‘Jeopardy!’: Fast-Talking Champ Harrison Whitaker Goes for Three-Peat
Spoiler Alert
What To Know
- Harrison Whitaker returned to the podium to try and secure his third consecutive Jeopardy! win.
- Whitaker played against David Lewis, from Seattle, Washington, and Sheila Collins, from San Jose, California.
- Despite his success, some fans have criticized Whitaker for speaking too quickly, making his answers difficult to understand.
[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, November 13, episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! champion Harrison Whitaker has been the talk of the Jeopardy! fandom since he defeated four-day champion Allegra Kuney in his first game. On November 13, Whitaker, from Terre Haute, Indiana, goes for his third win as some fans complain he “talks too fast.”
Whitaker, a researcher, played against David Lewis, from Seattle, Washington, and Sheila Collins, from San Jose, California, for his third game. Whitaker had a two-day total of $59,801.
The reigning champion had the lead of $2,400 when he found the Daily Double. He wagered $2,200 in “World History.” The clue read, ” Opposite the Maginot Line, this ‘Line’ that spanned from Kleve to Basel shared its name with a mythic Germanic hero.” “What is the Siegfried Line?” Whitaker answered at the last second. He got it in before the buzzer and moved to $4,600. He maintained the lead into the first commercial break.
By the end of the round, Whitaker had $12,200. Collins, an attorney, was in second place with $1,600. Lewis, a subterranean tour guide, had -$200.
In Double Jeopardy, Whitaker almost doubled his lead when he found the first DD. He had $21,000 and wagered $2,000. In “Opposites,” the clue was “It’s an antonym of fearful; you can also get a less-used antonym of it just by dropping the initial ‘in.'” He hesitated before saying, “What is invincible?” but was wrong. The correct response was intrepid. Whitaker dropped down to $19,000.
Two clues later, he found the last DD. He had $21,000 again and wagered $2,000. In “A tract,” the clue read, “The title of this tract by Thomas Paine is found within the title of an August 1789 French declaration.” “What is The Rights of Man?”
“Can you say that again?” host Ken Jennings asked. Whitaker repeated himself, and he was correct, giving himself $23,00.
Whitaker had $30,600 by the end of Double Jeopardy. His lead didn’t compare to his opponents. Collins had $6,600. Lewis was in third place with $1,400.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Civil War Veterans.” The clue read, “12 years before his death out West, he led a charge at the Battle of Trevilian Station in 1864.” The correct response was George Custer, which all three contestants got right.
Lewis wagered $5, so he ended with $1,405. Collins wagered $3,500 and ended with $10,100. Witaker wagered $1,400, giving him a final total of $32,000. This gave Whitaker his third win and a three-day total of $91,801.
In the Facebook group, Jeopardy Fan Group, some fans said they can’t understand what he is saying. “He is very fast on the buzzer. And he talks so fast, I sometimes don’t know what he said! Very smart guy. He may be around a while,” one fan wrote.
“I agree with you. He talks too fast,” replied a fan.
“Yes! He talks too fast for me, too!” a third wrote.
“Agree – he talks/answers way too fast, making his answer difficult to understand,” another said.
“Just talks too fast. Very hard to watch. I am missing a lot of answers,” a fan commented.
“It’s very annoying. He’s even too fast for closed captioning,” one last fan said.
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S
This new champion H. Whitaker speaks entirely too fast! It is hard to understand what the answer to the question is and it's quite irritating. Also, Ken Jennings has not been fair in his rulings in some cases. Ken will give some contestants an opportunity to correct their answers as long as time allows and then with other contestants he will just rule against them without benefit of a correction, and then Ken will say, " I had already ruled against you when you gave the answer". WHAT!!! That's not fair. Ken needs to be fair and consistent in his rulings.
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M
Agreed! Way too fast. Not the most enjoyable winner to watch participate, sad to say.
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Y
I have a feeling that every other time the current champ appears, the audience can continue to see difficult clues: seen today, too. Observing him for the 2nd day, I still feel he rote memorize a lot, slowing down his thinking. On the other hand, I also agree with fans in this post about his speaking too fast, which prompted Ken to ask again.
Also, Ken appeared to make another unfair decision like he did yesterday; today, Ken explicitly said on TV, "I think..."—come on bro, I heard the champ finish his response a few seconds after the buzzer sound. While I can understand this particular daily-double clue was difficult and he deserves credit, this time, for remembering correctly, he should still be penalized, especially for slightly poor timing.
For all that, I'm now openly skeptical about a few things:
1. Could there possibly be malfunctioning tech behind the scenes? AND
2. Should all contestants respond as specific and/or coherent as possible,
OR are ONLY elite members of the quizzing community given subtle flexibility for slightly poor timing?
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T
I think he is very intelligent and obviously a great player but I agree he speaks very vast and therefore difficult to follow.
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B
Think he is very very good. Problem is my ears cant keep up with his talking
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