‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Are Calling for This New Contestant to Get a Second Chance
Spoiler Alert
It’s still quite early in the new season of Jeopardy!, but have we already got one of the top choices for second-chance play? Some fans seem to think so after watching Tuesday (September 17) night’s play.
The episode featured returning champion Aiden Orzech (who collected $27,599 during Monday’s episode) facing off against newcomers Will Yancey, a history lecturer from Texas, and Alisa Kindsfater, an English teacher from Arkansas.
Things got off to an amazing start for Yancey in the first round, as he answered nine questions correctly, including a True Daily Double, and went into the first break with a lead. Things only got better for him for the rest of the first round, as he got another seven correct and extended his lead to a whopping $12,000 over the returning champ’s $2,600 and Kindsfater’s $400.
Things changed in Double Jeopardy, however. Whereas Yancey got just five right (and both he and Kindsfater missed their Daily Double opportunities), Orzech was able to start nipping at his heels. While Yancey still led going into the final, it was much closer than in the first half; he had $13,200 to Orzech’s $11,000 and Kindsfater’s $5,400.
Unfortunately again for Yancey, he wasn’t up enough on his Young Adult literature knowledge because he missed the Final Jeopardy clue: In the “Characters in Book Series” category, the answer was, “This 12-year-old began his first book saying, ‘Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.'” Understandably, Yancey guessed Harry Potter (whose eponymous fiction series did indeed include an entry called The Half-Blood Prince), but that wasn’t right, costing him $8,801 to bring his total down to $4,399. Instead, it was Percy Jackson, and the returning champion managed to get it right, taking his points for the episode to $22,000 (Kindsfater also got it correct and ended in second place with $10,800).
Kid lit mishap notwithstanding, though, some Jeopardy! fans were truly impressed by Yancey’s gameplay in the episode and hope to see him return as a second-chance player.
On Reddit, one fan wrote, “I liked Will. It would have been nice to see some more southern representation in Jeopardy.” Another agreed, adding, “i could see him getting a second chance invite.”
Another fan weighed in to say, “this was probably my favorite game of the season so far. looked like will was going to run with it, but aiden and alisa fought pretty hard in the second round.”
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