[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, December 3 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! followers noticed large issues for one-day champ Evan Jones after a dominant win and anagram prowess within the final episode. With the 2025 Match of Champions cutoff looming and technically only one (sure, one!) slot left, Jones’ ToC goals had been dashed on Tuesday by Stevie Ruiz, who sealed the take care of an totally surprising, one-step-ahead Remaining Jeopardy wager.
Jones, a software program designer from Seattle, Washington, entered with winnings of $17,199 and reward from host Ken Jennings for his or her “spectacular” debut. They confronted Ruiz, a entrance workplace supervisor from Montauk, New York, and Luca Gerace, a chef from Toronto, Ontario.
Within the Jeopardy! spherical, issues had been going Jones’ method as they aced a “Sects” Each day Double as “Sikhism.” As Jennings hilariously put it, the “skilled at Sects” led with $5,200, Gerace had $2,800, and Ruiz $2,000. It was trying good for the returning champ.
In Double Jeopardy!, the sport grew to become a battle between the primary and third podiums as Jones discovered each Each day Doubles, splitting them by doubling to $11,900 on the second, dropping $4,000 on the remaining. All of the whereas, Jones quietly mounted a lead, charging into Remaining Jeopardy after a number of lead adjustments in entrance with $18,400, Jones held $15,100, and Gerace $2,000. “What a spherical Stevie had!” Jennings remarked.
All of it hinged on the “nineteenth Century European Literature” clue which was, “An early model of this novel was first revealed as a serial beneath the title “The Yr 1805.”
Gerace dropped to $1,980 incorrectly responding, “A Farewell to Arms.” Subsequent was Jones, who incorrectly responded “A Story of Two Cities.” They dropped simply $3,301 to have $11,799 and had been grinning, seemingly anticipating to outlive the scare. The small wager from second place appeared prefer it was about to repay.
Lastly, Ruiz from the lead revealed he was additionally improper with Dickens’ “Nice Expectations.” Jennings shared that the right response to the triple-stumper was “Conflict and Peace.” The host then requested Ruiz, “Did you go large?”
Ruiz burst right into a sly grin because it was revealed that as an alternative of wagering to cowl, he ingeniously wagered $413. In an enormous shock, the savvy Chess transfer made him the brand new champ with $17,987. “That was the precise wager!” Jennings exclaimed. “What an ideal recreation!”
Followers flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, sharing their ideas on Ruiz’ showstopping Remaining Jeopardy transfer that performed the outgoing champ like a fiddle and the thriller recreation.
“Very savvy wagers from Stevie (in addition to Evan). Three very likeable gamers and an in depth recreation. Oh, and innuendo from Ken. Sectsy,” one fan wrote.
“Actually enjoyable recreation to look at. Evan’s angle and demeanor was so nice that I’m a bit unhappy to see [them] go, however not with out giving props to Stevie completely crushing it in DJ,” wrote one other.
Jones chimed into the thread to share their ideas, admitting they had been “assuming” Ruiz would guess to cowl and that the timespan between wagers was the “wildest emotional delta” they’ve skilled.
“What a recreation! What a Remaining Jeopardy! Nonetheless haven’t seen the episode but, however after all this second has lived rent-free in my head for the final two months,” Jones started.
“Stevie was main me into FJ, and I assumed that, just like the overwhelming majority of gamers, he would wager to cowl me. I knew I couldn’t win if he was appropriate and made the standard wager, and I figured a Triple Stumper was extra doubtless than me getting it and Stevie lacking, so I didn’t wish to threat an excessive amount of. I wagered to place myself $1 forward of Stevie’s pre-FJ rating if I used to be appropriate, simply in case he wagered zero.”
“If you wish to know one of many wildest emotional deltas I’ve ever skilled, it was the 5 or so seconds between when Ken revealed that Stevie was incorrect (“oh my gosh, did I simply pull this off?”) and after they revealed his small wager (“no, I undoubtedly didn’t.”)”
“Given Stevie’s selection of small wager, I don’t suppose this was a winnable recreation for me – if I had been main Stevie into FJ, I might have wagered for the lockout and missed. To have had a prayer, I might have wanted to have a lot of a lead over Stevie in order to have the ability to make a small wager and power him to be appropriate, and that was simply not occurring in opposition to a participant as good and quick on the buzzer as him.”
They closed, “Congratulations to Stevie, and good recreation to Luca! Enjoying Jeopardy! was an unbelievable journey and I’d do it once more in a heartbeat.”
Remark
byu/jaysjep2 from dialogue
inJeopardy
What did you consider the sport? Had been you anticipating Stevie Ruiz’ well-played wager? Will he snatch what could be the final Match of Champions ticket for the reason that ToC cutoff is Friday (and postseason begins airing on December 30)? Do you suppose Luca will get pleasure from his thirteenth yr at Shambhala fest? Tell us within the feedback part!
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