I’m a huge fan of the game show JEOPARDY!, which has been on, in its current iteration, since 1984. Seldom, though, have I enjoyed it as much as I did during the second week of the Teen Tournament this month. There are fifteen contestants in week one, whittled down to nine in week two. They play three games, only the winners of which go to the two-game final.
Game 1 of the semifinals was won by the aptly-named high school senior Barrett Block, who looked and sounded like Clark Kent. He had a large, but not an insurmountable lead, was the only one who got the final question correct, and won going away, $28,001 to $100 to $0.
Going into the final question on Game 2 of the semis, Kelton had $16,400, Joe $12,000, and Tori $1,600. Inexplicably, all three wagered everything on the last question, and all got it wrong as well. With everyone at $0, it became the first tournament semifinal ever with no winner. Host Alex Trebek was gobsmacked by the outcome.
It turns out that, with no winner in Game 2, the second-place player with the higher score in Games 1 or 3 would get into the final.
Going into the final of Game 3 of the semis, Emily Greenberg had $18,400, Nilai Sarda $16,200, Leonard Cooper (pictured) $15,200. Leonard bet $15,000; I assume he wanted to have $200 in case he was wrong, which was more than the 2nd place player in Game 1, but he got it right, and ended up with $30,200. Nilal bet $14,200, got it right, and ended with $30,400. Emily also got it right but bet a timid $6,000; she should have wagered $12,001 or more. So Nilal wins, and Leonard, improbably, is in the two-game finals.
Game 1 of the two-day final match:
Scores at the end of the Double Jeopardy! Round:
Nilai $16,400
Barrett $8,800
Leonard $10,000
Nilal and Barrett get right but Leonard gets wrong.
End of game:
Nilai $19,000
Barrett $17,600
Leonard $3,000
In Game 2 of the two-day final match: Leonard has a lead when he picks clue #24 of the Double JEOPRARDY! round:
Nilai $13,600
Barrett $8,200
Leonard $18,200
It’s the Daily Double, and Leonard bets $18,000! He gets it right.
Scores going into Final:
Nilai $14,600
Barrett $9,200
Leonard $37,000
The game ends this way. But as the commenters noted, if Nilal’s answer were correct, HE would have won, not Leonard. Still, it was all very exciting.
*** Speaking of competition, happy 50th birthday to basketball superstar Michael Jordan.
I only saw that last game. I loved that kid. I loved how he just stood there, arms folded, barely budging to click the clicky-thing, while the dude in the middle looked like he was having a seizure in his efforts to click in first. And that final answer was just great!
Leonard was too boss in final Jeopardy. I totally called his shot. He should have been holding a microphone so he could have dropped it, raised his arms, and walked off the stage to the roar of the crowd.
That’s awesome. Cooper’s answer is great. 🙂
I had read about the excitement this year’s tournament caused in a online news article. I seriously need to upgrade my cable and get a DVR. I really miss Jeopardy! so much.
I always forget about Jeopardy and turn it on for the final question. Maybe I need to put a note by my TV or something.
I never remember what time Jeopardy! is on here in Wisconsin; it’s something like 4:30 pm or another odd time when I don’t watch TV. A shame, because I’ve been a fan of the show since the Art Fleming days, when they manually operated the clue board and clues began at, what? Five bucks?
Thanks, Roger! Amy