‘Jeopardy!’: Fierce ‘Second Chance’ Match-Up Is Instant Classic – Fans React
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The first week of Jeopardy!‘s Second Chance Tournament continued on New Year’s Day with a fierce match-up between three strong returning players. The contest turned out to be an instant classic to kick off 2025 and it was all decided by a question about U.S. Presidents.
Wednesday’s game saw a face-off between Josh Moss, a craft distillery owner from Boston, Massachusetts, who gave super-champ Adriana Harmeyer a run for her money back in May, Gino Montoya, an attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who lost out in October after an all-in Final Jeopardy wager, and Colleen Matthews, a speech-language pathologist from Hillsboro, Oregon, who came super close to defeating Harmeyer back in June.
The competition was fierce from the start, with all three players evenly matched. Montoya and Matthews answered 10 clues correctly with only one incorrect response apiece, while Moss answered nine correctly with one incorrect. However, a correct Daily Double from Montoya gave him the lead with $7,000 heading into Double Jeopardy.
Things heated up in the second round, with Matthews picking up four correct $2,000 clues and the last Daily Double to give her a solid lead with $18,600 heading into Final Jeopardy. Moss followed with $12,200 after answering a Daily Double incorrectly, while Montoya trailed closely behind with $11,800.
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Host Ken Jennings then read out the Final Jeopardy clue: “According to his son Fred, this man first tried smoking just because it was against the rules at West Point.”
Matthews and Montoya answered correctly with “Who is Ulysses S. Grant?” while Moss got it wrong with a response of “Who is Eisenhower?”
Despite Montoya’s big wager of $11,000 (giving him a total of $22,800), Matthews’ $5,801 bet was enough to clinch the victory with $24,401, securing her spot as a Second Chance finalist.
Fans took to the Jeopardy! Reddit forum to praise Wednesday’s game, with one commenter writing, “Another great game from all three players.”
“The spirit of Adriana Harmeyer prevailed strongly on the New Years Eve and New Years Day games with Kaitlin Tarr and Colleen Matthews winning after both losing to her, although Josh wasn’t as lucky,” added another.
“What a match to kick off 2025,” said one fan, while another added, “This was a classic great game with 3 knowledgeable players. I certainly couldn’t tell early in the game who was going to win.”
Another said, “Great game. I liked the new years greeting from the writers in the Jeopardy library. Good to show the writers sometimes, they do so much work for the show.”
What did you think of Wednesday’s game? Who are you rooting for in the Second Chance tournament? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
