‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After ‘Bad Ruling’ & Huge Reversal Decides Game
Spoiler Alert
[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, May 19, episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans discussed a ruling from the judges after a contestant was marked wrong on a Daily Double but, once it was overturned, it gave him a runaway win.
One-day Jeopardy! champion Mitch Loflin, from Long Beach, California, is back for his second game against Micah Green, from College Station, Texas, and Catherine Carnovale, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, May 19. He had a total of $8,400.
“Following a come-from-behind win on Friday, our new champion, Mitch Loflin spent the weekend as our reigning Jeopardy! champion, but break time is over, Mitch. Time to get back to work,” host Ken Jennings said at the beginning of the episode.
The game started out pretty even among the contestants. Green, a chemical engineer, found the first Daily Double on question 11. He was tied with Loflin, a set decoration coordinator, with $1,200. Green made it a true Daily Double and wagered all of his money. In “Canadian History,” the clue read, “Lovers of Latin must have rejoiced when this name was officially adopted in 1713; it’s still on a province.”
“What is Nova Scotia?” he answered correctly, giving him $2,400, and the lead. By the first commercial break, Loflin was only $200 behind Green.
During the interview round, Green revealed that he is not the first person in his family to appear on Jeopardy!. His Aunt Mary was a four-day champion in January 1969. “And she still watches to this day,” he revealed.
“Well, I’m glad you made it on as well,” Jennings said.
By the end of the round, all three contestants had low totals. Green led with $4,800. Carnovale, a professor and creative producer, was only $200 behind with $4,600. The reigning champion trailed with $2,800.
The first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy didn’t come until question 15. Loflin found it and tried to get out of third place. He wagered $3,500, which would put him into the lead. In “All the Kings’ Menus,” the clue was, “This successor to a Sun King loved hot chocolate & sometimes made his own.”
“Who is Louis XV?” he answered correctly, putting him in first with $9,100. Carnovale was only $100 behind him.
Seven questions later, Loflin found the last DD of the game. With $13,100 in his bank, he held the lead. Loflin wagered $5,000. In “Grammar Police,” the clue read, “In the sentence ‘I fought the law and the law won’, the word ‘and’ is this type of conjunction.” Loflin hesitated before saying, “What is additive?”
“Sorry, no. It’s a coordinating conjunction,” Ken Jennings let him know. This dropped him down to $8,100, and second place.
However, Loflin, a father to seven tortoises, answered most of the remaining questions correctly, giving him a wide lead with $15,300. Carnovale had $11,400. Green was in third with $6,800.
When the game show came back from a commercial, Ken Jennings shared that the judges ruled “addictive conjunctions” to be correct on Loflin’s DD. This gave him a total of $25,300.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Drama.” The clue was, “The first time a woman played a role on the professional stage in England, it was as this wife of a soldier in a play 50-some years old.”
Green answered, “Who is Lucilla?” That was wrong so he dropped down to $2,199, after wagering $4,601. Carnovale was also wrong with “Who is Lady Macbeth?” She wagered $2,201, giving her a final total of $9,199. Loflin was the only one correct on Final Jeopardy. He answered, “Who is Desdemona?” Loflin wagered $2,000, ending with $27,300.
This made him the night’s winner and a two-day total of $35,700. He will be back on Tuesday, May 20, for his third game against two new opponents.
Reddit users reacted to the ruling. “Didn’t end up mattering too much, but the writers really ought to make sure they’ve got all the alt answers covered—at least for Daily Doubles,” one said.
“Kudos to Mitch for not letting a bad ruling throw him off his game and coming back with a strong finish,” a fan replied.
“Seriously… that seems like a pretty basic thing to be on top of,” replied another.
“I don’t remember seeing a $10,000 swing during the FJ break before. Had the DD gone his way initially, he would have had a runaway for the moment, but there was a fair bit of game left to play. Having it jump so quickly was odd. It even felt to me that the Think music sounded subdued as the outcome of the game had so quickly become a done deal,” a Reddit user wrote.
“Wild swing back on DD3, been a while since I could remember a big reversal like that lol,” said another.
