‘Jeopardy!’ Shocker as Wildcard Frontrunner Makes Fatal Blunder

Martin Holmes February 13, 2024, 10:21 am

Donna Matturi on Jeopardy! — Jeopardy, Inc!

Jeopardy‘s Tournament of Champions is drawing ever closer, but one contestant who won’t be competing in the highly-anticipated competition is Donna Matturri.

Matturi, a librarian from Columbus, Ohio, was a fan-favorite heading into Monday’s (February 12) episode of Champions Wildcard. A former two-day champion, she faced off against fellow returning champs, Dan Wohl, a high school history teacher from Brooklyn, New York, and Sriram Krishnan, a consultant from Falls Church, Virginia.

With a spot in the semi-finals on the line, Matturi got out to a strong start. After the first round, she led the way with $4,900, even after incorrectly answering a Daily Double clue.

She continued to power ahead during the Double Jeopardy round, finding another Daily Double and, this time, using it to extend her lead. By the end of the round, Matturi had answered 23 clues correctly and just one incorrectly and went into Final Jeopardy with $20,700.

The game was still all to play for, though, as Krishnan wasn’t too far behind on $13,200. Meanwhile, Wohl trailed with $6000, despite finding and correctly answering the game’s final Daily Double.

Host Ken Jennings read out the Final Jeopardy clue under the U.S. Stamps category: “This Roman numeral appeared on stamps in a 2022 series for the 50th anniversary of an anti-discrimination law.”

Both Krishnan and Wohl gave the correct answer (What is IX?), while Matturi fumbled and got it wrong (What is LXII?). Krishnan wagered his entire amount, giving him a winning total of $26,400; Matturi dropped $5,800, putting her in second place with $14,900.

Some viewers were devastated that Matturi lost and, therefore, won’t be moving on to the Tournament of Champions.

“Noooo Donna!! She played a great game and so happy to see her back,” wrote one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.

“Absolutely gutted for Donna. Felt like a mistake to not double up on that literature category and likely cost the runaway,” said another.

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“Donna is a smart and a good player but she played too conservatively,” wrote another fan. “And thus she made a fatal mistake in this game especially in the Double Jeopardy round.”

Another commenter wrote, “I felt bad for [Donna] missing FJ especially after leading the majority of the game. You were one of my favorite Season 39 contestants and it was good to see you back on one more time!”

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Matturi herself replied to the positive comments on Reddit, writing, “I had such a wonderful time! Dan and Sriram were just incredible to play against, and incredible in general, and I honestly never thought I’d play another game of Jeopardy after last year. This was just bonus Jeopardy!”

She added, “Plus, when I saw the category for Final, I had no doubt that Sriram and Dan were going to crush it. I had…a vague chance at that category, at best.”

Krishnan will now move on to the Champions Wildcard semi-finals. The ultimate winner of the Wildcard will earn a spot in the upcoming Tournament of Champions, joining the four 2023 Wildcard winners and Juveria Zaheer, who won the first 2024 Wildcard group.

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