‘Jeopardy!’ Shocker as Ashley Chan Gets ‘Handily Beaten’ — New Champ Reacts
ABC
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, December 18 episode of Jeopardy!]
Whenever there’s a breakout star on Jeopardy! the big question becomes, how long will their winning streak go, and how will they lose? In some cases, it’s controversial (see Ben Chan), but in others, it’s cut-and-dry. Unfortunately, it was the latter for four-day champ Ashley Chan: the longest-reigning female champ in six months lost by such a wide margin on Wednesday night that fans called it “really shocking.”
Chan, a publicist from Lewisville, Texas, entered with a combined total of $67,400 and the hearts of many viewers for her comfort on stage, vast knowledge base, and lack of long-running champs this season. After a nail-biter last episode saved by an opponent’s faulty Final wager, she faced Eric Weldon-Schilling, a bar manager & sommelier from Houston, Texas, and Sarah Rosenthal, a fundraiser from New York City.
In the Jeopardy! round, the first sign of trouble came when Chan found and missed the Daily Double, drawing a blank on the “Poli Sci” clue seeking “Astroturfing.” She finished the round in last place with $2,800, Rosenthal with $3,800, and Weldon-Schilling in the lead with $6,400. And in last place she shockingly remained.
In Double Jeopardy, Weldon-Schilling went on a tear and expanded his lead into the five digits. Even Ken Jennings had to remark, “You’re doing very well in this round,” when he found the second Daily Double in “Victorian Verse.” While he was unable to get “Casterbridge” dropping $2,800 from the front, his strong play continued. Chan never fully got into the picture, spending much of the round with $0.
Rosenthal found the last Daily Double with a shot at the lead, dropping $3,000 in a tough break mixing up “milky way” (not a Hershey product) and “Milk Duds.” This allowed Weldon-Schilling a runaway going into Final Jeopardy. He had $19,600, Rosenthal had $8,400 and Chan had $2,400. “Very impressive in that round,” Jennings told the soon-to-be-crowned new champ.
The “Anthems” Final clue was, “The unofficial anthem of this U.K. territory mentions kelp, penguins & “the wind from the horn” It was a triple-get as everyone correctly responded “Falkland Islands.” Weldon-Schilling added $1,400 to win with $21,000, left looking over the moon.
Jennings gave a similar speech that he gave the most previous female multi-day champ Adriana Harmeyer when she got her torch snuffed by Drew Basile (albeit Chan looked less distraught), assuring she’d be back. “Ashley, even with four wins, well-positioned for the next Tournament of Champions. We are likely to see you back here in a year,” he said in close.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, reacting to the defeat and to how unexpectedly decisive it was with Chan finishing in last place.
“Aww gonna miss Ashley,” one fan wrote.
“Eric looked so happy at the end, I like him a lot,” wrote another.
“I wonder if it was just a bad board for Ashley or if she was getting cooked on the buzzer, because it was really shocking to see a 4 game champion get so handily beaten,” wrote a third.
“Probably fatigue? She got incorrect answers far more frequently that her previous games, I believe,” speculated a fourth.
“ANTHEMS was not a helpful or appropriate FJ category given the clue. Also, in the POLI SCI category, how on earth did they make the obscure term “Astroturfing” the $600 clue and DD, while assigning $1000 to knowing separation of powers? Baffling and unserious,” wrote a fifth.
Elsewhere in the Jeopardy! Subreddit, Weldon-Schilling spoke about his experience and answering fan questions. He called the tape day “emotional” and praised host Jennings whom he is such a big fan of that he “cried.”
“Ken was incredibly warm and friendly in the limited amount of interaction we got with him,” he told one fan. “He came and spoke to us before rehearsals and then said something encouraging to us during our photo with him. He exuded an aura of being a man who cannot believe that this is what his life is actually like—in the best way.”
He continued, “I literally cried when he walked out during rehearsal lol. I’m not an emotional person by any stretch but that day I got weepy multiple times.”
“It was a truly amazing experience,” he replied to another. “I was very happy with the whole experience. I cannot say enough nice things about the production staff and the contestant department. And Ken. I literally cried at least four times that day.”
As Jennings mentioned, Chan will be in the 2026 Tournament of Champions, as the cutoff for the 2025 ToC which airs in a month’s time is already over- but it’s not the last we’ve seen of her, and she’ll have plenty of time to prep and master her Final wagering strategy and, as Sam Buttrey would say, bring it!
What did you think of the game? Are you sad to see Ashley Chan go? Do you think Eric Weldon-Schilling can win as many games as he’s seen Bob Dylan concerts? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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