‘Jeopardy!’ TOC Thriller Decided by Controversial Judges Ruling
Spoiler Alert
Jeopardy! fans are biting their nails as they wait to crown a winner of the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
Going into game four, Neilesh Vinjamuri from Lionville, Pennsylvania, led with two wins, Adriana Harmeyer from West Lafayette, Indiana, has one, and Isaac Hirsch from Burbank, California, still had no wins under his belt. However, his luck changed as he scored his first win on Wednesday’s (February 12) episode.
However, some fans didn’t think the customer support team lead should have won Final Jeopardy! because his handwriting made his answer look like a completely different word.
Throughout the entire game, Hirsch had a wide lead over his other two competitors. He had $7,000 at the end of the first round, compared to Harmeyer’s $2,800 and Vinjamuri’s $4,200. Harmeyer maintained her nearly $3,000 amount as Hirsch and Vinjamuri competed for another win. However, by the end of Double Jeopardy!, Hirsch led with almost $10,000 more than Vinjamuri.
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The question for Final Jeopardy! was under the category “European Artwork.” Host Ken Jennings told the contestants to think about their wagers as the game show went to a commercial.
The clue read, “A rope around their leader’s neck, the man depicted in this late 19th c. piece seem resigned to death, but in the end, they survived.”
Harmeyer incorrectly guessed, “What is the raft of the Medusa?” The archivist wagered wagered $2,800, bringing her final total to $0. Vinjamuri answered correctly with, “What is Burgers of Calais?” The software engineer wagered $8401, bringing his total of $13,800 to $22,201. This made him one dollar above Hirsch. Hirsch answered the same as Vinjamuri and wagered $5,401. His final total was $27,601, making him the night’s winner and giving him one win under his belt.
However, Hirsch’s answer looked like “What is durgters of calais?” Even Jennings was a bit thrown off as he told the audience, “We are taking that.”
Via Youtube
Jeopardy! fans on Reddit debated his answer with many of them believing that he wrote a “D” instead of a “B.”
“The ‘Burgers’ looked like ‘Durgters’ for Isaacs FJ response,” one fan said.
“I’m going to guess that deciding if to accept handwriting that doesn’t really look like the correct letters, while it’s obvious that the player knew the correct response, is probably the least favorite task of the judges,” said another.
One fan defended him saying, “Since he wrote in all caps, it’s clear that the line on the G belonged to the H. The first letter is a bit more questionable, but there’s a slight bump, so I agree with Ken (and I guess the judges) that it’s a B.”
Another fan suggested that contestants should use a keyboard for Final Jeopardy.
The Tournament of Champions is played until one contestant gets three wins. The totals so far are Vinjamuri with two wins and Harmeyer and Hirsch tied with one. The three contestants will battle it out again on Thursday, February 13, to try for another win.
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Conversation19 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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P
I think the whole turnament was botched they credited Neilish with at least 3 answers even though he mispronounced them and then they penilized Adrianan for mispronouncing a couple of answers even though it still sounded like the same word and the correct answer
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R
It was The Burghers of Calais. I can see an slight indentation on the first letter. He added the gh as well.
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O
I think there is enough of a "dent" in the right side of the letter to surmise he meant it to be a B. He's a smart guy, he got the "Calais" and he was scribbling quickly. I agree with the keyboard idea though.
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R
He got it right “Burghers”, there is an indentation on the B, defining it from a D and it’s very clear that the GH are a bit squished together, but still a defined GH.
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G
I believe the judges can see the contestants' responses before they are revealed and have a little longer to make judgements than we have to see them. They may also be able to zoom in. Still, I think using a keyboard is a good idea.
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L
KEYBOARDS, PLEASE!!!🙏🏽 and STOP THE SUBJECTIVITY OF FINAL JEOPARDY RULINGS!🤦🏽♀️ As charming and intelligent as he is, Isaac's scribbling seemed to be a deliberate mess.😵💫😵💫😵💫
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G
The correct answer is argus not argos he should not have won they took 3300 way from her becouse she left out a letter e but yet he spelled the answer wrong and won
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P
Tonight a missing letter disqualified her Cristin answer! A couple nights ago they accepted the answer without the S.
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R
It looked somewhat questionable spelling but clearly seemed right.
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G
I think they should rotate the players starting the game so everyone has a chance to hit a daily double first. The same person starts each game and don't think that's fair to the other 2 players
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B
How often do players get a daily double on the first pick of the board? I’ve seen it happen, but it has to be very rare
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R
I guess it's 1 out of 30 by the odds. But how many actual times it has occured I don't. I've seen it happen more times than I would expect, going by the odds. But I haven't watched EVERY show to really get the actual statistics.
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G
That hardly looked like a B
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G
Wasn't the answer Burglars instead of burgers
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E
No, it's burghers (not "burgers," the yummy kind, like Neilesh wrote). The burgher class (aka the bourgeoisie) was a free, land-or-business-owning group of town/city citizens who were allowed to participate in civic life, starting in the late Middle Ages. Basically, the origins of the modern middle class.
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C
I believe that Isaac did NOT know the first word, and wrote sloppily to cover up, as he printed Calais, clearly. I wouldn't have accepted it. Neilesh should've won.
Yes. They should type it in.
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O
Dyslexia. Under pressure is theworse, I can have the same issues with the alphabet in getting them backwards and mixed up and upside down and everything else.
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B
The contestant in the middle didn't have a correct form of a question. There was no "is". That shouldn't have been accepted.
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The contestant in the middle was the guy who is in the screenshot above. He does have “is” in his response? Maybe you are speaking of the contestant on the right side? The guy who always leans side to side when answering
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