‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to ‘Awesome’ High-Scoring Game With Risky Final Wagers
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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, November 15 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans who feel they’re in “tournament hell” were treated to an exciting game on November 15. The episode featured a Daily Double found in the final clue after one player’s failed attempts at finding one, plus two players who bet it all in Final Jeopardy.
Playing tonight were Lea Caglio, a librarian from Phoenix, Arizona; Kit Sekelsky, a freelance graphic designer from Kent, Ohio; and Henry Rozycki, a neonatologist and author from Richmond, Virginia. At stake for the winner was a semi-finalist spot in this new installation of the Champions Wildcard tournament.
Lea led for most of the game, with Kit trailing close behind. Fans on Reddit noticed that none of the players seemed all that interested in finding Daily Doubles until Double Jeopardy, and Kit’s hunt for those precious clues — and their subsequent failure to find them — led to a comedic moment from Ken Jennings as the second round neared its end.
As Kit wondered if the second-to-last clue on the board was the last Daily Double, Ken responded with a big, “Nope!” before reading the clue, getting a laugh out of the players and studio audience. In a rare moment, the final Daily Double was the final clue on the board. Henry, who was far behind in third place, wagered all but $100 of his $8,400, increasing his score to $16,700 right before Final Jeopardy.
The scores going into the final were Lea with $15,400, Kit with $10,600, and Henry with $16,700. The final category was “Washington D.C.” The clue: “It was proposed in Congress in 1926 in honor of a big 150th anniversary; it opened 17 years later.” The correct answer was, “What is the Jefferson Memorial?” It was another triple-stumper, making the players’ wagers even more important. Kit and the audience were in disbelief when Lea and Henry both risked all of their money, bringing them out of third place and into a victory with $5,600.
Ken was thoroughly pleased by the unexpected ending and high-scoring game, as was the vocal audience and fans watching from home.
“Supremely entertaining show,” one fan wrote on the Jeopardy Reddit page.
“Wowzers what an ending! Congrats to Kit. That ending is yet another example of how important it is to study FJ betting strategy,” wrote another.
“That episode was a roller coaster!” another comment reads.
“AWESOME game!” wrote one fan, who brought up the Daily Double search. “It seemed like nobody was DD hunting until the end of the DJ round, and then Kit was clearly trying to find DD3 but was unsuccessful. (I loved Ken’s emphatic ‘Nope’ when she selected the 800 clue.)”
One fan was rooting for Henry to win because of his exciting, last-minute Daily Double. “Nooooooo! I was rooting for Henry,” they wrote. “I never saw a comeback like [that] (just a [casual] viewer). It would have been a great story if he finished it off. Why would they bet all of their money? Anyway, great game by everyone. Each player had their streaks or moments. If you’re in the lead, don’t risk it all LOL.”
Another highlight of the episode: Kit’s fun fact. They revealed during the Q&A with Ken that their new dog is named after their “favorite past fellow Jeopardy contestant.” “Am I ready to be flattered here?” Ken asked with a smile. But it was Cliff Clavin from Cheers, a character who competed on Jeopardy in a famous episode of the sitcom featuring Alex Trebek. Cliff made a wager so bad, his name is now invoked whenever a real-life Jeopardy player makes a shockingly bad bet.
What did you think of the game? Did it help with tournament burnout? Let us know in the comments below.
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