‘Jeopardy!’: Micah Rahn-Tiemeyer Explains ‘Heartbreaking’ Final Jeopardy Error

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Jeopardy! contestant Micah Rahn-Tiemeyer had the lead going into Thursday night’s (July 18) Final Jeopardy, but a blunder with the final clue brought his time on the iconic game show to an early end.

Rahn-Tiemeyer, a mental health crisis therapist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, took to the Jeopardy! Reddit forum after Thursday’s airing to explain what went wrong in that Final Jeopardy category and share his thoughts on potentially returning for a Second Chance season.

“That one was heartbreaking,” Rahn-Tiemeyer said of getting the Final Jeopardy question wrong, especially as the answer was Talking Heads, one of the Michigan native’s favorite bands.

The clue read, “Married since 1977, the year of this band’s 1st album, 2 members referenced another album with their 2023 “Remain In Love” tour.”

Rahn-Tiemeyer explained that his “brain latched onto the wrong thing,” which is why he wasn’t able to come up with a response in time.

“The talking heads are one of my favorite bands. I knew the albums, I knew Tina and Chris were still married. I know how to get Tina’s bass tone. My brain latched onto the wrong thing, I was trying to think of an album with ‘in love’ in the title,” he said.

This blunder allowed Jay Fisher, a government relations manager from Lisle, Illinois, to snatch his third win a row, bringing his three-day total to $28,200.

“After the show, Ken [Jennings] was asking Jay about the talking heads and all I kept thinking is, ‘I can’t believe I lost on a talking heads question’ and then he asked me if I was a big fan of dugongs. Having forgotten everything that happened prior to final Jeopardy I was thinking ‘why is this man asking me about dugongs,’” Rahn-Tiemeyer shared.

Despite his losing effort, Rahn-Tiemeyer took pleasure in making Jennings laugh with his “AA-WESOME” joke, even though he regrets missing the chance for another funny quip.

“I was happy to make Ken chuckle with the AA-wesome joke, but it’s less impressive when you realize I had the opportunity to say, ‘Ken, let’s go Nude… for a thousand dollars,’” he wrote.

When a few fans said that Rahn-Tiemeyer deserved to be considered for Jeopardy!’s next Second Chance tournament, he responded, “I’m blushing. Thank you. There’s been a lot of excellent runners up this season though. Second chance is going to be a really strong competition and there may be too many people crowding me out of the field.”

“But to read you say ‘multiple day champ potential’ really touched my heart,” he added. “I feel that way but didn’t know if it would come across. I wonder what would happen if I could survived this game and maybe relaxed into the next ones a little bit but you can drive yourself crazy with those.”

Fisher also commented on the Reddit thread, where he touched on his low earnings after three wins.

“I believe I do have the lowest winning total in season 40,” he said. “The finals have cost me a bunch of money but I can’t complain. Three day champion is more than I hoped for.”

Rahn-Tiemeyer also complimented fellow contestant Meredith Miller, a labor economist from Arlington, Virginia, writing, “Not enough has been said about Meredith. She is scary good on the buzzer and really has no weaknesses in her trivia knowledge that I could discern. She could easily have been a super champion if some things went different.”

“You’re too kind Micah!” Miller replied. “Both you and Jay were super solid competitors! I think I learned dugong once a million years ago. It was a bummer that your opera category was the day before too! I’m proud of us at how close the game was.”

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