[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, November 13 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! crowned a new champ after a dramatic showdown on Wednesday, November 13. However, the real shock for fans came when the judges controversially allowed a Final Jeopardy answer that was technically incorrect — some citing less lenient past rulings on social media — and decided the game.
Joey DeSena, a development engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina, entered a two-day champ after big back-to-back wins and $44,698 total. He faced Lois Dioro, a realtor from West Haven, Connecticut, and Evan Dorey, a data analytics director from Toronto, Ontario.
In the Jeopardy! round, DeSena was outplayed by Dorey who got off to a hot start, nabbing the first Daily Double to have $4,000 by the first commercial break while neither of the other players were on the board. By the end the round, DeSena trailed with $1,000, Dorey led with $5,000, and (latent) Bruce Springsteen fan Dioro narrowed the gap with $3,000.
In Double Jeopardy, the two newcomers overtook the game, with Dorey dropping $2,000 on the second Daily Double unable to get the “From The Greek” clue as “Technicolor,” but still keeping a small lead. In an exciting late moment, Dioro found the last Daily Double, getting the “You’ll Learn To Adapt” clue as “Emma Thompson” in the nick of time adding $2,400 and heightening the stakes.
Going into Final Jeopardy, things were suddenly very interesting as Dioro and Dorey were tied at $14,600, DeSena still in contention by just $100 with $7,400.
It all hinged on the “POETRY & PLACES” clue, “It’s the geographic word in the title of a Robert Burns poem about “the mountains …covered with snow…the straths & green valleys below.” The correct response was “Highlands.”
DeSena was incorrect with “Moor??? It was fun!” dropping to $199 ending his run. Then came Dorey, who wrote “Highland.” He appeared unsure it would be accepted, seemingly aware the clue wanted a word in a title which does have an “s”. However, the judges accepted it and he doubled up to have $29,200.
“And we will accept that,” Ken Jennings said causing Dorey to exhale at his podium. “‘My Heart’s In The Highlands‘ is the name of the poem,” the host explained. Dioro was also incorrect with “Scotland,” dropping to $12,000, so the allowance of Dorey’s response made him the new champ.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, reacting to the Final Jeopardy ruling and struggling to make sense of why a singular response that left off a letter was considered complete.
“I’m confused. If a FJ contestant gives a singular name though the correct title is plural, it’s accepted. But if they write that singular and are starting to add s when time runs out, it isn’t?” one fan wrote.
“Little confused by that myself,” wrote another. “I thought if the answer was a word in a title, the answer needed to be the title word, not a version thereof.”
“Where did you get that impression?” asked a third. The user responded, “Well. if you’re going for Harriet Tubman and it looks like you didn’t finish, you don’t get credit.” referring to the infamous “Harriet Tubma” response from Season 39 which was not accepted by the judges.
A third wrote, “My interpretation of this ruling is: If the clue specifically wanted the full title and he wrote ‘My Heart’s in the Highland’, that would be incorrect. But since they just wanted the word rather than the full title, they’ll take singular or plural.”
A fourth wrote, “Based on today’s FJ ruling, if the clue is about a fruit in the title of a Steinbeck novel and I write “What is Grape?”, I guess that’s acceptable.”
A fifth wrote, “I can’t think of any other examples where a “word in the title” clue had any wiggle room on the response. “Highland” is not a word in the title of the poem; “Highlands” is. (Maybe because “highland” is contained within “highlands”??? But that seems ridiculous. By that logic, “land”–a geographic word in and of itself–should have been an acceptable response as well.) I think this was a the-ends-justify-the-means ruling. Evan was the best player today so he deserved to win, but under a strict interpretation of the rules and the wording of the clue, I don’t think “highland” was a correct response.”
And a sixth called it a “Crazy ruling. They shouldn’t be giving credit for similar words. The clue asked for a word in the poem title. Highland is not in the title.”
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Outgoing champ DeSena chimed in to share his thoughts overall, writing, in part, “Well, the improbable mini-streak has come to an end. All the credit in this game goes to Evan and Lois, who were two amazing competitors that came to play. I felt like a fan myself during Final, excited to see how the tie would break! I know it’s been said maybe times before, but I have utmost respect for the players that can rattle off 5 wins in a tape day. That is draining!”
What did you think of the Final Jeopardy “Highland” ruling? Should it have been accepted? And do you think Evan Dorey will win a few more games? Let us know in the comments section below!
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