‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to Player’s Fumbled Lead

Meaghan Darwish May 9, 2024, 8:30 pm

Allison, Jennifer, and Isabella for 'Jeopardy!' — Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy!‘s latest match delivered an early twist among its three players leading to a viewer upset after one majorly fumbled lead.

The game featured returning player Allison Gross from Cleveland, Ohio, Jennifer Trofa from Los Angeles, California, and Isabella Dawis from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Early on in the game, Isabella gave Allison a run for her money, leading the pack in the first half of the Jeopardy! round with $6,600 against Allison’s $2,000 and Jennifer’s $800.

But the tides turned drastically as they headed into Double Jeopardy! after Isabella lost her massive lead, entering the next round with a mere $600 against Allison’s $4,400, and Jennifer’s $1,000. Isabella’s downfall came with the first Daily Double clue under the category “Let’s Go to the Geopark,” which read, “A geopark named for these people is located on the north coast of Spain near the French border.”

(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

The correct response was “Who are the Basques?” Sadly for Isabella, she was unable to uncover the correct answer, leading to an $8,000 loss, putting her behind for the rest of the game. Ultimately, the final results for the night were a runaway for Allison who was the only one to provide the correct response in Final Jeopardy!.

The category was “1980s FADS,” and the clue read, “A November 29, 1983 N.Y. Times article about these used ‘near-riot,’ ‘adoptable,’ ‘waiting for 8 hours’ & ‘my life (is) in danger.'” The correct response was “What are Cabbage Patch Kids?” Allison’s correct response left her with a final score of $25,000 which she added to her previous 2-day winnings for a grand total of $44,598.

Isabella finished with $500 and Jennifer concluded her game with $1. The viewer reaction was strong to Isabella’s fumble though as one fan commented on Reddit, “Isabella came out roaring, and looked dominant until that big $8,000 miss on DD1. About five clues into DJ she flatlined. I don’t know if her confidence deflated after the J round or the DJ categories weren’t in her wheelhouse. I’d like to see her get a Second Chance.”

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Another fan echoed the sentiment, commenting, “I hope Isabella will get an invite to an upcoming second chance tournament. She was red hot until she fell flat.”

Meanwhile, another viewer noted that Isabella’s big wager for the first Daily Double was her ultimate downfall. “If not for that perhaps overly confident all-in DD, Isabella might have ousted Allison. She came close, which made for good gameplay. But Allison was more conservative with her DD wagers, and I’m glad she came away with a little more money today.”

See other reactions, below, and let us know what you thought of Isabella’s fumble in the comments section, below.

Isabella got cocky #Jeopardy pic.twitter.com/CEvzP5cep6

— ℍ (@TFHackett) May 9, 2024

Easy to say in hindsight that Isabella made a mistake by going all-in on the first Daily Double — btu it did seem to throw her off her game for the rest of #Jeopardy.

— Matt Carberry (@mfc248) May 9, 2024