‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Stunned as ‘Unbelievable’ Mistake Costs Player the Win

Ryan Manton came into his third Jeopardy! game with a pair of back-to-back runaway victories under his belt, but third time was not a charm during Wednesday’s (October 2) episode. Instead, the two-time champion found himself in deep trouble all game long until another player made a costly mistake. And, finally, Manton had to try his hand at Final Jeopardy to stay in it.

Manton, a systems administrator from Ohio, faced off with Erin Ward, a software developer from Ontario, Canada, and Scott Tcheng, an ER doctor from San Francisco.

The first round was relatively competitive. Though Manton, despite his apparent aversion to Daily Doubles, found the first one on the very first buzz-in and got it correct, he could only wager and win $1,000. By the end of the first round, Manton was tied with Tcheng for $5,800, while Ward was right on their tails with $3,600.

In Double Jeopardy, though, the round was much more favorable to Tcheng. Not only did Manton miss a Daily Double that cost him $3,800, but Tcheng was matching him step for step with the buzzer and subsequent correct answers, so Manton was trailing in the money department. Essentially, Tcheng was just one Daily Double win away from putting himself into runaway territory and ending Manton’s winning streak.

However, instead of searching in the usual dollar amount slots for that final clue, he opted for lower-number clues, leaving the Daily Double to Manton for the finding. And when he did find it and answer the clue correctly, he had a slight lead going into the Final Jeopardy round, with $12,400 to Tcheng’s $11,800 and Ward’s $4,800.

The Final Jeopardy clue, in the category of “Science,” was as follows: “Physicist John Wheeler said he coined this term as a faster way to say ‘completely collapsed objects.’” Both Manton and Tcheng correctly guessed the answer was a black hole, but Manton wisely bet enough to earn himself another night on Jeopardy!

On Reddit, one commentator responded to Tcheng’s Daily Double snafu, writing, “Scott had Ryan on the ropes, but I was utterly baffled by the fact that he seemed to be actively avoiding uncovering DD3, when all he had to do guarantee he’d have the lead going into FJ is keep that last DD away from Ryan– find it and wager $5 if you want! But instead, Scott kept picking from the top row, allowing Ryan to find the last DD and take back the lead, and ultimately win the game. Unbelievable.”

Still, there were some fans who appreciated the competitiveness Tcheng brought into the fold on Wednesday night, with one noting simply, “What a game.”

In the end, Manton squeaked through with a winning total of $23,601 to Tcheng’s $23,600 and Ward’s $800.

The question now is whether he’ll be able to eke out a win again and get himself into Tournament of Champions territory. We’ll have to wait and see!