‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Has Runaway: Did Champ Shannon Leigh Godwin Win?
Spoiler Alert
One Jeopardy! contestant had a runaway win, despite it being a low-scoring game. Find out if the returning champion won again or if her reign ended.
Shannon Leigh Godwin, from Oakland, California, came into her third game with a two-day total of $25,602. On October 27, the interior designer played against Polly Bethea, from Athens, Texas, and Harshish Chitkara, from Superior, Colorado. Warning: Spoilers for the Tuesday, October 27, episode of Jeopardy! ahead!
Godwin kept the lead throughout the game as her opponents both got the Daily Doubles incorrect. Bethea, a creative director, and Chitkara, a technology consultant, both dropped into the negatives.
Bethea recovered and got back on the board by the end of the Double Jeopardy round. She had $2,600. Chitkara meanwhile got to $0, but that wasn’t enough for him not to compete in Final Jeopardy. Godwin ended with $12,400.
The Final Jeopardy category was “Notorious Names.” The clue read, “A TV reporter noted a ‘human phalanx’ around this man as he left a courtroom after getting a death sentence on March 14, 1964.”
The correct response was Jack Ruby, which the game show contestants who were able to participate answered correctly. Ruby was a nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of killing John F. Kennedy.
Chitkara did not qualify for Final Jeopardy. Bethea had the correct response. She wagered $2,008, making her final total $4,608.
Godwin also had the correct response. She wagered $2,600, ending her with an even $15,000. She won the game in a runaway and racked up a three-day total of $40,602. Godwin will return on Wednesday for her fourth game.
“An instaget for everyone of a certain age. The only other possible response never made it to a trial since he was killed just days after the November 22, 1963 incident underlying this clue,” a Reddit user said about the final clue.
Did you know the final clue response? Let us know in the comments.
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