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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, November 21 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans and the usually on-his-toes Ken Jennings were in for a surprise on Wednesday, November 21’s episode. One-day champion Mehal Shah pulled off a tremendous second win, highlighted by three all-in Daily Doubles, the third being the biggest of the season causing the host to genuinely do a Daily Double take.
Shah, a software engineer from Seattle, Washington, entered with a one-day total of $9,799 after a promising if boilerplate debut. He faced Holly Luo, a product designer originally from San Diego, California, and Jack Altman, a law student from New York City.
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In the Jeopardy! round, Shah broke into an early lead of $2,200 when he found the first Daily Double, going all in but missing the “Robert Pirie” clue he had to start from scratch. He recovered and by the end of the round, led with $4,000 Luo had $3,000, and Altman $2,200
In Double Jeopardy!, Shah shocked fans and Jennings by putting the game away early in two fell swoops. He found the second Daily Double and once again went all-in with $5,400, getting the “Norse Myths” clue correct as “Midguard” to have $11,200. Three clues later, he found the last Daily Double with a lead of $13,200.
“Are you doing it again, Mehal, True Daily Double?” Jennings teased, seeming to assume the player would say no. “Yes,” Shah bluntly responded. The in-studio audience gasped. Jennings replied, “Wait, really?” sincerely requesting conformation. “All of it,” Shah confirmed.
With $13,200 at stake, the “Storming The Castle” clue was presented, “Now meaning to secretly weaken, it originally meant to tunnel below a fortification in order to collapse the walls.” Shah correctly responded, “What is: Undermine?” to have $26,400 just like that. “Wow,” Jennings said.
From there, and despite two-thirds of the round still remaining, it was no contest and Shah cruised to a runaway, entering Final Jeopardy with $37,600, Holly $9,800 Jack $7,400. The “International Studies” clue was, “Following student unrest in 1968, in 1970 the University of this city was divided into 13 smaller ones.”
Only Altman was correct with “Paris,” and Shah (Jennings highlighting his “heart-pounding” Daily Double act) dropped $1,337 to win with $36,263 for a two-day total of $46,062. “That’s quite a performance today,” Jennings added.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, stunned by Shah’s Daily Double grit and discussing Jennings’ stunned reaction.
“Amazing, amazing game by Mehal in today’s episode! Huge Coryat too ($24,200),” one fan observed.
“Someone check me – is that the largest DD bet this season?” asked another, to which a third confirmed, “It is the biggest DD bet thus far; the previous highest DD bet of the season was Aaron Brown’s 10,400 wager (which was BARELY missed).”
A third wrote, “Ken’s ‘woah, really?’ there was so genuine.”
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“Ken’s ‘Are you gonna wager everything again???’ (or words to that effect) is a facetious bit that Alex often used to do in those circumstances as well. And the response is virtually always ‘Hahaha, no.’” pointed out a fourth. “So yeah Mehal really flipped the script there.”
“Wow, Mehal is a force to be reckoned with those Daily Doubles today,” wrote a fifth.
“Insane Daily Doubles from Mehal to get a well-deserved win. Jack and Holly had really good games too, there’s just nothing you can do against that,” wrote a sixth.
“I felt a little bad for the other two players, who both seemed like they could have thrown a good challenge, had Mehal not found all THREE DDs. Holly, in particular, looked pretty fierce,” wrote a seventh. “Feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen such a ballsy DD pay off, great game.”
Shah buzzed in to the thread to share his thoughts on the game, explaining he felt going all in on all three Daily Doubles was the “only right decision.”
“It’s funny to me that a lot of people think I was being brave for TDDing,” he wrote, in part. “To me, it was the only right decision given how fast Holly and Jack were on the buzzer. From studying, I found that I have about an 80% get rate on DDs when I feel confident in the category and it was worth taking a shot. The only reason I paused was to muster up the courage. As a Bills fan, I’m tickled pink that this comes after that 4th and 2 call against the Chiefs on Sunday.”
What did you think of Mehal Shah’s performance? Do you think he’ll snag one of the two remaining Tournament of Champions slots (one more going to the Champions Wildcard winner) with the postseason fast approaching? Was his win a dynamic one-off, or a sign of what’s to come? Let us know in the comments section below!
