[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the February 7 episode of Jeopardy!]
The primary spherical of the 2025 Jeopardy! Match of Champions featured a tie between two fan-favorite returning champs heading into Last Jeopardy. The triple-stumper closing clue knocked the main participant out of first place, and one other participant’s all-or-nothing wager resulted in a painful loss. Two gamers shared recollections from filming on the Jeopardy! Reddit dialogue board for the February 7 episode, with one admitting they needed to do “a lot math” to make it out of this tiebreaker and the opposite referred to as themselves a “licensed Wagering Fool.”
Competing within the 2025 Jeopardy! ToC finals have been three fan-favorite rivals: Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch, and Neilesh Vinjamuri. Vinjamuri is the wildcard entry who’s been dominating the match, and Harmeyer and Hirsch have been seeded instantly into the semifinals due to their performances of their unique Jeopardy! runs.
They proved to be worthy rivals. It was anybody’s recreation all through all the episode, with the first-break scores being Harmeyer with 1,600, Hirsch with 2,000, and Vinjamuri with 2,400 and the second-break scores being Harmeyer with 3,400, Hirsch with 2,800, and Vinjamuri with 3,800. Two Day by day Double victories in Double Jeopardy have been sufficient to drag Hirsch into the lead coming into the ultimate spherical. His rating going into Last Jeopardy was 13,800, with Harmeyer and Vinjamuri tied at 11,400 every.
A “European historical past” class is what stumped all of them. The clue: “At his trial, revolutionaries referred to deposed Louis XVI with this final title, one used beforehand for a dynasty.” The right reply: “What’s Capet?” Vinjamuri was the participant who wager all of it, hoping to extend his winnings complete by a big margin to beat each Hirsch and Harmeyer. Hirsch wager 9,001, taking him right down to 4,799, and Harmeyer wagered 6,000 for a closing rating of 5,400. It wasn’t a big lead, however it was sufficient to win.
Harmeyer shared recollections from this “blur” of a day on Reddit.
“This recreation was a blur. There are two essential issues I bear in mind: The very last thing I checked out earlier than leaving my lodge that morning was an inventory of the tallest mountains on this planet. If not for that being contemporary in my thoughts, I could have gotten that first Day by day Double. Research at your personal danger,” she wrote to followers. “I did a lot math for that closing wager.”
Hirsch had notes for his closing wager.
“Some spare ideas on as we speak’s recreation,” Hirsch wrote on the identical Reddit board. “Getting in on the buzzer with this group may be very troublesome. As somebody who does a foul job of disguising my frustration once I can’t ring in, the huge photographs this recreation ought to present numerous enjoyable response photographs the place I appear to be somebody simply killed my canine after I’m crushed in.”
“Clearly I used to be somewhat too conservative on my DD wagers right here,” he continued. “In my protection, I’m legitimately horrible at each anagrams and African geography, and I used to be somewhat gun shy after whiffing my final two. Nonetheless I got here out of this recognizing the error and deliberate on wagering extra aggressively sooner or later.”
“As an authorized Wagering Fool, I assumed second and third being tied could be ideally suited for me, as they’d each be pressured to wager every little thing and I’d win in a Triple Stumper state of affairs (or if I obtained closing proper),”Hirsch’s remark concluded. “Sadly, Adriana understands wagering significantly better than I do, so she takes recreation 1. All congratulations to her.”
All three finalists will rematch on Monday, February 10. The primary participant to attain three wins is the champion.
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