‘Jeopardy!’: Did a Changed Final Answer Lead to Champion’s Third Win?

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That was close! Reigning Jeopardy! champion Stefanie Landeweer changed her Final Jeopardy clue at the last second. It was the correct response, but was her wager enough to win?

Landeweer, from Lexington Park, Maryland, entered her third game with a two-day total of $30,000. On October 30, the chemistry professor played against Sam Neal, from Shawnee, Kansas, and Erica Doornek, from Glasgow, Montana.

Landeweer found all three Daily Doubles in the game, putting her in the lead. However, she gave an incorrect response on the third one, making way for Doornek, a federal employee, to take the lead. Landeweer has not led going into Final Jeopardy in her past game, but that hasn’t deterred her from winning.

At the end of the Final Jeopardy round, Doornek had $15,000. Landeweer was in second place with $11,600. Neal, a knowledge management analyst, had $2,400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Art & Artists.” The clue read, “Commenting on a work by this artist, MoMA noted ‘his initial experiments with the effects of gravity & momentum on falling paint.'”

All three game show contestants had the correct response of Pollock. However, Landeweer didn’t have the correct response at first, but then changed her answer.

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Neal wagered $2,399, making her final total $4,799. Landeweer first wrote “Who is Salvador Dali?” before crossing it out and putting Pollock. She wagered $4,000, making her final total $15,600.

Doornek wagered $8,500, giving her a final total of $23,500. This made Doornek the new champion and ended Landeweer’s reign. Doornek will return for her second game on Monday.

Fans reacted to the final clue on Reddit. “This one seemed too easy!” one fan said.

“Genuinely, who else would it be?” another asked.

“This is like a 400-level question,” a third one added.

“Easy one,” another fan commented.

“I would have bet $0 when the category was revealed, then kicked myself after reading the clue,” one last fan said.

Did you know the Final Jeopardy answer? Let us know in the comments.

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