“So impressed with Mitch’s performance today. He was so behind after the Jeopardy round but kept plugging away,” a fan wrote.
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Comments are closed on this story.
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R
It has become too complicated. Jeopardy used to be for the average person who could respond quickly. Now contestants, and home viewers, need a PhD in Triology to play. I have lost interest.
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The majority of the questions are now a level of difficulty above the viewer who used to be able to reasonably participate. Since the Alex Trebek days they've been getting more and more difficult. At least once or even twice per episode all three contestants are stumped. Now it's like watching a professional race where a non-paricipating audience watches to see who wins and how much $$$ they get.
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I haven't noticed questions getting harder. Some days I think I might have won, others, more often, I am mute almost throughout. Depends on categories. Masters' tournament is much harder though. I am totally perplexed how some contestants get on the show. I have a friend who has studied for Jeopardy for years. I have played trivia contests with him and he's brilliant. But just doesn't get chosen. And yes the kalashnikov decision was way too harsh. They should call him back.
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O
There are to many triple stupped questions. And loosey goosey answers. The writers don't even know the answers. Time to fire and hire some better question writers.
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The majority of the questions are now a level of difficulty above the viewer who used to be able to reasonably participate. Since the Alex Trebek days they've been getting more and more difficult. At least once or even twice per episode all three contestants are stumped. Now it's like watching a professional race where a non-paricipating audience watches to see who wins and how much $$$ they get.
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The comments should only relate to the issue at hand, i.e. that of correct answers. And by the way, a "Kalashnikov" IS an AK-47. The inadequacy of your judges is showing.
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Then what's an AK-74? Only one of the two is correct. Both are Kalashnikovs.
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It seems too many times they have to correct themselves however I still enjoy the game. Love Ken think he does a good job. Wish the questions weren't so hard, I used to play along but can't answer any questions now.
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🎯
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I agree most ?'s are out of this world! Not fun anymore!
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Is it additive or is it addictive. You use both in this article.
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Changing the dollar amount of one of the contestants after the"final' amounts have been displayed is like changing the rules of the game after it has started.... the other two contestants may have wagered differently.
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They always say that the bets were made after.the change. Or something to that effect.
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The reversal ended up to be a game changer for sure. But the judges should have researched that daily double for all possible correct responses.
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I'll pay Mitch $1000 to stand up straight.
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I like to have a date or 10 with Catherine !!!
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Move to Canada ...just join the crowd of Americans at the Canadian border.
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G
I found it unusual that Ken gave the center contestant so many chances to correct his answer. Basically, he gave him 2 shots on an answer about 3 times during the show. I thought that was really strange and a way to try and get a huge come-from-behind win for the center guy. Until they had the bogus daily double, the champ thought he lost that daily double, he played extremely aggressive to get his total back up, which screwed the other two contestants on even getting close because he was on such aerror for losing the five grandI found it unusual that can gave the center contestant so many chances to correct his answer. Basically, he gave him 2 shots and an answer about 3 times during the show. I thought that was really strange and a way to try and get our huge come-from-behind win for the center guy. Until they had the bogus daily double, when he thought he lost that daily double, he played extremely aggressive to get his total back up, which screwed the other 2 contestants on even getting close because he was on such a tear afterr losing the 5 grand I thought the whole goody game warrants the other 2 players getting to play in the 2nd chance games.
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What is an "addictive conjunction"
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additive conjunction is a coordinating conjunction that connects items or ideas, often in a list or series, indicating that they share a common characteristic or are related in some way. Sorry for earlier spell error
Quote from google
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Google addictive...
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R
Godfather II, not The Godfather
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Wrong. It's the scene in Las Vegas where Michael offers to buy the hotel from Moe Green. Michael says it right after Moe leaves the room.
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M
jeopardy fans are whiney toddlers like the current potus.
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We all know what "type" of contestant Jeopardy caters to. We see it time and time again .....
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What type?
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I would suggest the type is: no older than 60, look good onscreen and have a (somewhat) interesting past episode to relate (these stories are starting to all sound alike and I find mostly inane and boring).
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Mitch is a total babe, and smart too...especially for a SoCal guy.
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