Returning champion Scott Riccardi was given a run for his cash on Jeopardy! as he discovered himself keeping off a powerful challenger in a heated battle for the highest spot in an episode marked with huge bets and Each day Double drama.
Earlier than the sport even started, host Ken Jennings famous that Riccardi, who as soon as celebrated his birthday with a Jeopardy!-themed celebration, in all probability by no means imagined he can be marking future birthdays as a multi-day champion. Riccardi entered the sport with three-day winnings totaling $96,001, as he confronted off in opposition to two new challengers: Elise Canup, an promoting producer from Richmond, Virginia, and Dan Puma, a salesman from Chicago, Illinois.
The trio jumped proper in, swiftly working by way of the primary spherical and splitting the board between them. By the point Canup uncovered the primary Each day Double within the class “Scorching Time within the Outdated City” for $400, practically two-thirds of the board had already been cleared.
Canup had $1,800 on the board and was sitting in third place behind Riccardi’s $5,200 and Puma’s $2,000, and selected to make it a real Each day Double by wagering all of it. The clue: “This metropolis’s historical past museum shows a virtually seven-ton steel blob of nails and different {hardware} melted in a retailer basement in 1871.” Canup accurately responded, “What’s Chicago?” in reference to the Nice Chicago Fireplace. With that, she doubled her complete to $3,600 and moved into second place.
The trio moved shortly by way of the board, lacking just a few clues as they tore by way of the classes with minimal errors. One of many uncommon stumpers got here from the class “These Are the Lyrics,” with the clue: Hozier‘s “Too Candy” says, “You deal with your mouth as if it’s Heaven’s gate / The remainder of you such as you’re…” this three-letter company. After a quick silence and the dreaded three-note time’s up jingle, Jennings revealed the reply: “The remainder of you such as you’re the TSA.”
Because the group moved into Double Jeopardy!, returning champion Riccardi entered the spherical in first place with $7,600 whereas Canup nabbed the second place spot with $4,200 and Puma got here in third with $3,400.
Puma kicked off the brand new spherical and, along with his first choice within the class “State Oddity” for $1,600, uncovered the board’s first Each day Double. Hoping to shut the hole and transfer into second place, he guess all of it, making it a real Each day Double, the second of the episode. Given the clue, “Most of Arizona used this twentieth century innovation from 1918 to 1968, however scorns it now,” Puma accurately responded, “What’s daylight saving time?” With that, he moved to $6,800, simply $800 behind Riccardi.
Sadly, Puma’s lead was short-lived after he missed a $600 clue within the “Marx” class: “Karl Marx was closely influenced by this German thinker and his idea of the dialectic.” Puma incorrectly responded with “Kant,” opening the door for Riccardi, who accurately answered “Hegel,” bringing his complete to $9,000.
Nevertheless, Puma acquired a second probability at redemption when he discovered the second Each day Double hiding underneath “The Spot” for $1,200. With $8,400 on the board and simply $800 off the lead, Puma guess $3,000 on the reply: “Again in 1878, American astronomer Carr Pritchett famous the colour of this storm, the most important in our photo voltaic system.” Puma shortly answered, “What’s the Nice, Crimson Spot?” referring to the persistent, high-pressure anticyclonic storm on Jupiter. With that query, Puma’s new complete was $11,400 as he moved into the highest spot forward of Riccardi.
The sport intensified as Riccardi and Puma traded management of the board, with the returning champion working to regain his lead. He seized the chance within the class “State Oddities,” when Puma responded incorrectly to the clue: “Not a Western state, however New York has the most important publicly protected space within the Decrease 48, the park named for these mountains.” Puma guessed “Catskills,” permitting Riccardi to reply with the proper reply, “The Adirondacks.” That put Riccardi again within the lead with $12,800 to Puma’s $11,400.
On the finish of Double Jeopardy!, Riccardi held a snug $5,000 lead with a complete of $23,200. Puma was in second place with $18,200 and nonetheless had a shot on the win, whereas Canup trailed in third with $2,200.
The Closing Jeopardy! class was “Nineteen Fifties Literature,” with the clue: “At the beginning of this story, the title character is reminded he went turtling off the Mosquito Coast.” Canup went first together with her response, Ernest Hemingway‘s The Outdated Man and the Sea, which was right. She wagered $2,000, bringing her complete to $4,200.
Puma was additionally well-versed in his trendy American classics and accurately guessed the Hemingway story, wagering $5,001 to convey his complete to $23,201, only one greenback forward of Riccardi.
However his lead was fleeting, as Riccardi additionally answered accurately. Whereas he solely wanted to wager a single greenback to win, he went huge, betting $13,201. That introduced his complete for the day to $36,401 and secured his fourth consecutive win, elevating his general earnings to a significantly spectacular $132,402.
“Properly carried out! That’s an incredible complete,” Jennings congratulated.
Over on the Jeopardy! subreddit, followers had been rooting for Puma as his spectacular debut made an impression on viewers. “He was thrown into the deep finish in his first sport, too. Hopefully, he realized the teachings you’ve been compelled to study, that if you’re up in opposition to your hardest competitors, they’ve overwhelmed everybody they’ve come up in opposition to earlier than you and also you’ve been struggling to maintain up, you do should take that threat on the Each day Doubles. Had he gone in for the true Each day Double on the third Each day Double, he’d possible have received this sport!,” mentioned one Redditor.