‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Delivers Closely Fought Final – Which Star Won $1 Million for Charity?

The competition was fierce between the three finalists on Celebrity Jeopardy!‘s final on Wednesday (April 23), but only one star could walk away with the $1,000,000 prize for their chosen charity.

After advancing through the previous rounds, A Black Lady Sketch Show comedian Robin Thede, entrepreneur and All-In podcast co-host Dave Friedberg, and stand-up comic and United Shades of America host W. Kamau Bell returned to the Alex Trebek Stage.

Bell and Thede entered Wednesday’s final on equal footing, putting up similar stats across the competition. Heading into the last episode, Bell had answered 71 correct clues and 11 incorrect, while Thede had answered 70 correct and 8 incorrect. They’d both also correctly answered four out of five Daily Doubles.

Ahead of the finale, host Ken Jennings told ABC’s On The Red Carpet, “I think it’s going to be an unpredictable final,” and he was right, as despite entering with the lower stats (49 correct and 8 incorrect), Friedberg took the early lead. After the first round, Friedberg had a slight lead over Thede with $2,600 to her $2,200. Meanwhile, Bell trailed with $800.

At one point, Bell told Jennings that he got a new buzzer in preparation for the final. That prep appeared to pay off, as Friedberg continued to hang with his opponents in the Double Jeopardy! round.

While Friedberg and Thede dominated the first half of the game, Bell started to mount a comeback in the second half. After finding a Daily Double, Bell went all in and doubled up, giving him the lead with $11,200 after the Double Jeopardy! round.

Triple Jeopardy! is when the game flipped on its head. Thede found the fourth Daily Double and used it to gain the lead. Meanwhile, Friedberg found the last two remaining Daily Doubles but flubbed on both, sending him plummeting to last place.

The totals heading into Final Jeopardy were Thede with $15,500, Bell with $13,600, and Friedberg with $5,100.

Jennings read the Final Jeopardy clue under the “In Memoriam 2024” category: “This comedy legend always credited his wife Ginnie for the idea behind what is still called one of the greatest finales in TV history.”

 

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Only Bell answered correctly with “Who is Bob Newhart?” and wagered everything but a dollar to give him a winning total of $27,199. Not only is Bell now a Celebrity Jeopardy! champion, but he earned $1 million for his chosen charity, DonorsChoose. Thede and Friedberg also walked away with $175,000 for their respective charities.

“This is amazing,” Bell said as he lifted up his newly won Celebrity Jeopardy! trophy.

What did you think of the Celebrity Jeopardy! final? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.