[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, December 12 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy!’s reigning champ, Invoice McKinney, had gained two of his three video games in dominant runaways, so it was poetic, if a bit surprising, that he misplaced in a single. On Thursday evening, the bungee-jumping, ambidextrous dad-of-two was handily defeated by Ashley Chan- and he received candid about assembly his match on social media.
McKinney, a VP of eating places and bars initially from Boston, Massachusetts, entered with a three-day whole of $46,800, cementing his place within the 2026 postseason because the 2025 Event of Champions cutoff is up. He confronted Chan, a publicist from Lewisville, Texas, and Alex Cousins, a author and editor from Buffalo, New York.
Within the Jeopardy! spherical, Cousins drew a clean on the “America Earlier than 1800” Every day Double searching for “Mason & Dixon,” taking him again to the beginning line. McKinney missed a bridge clue with the reply of “Colorado,” which was within the clue, leading to some ribbing from host Ken Jennings. Chan surged to a lead of $6,000, the champ held $4,000, and Cousins trailed with $600.
In Double Jeopardy, McKinney’s opponents continued to regulate a lot of the sport, which he appeared painfully conscious of. Cousins rapidly discovered the second Every day Double, received the “Abbreviated Magazines” clue right for “Scientific American” and a $2,000 enhance. The final Every day Double loomed, and Chan constructed up a large lead whereas the champ appeared on his heels, unable to crack into the sport.
Chan lastly situated it below the “Nationwide Birds” class, and Jennings remarked, “You’ve pulled into fairly the lead late within the recreation, Ashley.” Opting to wager $2,000, she was right with “Andean Condor.” In doing so, she flew to a runaway. Going into Remaining Jeopardy, she had a assured victory with $15,600, McKinney had $6,400, and Cousins had $5,800.
The “TV Props” Remaining clue was, “A prop central to the title character on this ’60s sitcom started as a particular Christmas version whiskey decanter.” It was a triple-stumper as nobody accurately responded “I Dream of Jeannie.”
McKinney was “heading in the right direction,” Jennings famous crossing out his preliminary response and accurately writing the title character “Jeanie.” Chan, who wagered $0 to win and oust the champ with $15,600. “Solution to go!” Jennings closed.
Followers flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, reacting to the blowout loss and to the brand new champ and to what some claimed was one more barely convoluted Remaining Jeopardy clue.
“I’m confused by that Remaining Jeopardy. It requested for the character within the clue however the reply was the title of the present?” one fan wrote.
“No, it mentioned ‘on this ‘60s sitcom,’ so it was searching for the present title,” defined one other.
A 3rd supplied what they felt was a extra clear model, “A method the writers might assist keep away from this sort of confusion is to place what they’re asking for up entrance, on this case: ‘On this ’60s sitcom, a prop central to the title character started as a particular Christmas version whiskey decanter.’”
“Yeah that makes extra sense imo. Now that I learn the clue right here it’s not as complicated however stay I had the identical thought course of as Invoice with “Jeanie,’” wrote a fourth.
McKinney buzzed in to the thread to share his ideas on his defeat, which he chalked as much as the difficulties of getting by way of a tape day. He additionally praised the brand new champ, joking it was “unfair” how calm she appeared within the greenroom.
“By the point this one got here round I used to be so, so drained,” he started. “I’ve a ton of respect for anybody who can go on a future, as a result of it’s exhausting to maintain going up there. I may need been a smidge slower on the buzzer because of this, however primarily Ashley and Alex had been simply tremendous quick. So many clues I needed to ring in on that they beat me on.”