‘Jeopardy!’: Triple Stumper & Risky Wager Decide Hard-Fought Game
Spoiler Alert
Wheel of Fortune
[This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, February 19 episode of Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament.]
Day three of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament ended in a triple stumper, with none of the champions answering the Final Jeopardy! question correct.
So far, Matt Amodio, the 2022 Tournament of Champions semifinalist, and Jaskaran Singh, the first National College Championship winner, have advanced to the semi-finals.
On Wednesday, February 19, Jonathan Fisher, an actor from Florida, Rachael Schwartz, a scientist, from Berkeley, California, and Emily Sands, a benefits consultant, from Minnesota, faced off against each other. Fisher is the highest-winning and longest-streaking giant killer. Schwartz is the first female contestant to win ToC.
Sands is the Season 37 3-time Champion and Champions Wildcard winner.
The game ended on a risky wager that could so easily have ended in a Greek tragedy for one player. Did tbeir gamble pay off?
Sands stayed in the lead for most of the game, confident with questions in the “Elements” category in Double Jeopardy!. However, her final wager may shock some fans.
After the first round, Sands was surprisingly in last place with $2,200. Fisher was next with $2,800. Schwartz led with $3,200, but she wouldn’t hold that lead for long. In this round, she answered a Daily Double correctly, which doubled her score.
“The Og of elements is Oganesson–though we don’t know for sure, it’s a gas, it’s part of group 18, this septet,” host Ken Jennings read the question. “What are the noble gases?” Sands answered with, which doubled her score to $4,400.
The round was pretty even, but Sands gained the lead when her opponents answered a few questions wrong. Fisher answered his Daily Double correctly, tying Sands for the lead. But, Sands gained the lead during the “Elements” category, answering all of them correctly.
At the end of the second, Sands lead with $14,000. Fisher was in second with $12,400. Schwartz was trailing way behind with $6,000.
Final Jeopardy! was under the category “The Ancients Speak.” The question read, “He wrote, ‘I must make the founder of lovely & famous Athens the counterpart…to the father of… Glorious Rome.”
Schwartz answered with “Who is Herodutus?” She wagered $5,000 and was incorrect, bringing her total to $1,000.
Fisher answered incorrectly with “Who is Virgil?” He only lost $399, making his total $12,001. Sands wrote “Who?” and then gave a shoutout to Doug and Dana.
She wagered a risky $0, which could so easily have backfired, but her gamble paid off and she ended up the winner with $14,000. After avoiding a Greek tragedy, she will advance to the semi-finals with Amodio and Singh. The correct answer was “Who is Plutarch?”
Tomorrow, three new contestants will compete on the game show. Raymond Goslow, 2022 College Championship finalist, Troy Meyer, one of only five players to surpass $200,000 in six games, and Jackie Kelly, Tournament of Champions finalist, face off.
