the match competitive after some tough breaks in game one, and to Aaron for putting up a good fight all the way through!” wrote one fan.
It was a great game to end the tournament. What did you think of the final faceoff? Let us know in the comments below.
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