‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Overcomes Thumb Injury to Earn Stunning Win

[The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, March 13, episode of Jeopardy!]

One Jeopardy! contestant got a second chance after revealing that a thumb injury kept them away from playing the first time. The game came down to a shocking final wager that gave a newcomer the title of Jeopardy! champion.

James Corson, from Fredrick, Maryland, returned to try and win his third game, after blowing his competitors out of the water in his first two games. On Thursday, March 13, he went against Liz Engelhardt, from Concord, New Hampshire, and Jack Goldfisher, from Los Angeles, California.

Despite a thumb injury, Goldfisher was quick on the buzzer and took a quick lead in the first round. However, Corson quickly caught up to him when he answered the first Daily Double of the game correctly. In the “America Parks” category, the clue read: “This airport in Wash. named for 2 cities has one of the largest parking garages in the U.S.- 13,00 spaces, 8 stories high.” “What is Sea-Tac?” Corson answered, which was correct, bringing him up to $1,800. Host Ken Jennings let the audience know that the full name was Seattle International Airport, Sea-Tac for short.

During the interview round, Engelhardt, a teacher, revealed that her love language with her husband is doing trivia with him, and had her 2-year old daughter crawling on top of her. Jennings said that the game show should be easy for her since there are not toddlers on set. Corson said that with his $70,000, two-day earnings, he and his wife are going to travel to Australia. Goldfisher revealed that he had been invited to play Jeopardy! before, but had turned it down. “I was playing basketball and I broke my thumb and dislocated it. One of the producers reached out the next morning after I had been in the E.R. until 2 or 3 a.m. and said, ‘Great news!’ I texted them back, ‘Not great news,’ with a photo of my thumb.” He said that it was his buzzer thumb, so it prevented him from playing.

Goldfisher continued to dominate the first round, earning $7,600. Engelhardt was in second with $4,400. The reigning champion, Corson, trailed with $2,000.

Engelhardt was quick on the buzzer in Double Jeopardy and slowly caught up to Goldfisher. She then found the first DD of the round, putting her in the lead. “Regarding the double-talk name of this character in Lolita, Nabokov said, ‘It is a hateful name for a hateful person’,” the clue read. “Who is Humbert Humbert?” Engelhardt answered, giving her $5,000 more. She was in the lead with $12,600.

It was a tight competition as the three contestants quickly answered questions correctly. Goldfisher found the final DD of the game, changing the game up again. the clue read: “Because of political pressure, it uses ‘Guo qi ge,’ the ‘National Banner Song,’ in place of its anthem at international events.” “What is Taiwan?” he answered after wagering $5,200. This put him back in the lead with $18,400.

After another close round, Goldfisher led with $20,400. Engelhardt followed him with $16,200. Corson was in last place with $13,200. But, Final Jeopardy can change the game, depending on the contestants’ wagers.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Games.” “This game inaugurated a craze that ‘scandalized the puritanical and drove chiropractors wild with delight.’” Corson went first answering with “What is she sells seashells by the seashore?” that was clearly wrong. However, he wagered $0, leaving his total at $13,200. Engelhardt answered ” What is hula hoop?” She wagered $10,400, dropping her to$5,800. With the only correct answer, Goldfisher wrote down, “What is Twister?” He wagered $12,001, which brought him to $32,401, making him the night’s winner.

Golfisher will face off against two new players on Friday, March 14. His thumb injury didn’t stop him from winning the game.