‘Jeopardy’ Fans React After After Contestant’s Stunning Performance on ‘Tough’ Board

Spoiler Alert

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[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, April 8, episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! fans were shocked that the game show had three incorrect Daily Doubles and multiple triple stumpers. However, after Monday night’s triple stumper on Final Jeopardy, all three contestants correctly answered the final question on Tuesday (April 8). In the end, though, it didn’t really matter; one contestant was so far ahead, their win was almost guaranteed.

Mike Dawson, from Portland, Oregon, was back for his third game to try and defend his title. His two-day total is $35,600. He played against Anise K. Strong-Morse, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Joe Lancour, from Agawam, Massachusetts.

By the first half of the round, Lancour, a quality and export compliance manager, led with the most amount of correct responses. But he wasn’t ahead by much. However, he found the first Daily Double of the game and dropped his total by $1,000 after answering it incorrectly. The clue read, “In this novel, Chapter 10 is The Shell and the Glasses & 12, Cry of the Hunters.”

Lancour whispered, “Oh boy!” Host Ken Jennings was shocked and said, “The shell and the glasses. Famous props in…” The answer was Lord of the Flies. This brought him down to second place with $2,000.

Dawson, a technology manager, led with $4,800 by the end of the round despite not answering most questions correctly. Lancour had $3,000. Strong-Morse answered four questions right and four wrong, resulting in -$1,000.

Luck would be on Dawson’s side when both DDs were found in Double Jeopardy and were answered incorrectly. Strong-Morse, a history professor, found the first one of the round. The clue read, “Remove the X from within a statement of a basic principle & you do this, inflict a severe injury.” She was stumped and dropped $2,500 from her score of $4,200. The answer was maim, from maxim.

For the second DD of the round, Lancour had a chance to redeem himself when he found it. The clue read, “The National Road was also called this for the Maryland city where construction began in 1811 heading west.” He answered, “What is Silver Springs?” which was wrong, taking $6,000 from his total of $6,600. The answer was “Cumberland Road.”

This gave Dawson a huge lead at the end of the round with $16,400. Strong-Morse had $2,900. Lancour was in third with $1,800. However, they all redeemed themselves in Final Jeopardy because they all knew the answer.

“Burt Lancaster & Joanne Woodward were among the first 8 honored at a 1958 ceremony held on this street,” was the final clue. They all answered “Hollywood Boulevard,” which was right. Lancour wagered all of his money, ending with $3,600. Strong-Morse ended with $3,607 after wagering $707. With a major lead and a correct answer, Dawson won his third game with a total of $21,400 after wagering $5,000.

Dawson’s three-day total is $57,000. He will be back tomorrow for his fourth win against two new opponents.

Reddit users were shocked by the triple stumpers and wrong DD.

“Rough game. Ten triple stumpers, 16 wrong responses including all three DDs, and two of the three players had under $3,000 going to FJ. Yikes,” one fan wrote.

“Tough board today, really. The challengers especially drew a tough hand by finding those DDs, which were especially tough today IMO,” said another.

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