‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Contestant’s Stunning Link to Question

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No wonder Jeopardy! contestant Emily Croke was the only one who knew the Final Jeopardy question in the June 23 episode. She is related to the person it was about.

She faced off against one-day champion Andrew Brigger, from Roseville, Minnesota, and David Spelman, from Livingston, New Jersey. The Denver, Colorado native won the game with $13,201.

What put her far in the lead was the final clue. In “Collections,” the clue read, “In 1896, the Vassar-educated wife of this man wrote, ‘thousands of dollars may be paid for a copy of Shakespeare.’” The correct answer was Henry Clay Folger, and Croke was the only one who got it right.

The game show shared a video on Instagram of Croke revealing a shocking fact to host Ken Jennings after her win. “Say that again, Emily?” Jennings said in the video.

“So, that was my great-great-great aunt Emily,” she said. Emily was Henry Clay Folger’s wife in the clue.

“Emily Folger, the one we mentioned in the clue, is the person you, Emily Croke, are named after?” Ken Jennings asked.

“Yes. Yeah,” the Jeopardy! contestant confirmed.

“Wow!” Jennings replied.

Jeopardy! fans were torn on how fair the question was and if production should look more into their contestants.

“The production staff is gonna have to start doing more research because that is pretty wildly unfair. Imagine losing tens of thousands of dollars because someone asked a trivia question about your competitor’s family,” an Instagram user said.

“I don’t think that in the entire history of Jeopardy, any clue before was accidentally written about a contestant’s family!! The odds are astounding considering the longevity of the show and the probability of being on the show when the question is asked, and the millions of applicants who apply to play!!!! We have a better chance of winning the lotteries!!!!” another said.

Others defended Croke, saying that production makes up the questions way ahead of time and would have no way of knowing. “These clues are written well in advance (before the crew knows which contestants will appear). This was a complete coincidence,” a fan said.

However, most fans thought it was cool, and some even got to witness the shock in person. “Was in the audience for this one. It truly surprised everyone,” an Instagram user said.

“How fitting! That’s so lucky AND she played so well,” commented another.

“What are the odds of that happening?” another fan asked.

“That’s crazy. Can you imagine being there and out of nowhere one of your relatives is the answer to the clue smh,” a Reddit user said.

“She didn’t need it to win, so no reason for the other contestants to be upset, but what an absurd stroke of luck,” said one last fan.

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