‘Jeopardy!’ Player Reveals Ongoing Cancer Battle in Dramatic Game — See Ken Jennings’ Reaction

ABC

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, November 19 episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! fans were in for a memorable matchup on Tuesday, November 19, as a contestant battling Stage IV cancer bravely shared his diagnosis. However, he and the reigning champ fell short, and a new winner emerged despite what many fans called an utterly baffling bet.

Paul Clauson, a tax analyst (on unpaid leave) from Madison Heights, Michigan, was the one to beat. He entered with a two-day total of $36,300 after back-to-back runaways. He faced Chris Burge, a high school teacher from Farmers Branch, Texas, and Mikey McCullough, a librarian from Baltimore, Maryland.

During the interviews, Ken Jennings asked Burge, “I understand you’re facing a health challenge right now that you wanted to talk about.” The player replied, “Yeah, I’ve been fighting Stage IV colon cancer since May.” Jennings responded, “Oh wow.”

“Young adult diagnoses have increased a lot in recent years,” he continued. “Definitely encourage people not to ignore any kind of symptoms. Definitely push to get tested, especially if you have any family history of it.”

“That’s a great word to get out there,” Jennings concluded. “Thank you so much, Chris.”

In the Jeopardy! round and after the moving moment, Clauson hit a speed bump missing the first Daily Double. Burge led when the smoke cleared with $6,400, McCullough had $4,200, and the champ had $2,600.

In Double Jeopardy!, Clauson’s streak looked unsteady as he trailed for much of the clues. Eventually, McCullough found the second Daily Double having mounted a wide lead while Clauson chipped away at the clue board to double digits. However, with a chance to put the game away, she only bet $2,000, getting it correct, she had an even wider lead but not the runaway. Clauson could have used the last Daily Double, but didn’t find it; Burge did so with very few clues left and missed it dropping out of contention.

This left the game between Clauson and McCullough going into Final Jeopardy, with him at $11,000, her at $20,200, and Burge at $1,600

The “Sports & The City” clue was, “At 800 West Main & 700 Central in this city are a company & a venue both involved in Triple Crowns.”

Only Burge was correct in writing “Louisville” from a distant third. Clauson dropped to $0 with an incorrect response, ending his two-day run, and McCullough only dropped $2,000 to become the new champ with $18,200.

Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, praising Burge for his incredible anecdote and reacting to the new champ.

“Here’s wishing Chris Burge a full and complete recovery. You performed well against two strong competitors, Chris, and I’m rooting for you. But also…tick off a few more bucket list items! Well done,” one fan wrote.

“Great game by all three players where any of the three Daily Doubles going the other way would’ve changed who won. All the best to Chris in his hopeful recovery,” wrote another.

“Oooh wow that’s pretty inspiring competing given that!” wrote a third.

“Kudos to Chris for using his time to help raise awareness about colorectal cancer which is being diagnosed in young adults long before screening starts at 45. Don’t ignore symptoms. Best wishes to you Chris,” wrote a fourth.

Elsewhere in the thread, fans criticized the new champ’s DD2 wager that would have lost her the game had Clauson been correct in Final Jeopardy.

“Mikey could have put the game away with the DD but she made a meek wager. didn’t matter in the end at least,” one wrote.

Another wrote, “She seemed to me like she really disliked the category. Hard to fault her for playing it safe and sitting on a big lead if that’s the case.”

A third fan also defended, “Agreed. If she bets big and loses the money, Paul’s second-place position going into FJ suddenly looks a lot sweeter.”

However, an additional fan argued, “She could have bet an extra 2k and ensured a solid runaway had she gotten it right, and in the event she got it wrong she would still have a commanding lead going into FJ. She bet too little [in my opinion].”

“The second daily double was still in play tho,” pointed out another.

“THAT had me hollering at the TV,” wrote a sixth. “There was only one $2,000 clue left. The 2nd DD was most likely there, and it was. She kept going back to the lower $ clues. I was saying go grab that DD!!! Even if you don’t know French, she could have taken the DD away from the other contestants. Oh well, great game!!!”

What did you think of the game and Chris Burge’s brave story? Are you sad to see Paul Clauson go? Do you think Mikey McCullough can win some more? Let us know in the comments below.

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