[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, March 12, episode of Jeopardy!]
Though there was a returning champion on Jeopardy!, followers assume that probably the most thrilling a part of the episode was one other contestant’s interview story. She advised host Ken Jennings that she saved a person from drowning.
Returning champion James Corson from Frederick, Maryland, confronted off towards Kristen VanBlargen from New York, New York, and Brian Nieves from Gambrills, Maryland.
VanBlargen took an early lead when she discovered the primary Every day Double of the sport. Beneath the class “Bestselling Fiction,” the clue learn: “John Updike put his most well-known character to mattress on this Nineties bestseller that received a Pulitzer Prize.” “What’s Rabbit at Relaxation?” VanBlargen answered, bringing her complete to $1,600.
Nonetheless, for the subsequent two questions she answered, she was incorrect, so she went right down to $0. By the primary industrial break, Corson and Nieves have been practically tied with $3,200 and $3,000, after consecutively answering questions accurately.
In the course of the interviews, Nieves, a substitute instructor, revealed that an episode of The Wonderful Race was filmed at his faculty, and he obtained to satisfy the host, Phil Keoghan. Corson, a nuclear engineer, shared that he purchased stamps with former host Alex Trebek on them and promised his spouse that if he ever made it on Jeopardy!, they might ship out Christmas playing cards with him on the sport present and use the stamps.
VanBlargen is a author and “self-described hero.” She advised Jennings that she was hanging out at a reservoir in North Carolina with some associates. “I made a decision to go swimming however didn’t have a washing swimsuit with me. My pal and I made a decision to swim throughout to the opposite finish with out clothes on, got here again, and a person who had consumed an excessive amount of whiskey was drowning, so we took him and introduced him to shore,” she mentioned.
“This man was having the night of his life!” Jennings mentioned. VanBlargen assured the host that the person was alright, and he thanked her for serving to the drowning man.
Reddit customers thought that VanBlargen’s story was probably the most fascinating interview ever on the sport present.
“Kristen might need had probably the most thrilling interview story ever. Motion, hazard, nudity! Then James talks about stamps, that’s me IRL,” one fan mentioned.
By the tip of the primary spherical, Nieves was within the lead with $5,000. Corson wasn’t too far behind him with $4,600. VanBlargen trailed with $800.
VanBlargen made it a stiff competitors as she answered a number of questions accurately, bringing her to $6,400. Nieves discovered the primary DD in Double Jeopardy!. He wagered $6,000 from his $6,600 financial institution and obtained the query unsuitable, bringing him right down to $600 and third place. Corson discovered the second DD of the spherical and made it a real Every day Double. “In a Nineteen Thirties interview, Lead Stomach urged people to ‘keep’ this. ‘preserve their eyes open’; Now it’s frequent slang,” the clue learn. “What’s woke?” Corson answered accurately. He took the lead with $11,600.
It was a battle for first place as Corson and VanBlargen accurately answered query after query. By the tip of the spherical, Corson was within the lead with $18,800. VanBlargen was in second with $14,000. Nieves had a complete of $6,600. However, something can occur in Last Jeopardy.
The class for Last Jeopardy! was “Writer’s Different Works.” The clue learn: “In an 1833 story by her, an alchemist’s assistant drinks a potion giving inside life however finally ends up seeing all he loves die.” “Who’s Shelley?” Nieves answered accurately. He wagered $4,600, giving him a closing complete of $11,200. VanBlargen additionally answered Mary Shelley. She wagered $4,801, giving her a complete of $18,801. Corson answered accurately as properly, wagering $10,000, and ending with a closing complete of $28,800, making him the evening’s winner.
He might be again on Thursday, March 13, to attempt to win his third-straight recreation towards two new contestants.
VanBlargen opened up about her opponents on Reddit after the sport. “After going through Brian and James in rehearsals and spending the primary half of the day within the inexperienced room with them, I knew they have been the 2 gamers I least needed to go up towards—which says rather a lot, contemplating how stacked our taping day was,” she mentioned.
“When the crew mentioned our names, I made a decision I wasn’t going to win. The primary board ought to have been excellent for me: literature (my strongest space), movie, etymology, meals, and our bodies of water (a subject I had studied extensively within the six weeks main as much as the present). However regardless of discovering the primary Every day Double early on, I obtained off to a tough begin. I buzzed in on Barton Fink, blanked on the title, after which mentioned a film that didn’t even match the class. I grew to become annoyed once I couldn’t buzz in on the literature clues. The one occasions I managed to buzz in have been when nobody else knew the reply—myself included—resulting in frequent negs.”
“I used to be nonetheless extra assured on the buzzer in DJ, and I’m pleased with how I did, even when it didn’t go my approach. My largest remorse is that my time as a Jeopardy! contestant got here to an finish simply as I used to be discovering my rhythm,” she concluded.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, Examine your native listings