Ousted ‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Slams His Own Performance: ‘Hot Mess’
All good things must come to an end, including a Jeopardy! winning streak. Mark Fitzpatrick found that out the hard way on Friday’s (October 11) episode of the game show, which brought an end to his five-game winning streak.
Although he can still look forward to the Tournament of Champions (and enjoy over $100,000 in cash winnings) as the first five-game winner of Season 41, he still had a very self-deprecating message to share with fans after the airing. On Reddit, Fitzpatrick wrote of his performance in his latest game, “It took 6 games but I finally reverted to my true trivia identity: an overconfident, overthinking, hot mess.”
Indeed, Fitzpatrick did struggle significantly more than he had in his previous games. This time, he faced off against challengers Eamonn Campbell, a lawyer from Vermont, and Dot White, a clinical psychologist from Maryland.
The first round was brutal for Fitzgerald, as he missed multiple clues (including the Daily Double) and found himself deep in the red, only narrowly pulling himself out of it before the halfway mark. Going into Double Jeopardy, he had just $200, compared to White’s $3,200 and Campbell’s $3,000.
The second round wasn’t much better, as he missed a second Daily Double (getting the third correct) and ended with just $4,800 to Campbell’s $12,200 and White’s $10,400.
For Final Jeopardy, only Campbell knew that Margaret Thatcher’s opponents in her 1975 leadership race were William Whitelaw and John Peyton, while Fitzgerald used his board to issue a goodbye message: “Who is Thanks for a fun day.”
In his address to the Reddit thread, Fitzpatrick offered, “Congrats to Eamonn on the win and also to Dot for a strong second.”
Fans responded to his note by telling him he was “fantastic” and congratulating him on his “very impressive run.”
“Those fifth games in a single tape day are brutal, so nothing but respect and empathy from me,” Alison Betts, who also lost out in game six, wrote in the thread.
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