[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the October 22 episode of Jeopardy!]
For the third game in a row, Jeopardy! fans scored a new champion on Tuesday (October 22). In a rare instance, it was in quite the comeback fashion, but in what’s become an (unfortunately) more common occurrence, there was also a Final Jeopardy wager that many said flat-out made no sense.
Returning champ Tristan Brown, a re-entry employment advocate from Richmond, Virginia, faced Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas, and Stephanie Cooper, a Ph.D. candidate from Baltimore, Maryland. Entering with a one-day total of $22,700 off last night’s sole Final Jeopardy get, Brown (who told a memorable story involving a monkey bite) clawed to a wide lead by the end of the Jeopardy! round. He had $6,800, Cooper had $3,200, and Wallace (missing the Daily Double) trailed with $1,000.
In Double Jeopardy!, a musically-inclined Wallace grooved his way from third place to first by adding $2,000 apiece on both remaining Daily Doubles, one was a “Chemistry” clue seeking “Thorium,” the other was a “Dutch Colonial Empire” clue seeking “William Van Buren.” Offering a nervous laugh, he was not expecting to suddenly be in contention, something Ken Jennings picked up on.
But Wallace’s lead didn’t last for long. His opponents closed the gap and by Final Jeopardy, Cooper led with $10,400, Brown had $10,000 and Wallace had $9,400. Jennings remarked on the extremely close scores: “Just $1000 separating first and third,” then presented the “DETECTIVE AUTHORS” clue: “For much of the 1920s, he lived on Eddy Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District.”
Wallace was correct with “[Dashiell] Hammett” adding a big $9,399, letting out a big sigh as the audience applauded, and lept to a more decisive first place with $18,799.
Brown was incorrect and went all in, dropping to $0, and Wallace was also incorrect, writing that she “had fun.” She wagered $5000, dropping her to $5400.
Wallace was astonished as he was declared the new champ in a come-from-behind fashion, and Jennings had a little fun at his expense to wrap things up: “He looks surprised, but he will be back tomorrow!”
Fans took to the Reddit thread for the episode, excited to see if this new champ will keep it up after the neck-and-neck game, while others called out Cooper’s out-of-thin-air wager. Her non-cover bet would not have won her the game if correct or protected her if incorrect.
“Not sure what Stephanie’s $5,000 wager on FJ was intending to accomplish,” one fan wrote. “If she disliked the category (and given she couldn’t even offer a guess, she probably didn’t), better to bet $0 and force her opponents to be correct to defeat her. As it played out, she still would have won if both opponents missed, but Will easily could have gone with a tiny bet from a close third place.”
“I think I’m gonna nominate Tristan for best dressed this season,” quipped another.
“Congrats Will, very tightly contested game,” surmised a third.
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As others pointed out, Wallace nor Brown (who went all-in from second place, never the move) made standard cover bets either.
Whether or not questionable wagers impact the results, there has certainly been an uptick in them according to fans. One-day champ Kelly Gates bet just $2000 on a literature Daily Double despite being a librarian, going on to lose yesterday’s game. Then there was Gino Montoya who dropped from $17,400 to $0 in Final Jeopardy from second place. And fans likely won’t soon forget Aaron Brown who bet “all the money, honey” on DD3 last Friday, though many applauded the gutsy gambit.
What did you think of tonight’s game? Does Will Wallace have multi-day champ potential? And do more contestants need to memorize what a standard cover bet is? Let us know in the comments section below!
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