‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants Struggle Through Triple Stumper-Filled Game

John Edwards, an editor from Brooklyn, New York, won the October 7 episode of Jeopardy! with $31,201, defeating four-day champion Rian Robertson and fellow challenger Anne Damtoft. Edwards took a commanding lead after correctly answering a $6,000 Daily Double in Double Jeopardy. All three contestants correctly answered in Final Jeopardy, but Edwards secured the victory with his final wager.

On Thursday, October 8, Greg Monson, a videographer from Portland, Oregon, and Lou Williamson, a software analyst from Greenville, South Carolina, took on Edwards. Could he hold on to the title of champ?

The first clue was a sign of things to come. In the “Daytime TV” category for $1,000, the contestants faced: “Before it was an app that got us all holding smartphones to our foreheads, this game was played on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” The correct response, “Heads Up!” stumped all three players, making the opening clue a triple stumper and an ominous sign of what was ahead.

Clue nine was also a head-scratcher for the trio when “Historical Hodgepodge” for $600 offered the clue: “No Kaiserschnitt or caesarean for Kaiser Wilhelm II–a withered arm was thought to be from nerve damage in this kind of birth.” Williamson incorrectly answered, “What is a C-section?” while the other two remained silent. The correct response was a breech birth.

A third triple stumper was uncovered under “Bible ‘D’ictionary” for $400: “She says, “Hitherto thou hast mocked me, & told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound.” No one was able to guess the correct response, “Delilah.”

Williamson found the game’s first Daily Double in the “First Name Homophones” category for $400. The clue was, “One of the steps on the way to becoming a feudal Q man-at-arms.” He wagered $3,600 but missed with “What is bow?” The correct response was “page.”

By the end of the first round, champ Edwards was in the lead with $4,600, while Monson was nipping at his heels with $4,200. Williamson was in third with $400.

In Double Jeopardy, Monson found the second Daily Double under “Bodies of Water” for $1,200 and wagered $3,800. On the clue “This bay at Cape Town shares its name with a nearby flat-topped mountain,” Monson answered “Table Bay,” which gave him the lead.

The final Daily Double was found on “Workin’ a Governess Job” for $1,600 by champ Edwards. He wagered $2,000 on the clue, “Mrs. General is the dour governess of this newly rich Dickens title heroine, who’s a legit adult, by the way.” The answer was Little Dorrit.

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Double Jeopardy was riddled with Triple Stumpers, with the trio stumbling on almost a dozen questions. By the time they headed into Final Jeopardy, Monson was in the lead with $16,000, and Edwards was in second with $8,600, and Williamson was in third place with $1,2000.

The Final Jeopardy clue was in the category of “The 15th Century”: “‘The eye of the East and all Christendom has been destroyed…O lady of the 7 hills’ is from a Greek poem in the wake of this event.”

A tough clue that resulted in a final triple stumper for the game. Williamson guessed incorrectly with “What is the fall of Troy?,” but he wagered nothing, so he remained at $1,200. Returning champ Edwards guessed “What is the sack of Byzanti–” (he ran out of time), and wagered $7,401, bringing his final total to $1,199. And challenger Monson guessed “What is the sacking of Rome?” for $7,300, bringing his final tally to $8,700.

The answer was the Fall of Constantinople.

So, with a difficult game and an equally difficult Final Jeopardy, Monson is the new Jeopardy champ with $8,700 thanks to taking a chance on those Daily Doubles.

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