‘Jeopardy!’: Ken Jennings Mocks Players & Champ’s ‘Poor Strategy’ Baffles Fans

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, November 15 episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! strategy boils down to clue selection and wagering. Playing it safe—going top-down and ignoring or low-balling Daily Doubles—rarely works (unless you’re Adriana Harmeyer). On Friday, November 15, the returning champ lost on what fans deemed a “poor strategy alone.” And as far as the former goes, Ken Jennings roasted all three contestants for dodging one category like the plague.

Stephanie Asalone entered a one-day champ with a total of $14,100 after a come-from-behind victory despite a $500 Daily Double 3 wager. The former 401(k) processor, originally from St. Marys, Pennsylvania, faced Kristen Moreland, a school administrator from Brooklyn, New York, and Paul Clauson, a tax analyst from Madison Heights, Michigan.

In the Jeopardy! round, Asalone got off to a hot start, with five correct responses before the break. She had $3,200 to Clauson’s $1,600 and Moreland’s $0. After the break, her pattern of picking $200 clues allowed Clauson to find the Daily Double, doubling up to the lead with $7,800, Asalone $3,600, and Moreland $2,000.

In Double Jeopardy, Moreland got the second Daily Double out of the way immediately, knowing the “4-Letter Geography” clue was “Peru,” doubling to $4000. From there, Clauson extended his lead with the third Daily Double going uncovered, and no one touching the “Sculptors” category.

Clauson finally found it there selecting the “dreaded sculptors” and Jennings joked back it was the “dreaded Daily Double.” He went light with $1000, got the “Northwestern” clue incorrect, which helped him stay in a runaway going into Final Jeopardy. As the players finished off the seemingly despised “Sculpters” column, Jennings quipped, “I’m sure you’re sad to see this go.”

Clauson finished with $15,600, Asalone $7,600, and Moreland $6,400. The 20th Century Transportation” clue was, “A 1947 article read, its ‘wings were not clipped by the Senate fishermen & ghost hunters after all.’” The correct response was “Spruce Goose,” which no one got. Clauson dropped a mere $399 to win and become the new champ with $15,201, looking emotional to finish out the week our winner.

Fans took to Reddit celebrating the new champ and arguing that Asalone lost not because of a lack of knowledge but “poor strategy alone.”

“Stephanie’s fatal flaw, she chose almost exclusively top row clues, seemed to be clearly avoiding DDs, but also avoided the high value bottom row clues completely,” one user wrote. “Paul, by contrast, searched for the DDs and chose bottom row clues. He still had to know enough of the answers to pull off his runaway, but it goes to show that even if you know most of the answers, you can lose on poor strategy alone.”

Another wrote, “It would be fun if Paul would emulate Holzhauer’s ‘all in’ gesture next time he goes for a true DD,” referring to his sweet story involving his grandfather and James Holzhauer.

A third said, “I found the category name “This American Wife” disrespectful, especially since some of the clues did not refer to the women’s marriages at all.”

What did you think of the game? Was Stephanie Asalone’s gameplay what cost her? And does Paul Clauson have some gas in the tank to win a few more? Also, no love for The Comeback? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!