‘Jeopardy!’: Jamie Ding Faces ‘Heavyweight Battle’ With ‘The Chase’ Competitor

Chasing the win! Jamie Ding faced off against a former The Chase competitor for his 26th Jeopardy! game. Fans said that the two men, along with a comic book writer, had a “heavyweight battle.”

Ding, from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, entered into the April 17 game with a total of $702,000. Although he has broken numerous records and made a spot for himself on the Leaderboard of Legends, he has yet to face off against another prominent game show contestant.

On Friday, the law student and bureaucrat played against Tini Howard, from Van Nuys, California, and Taotao Zhang, from South River, New Jersey. Zhang, now listed as a statistician, competed on the seventh season of The Chase in 2022. He won $225,000. Can he win more on Jeopardy! and take down the champion?

“This should be a heavyweight battle between Jamie and Taotao; this is likely Jamie’s toughest challenge yet. And Tini could be really good too!” a Reddit user wrote.

“I’m predicting this to be a fun 2-way battle between Jamie and TaoTao,” another said.

Howard has written numerous comic books, including ones for Excalibur, X-Men, Power Rangers, DC Comics, and more. Warning: Spoilers for the April 17 episode of Jeopardy! ahead.

Zhang, a new dad, gave Ding a run for his money in the first half of the round. However, Ding was in first place by the end of 15 clues with $4,600.

With $3,200 in his bank, Zhang found the Daily Double on clue 22. He wagered all of his money in “Sibling Rivalry.” The clue read, “In mythology this sister of Castor & Pollux was first carried off by Theseus; the brothers rescued her.”

“Who is Helen?” he answered, talking about Helen of Troy. This gave him the lead with $6,400. Ding had $6,000.

However, Ding ended in the lead at the end of the round with $6,400. Zhang had $6,000. Howard ended with $1,600.

In Double Jeopardy, Zhang found the first DD on clue two. He had $7,600 and made it a true Daily Double. In “Geography,” the clue was “Mainland France has 12 metropolitan regions that are further divided into 94 of these, like Hautes-Alpes.”

“What is arrondissement?” Zhang answered incorrectly. The correct response was the departments, so Zhang dropped down to $0.

Ding had a wide lead of $8,400 when he found the last DD on clue six. He wagered $2,600 in “Health & Medicine.” The clue was “Fast, slow or fluttering, it’s the 10-letter term for an irregular heartbeat.”

After a few seconds, Ding answered “What is an arrhythmia?” This gave him $11,000.

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Ding ended the round with $23,800. Zhang had $8,400. Howard was in third place with $2,800.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Opera.” The clue read, “The name of this opera means ‘Faithful’; it’s used as an alias by a character who implores a prisoner not to lose faith.”

All three game show contestants had the correct response of “What is Fidelio?” Howard wagered $2,699, ending her with $5,499.

Zhang made a safe wager of $2,699, giving him a final total of $11,022. Ding’s wager of $6,200 gave him a final total of $30,000.

This gave Ding a 26-day total of $732,000. He is only $16,286 away from tying Cris Pannullo, who won $748,286 during his reign. Pannullo is number five for all-time highest winnings (regular season play) and number 10 on the all-time list, including tournaments.

Can Ding reach that level? Find out on Monday.

“Fun game, I really liked TaoTao, kind of feel bad that he ended up against Jamie, but maybe we’ll see him in second chance,” a Reddit user said.

Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock